Postmortem Training Skill

name: postmortem-training

description: Structured postmortem process focused on reasoning heuristics rather than just root cause.

Purpose

Emphasizes the journey to diagnosis—the mental models, checks, and reasoning that led engineers to identify and resolve incidents.

Template Sections

1. Timeline

When did we first notice? When did we understand severity?

2. Diagnosis Journey

• What did we check first?
• What hypothesis did we form?
• What data confirmed/denied it?
• Where did we get stuck?

3. Resolution

What actions fixed the issue?

4. Mental Model Update

What should the on-call engineer know next time?

5. Heuristic Extraction

If X happens → check Y metric first. Common cause: Z. Red herring: W.

6. Comprehension Gap Analysis

• AI-generated code involved?
• Pre-existing mental model?
• Was the model accurate or stale?
• What documentation would have helped?

7. Prevention

What would have caught this earlier?

Storage

Postmortems stored at: output/postmortems/YYYYMMDD-{incident-id}.md

Integration with Code Comprehension

• Link to code-comprehension-report if AI-generated code involved
• Reference specific functions/modules in gap analysis
• Update comprehension report if mental models were stale

Mandatory Elements

• Timeline with timestamps
• At least 3 diagnostic steps
• Explicit heuristic(s) for next occurrence
• Comprehension gap assessment
• Prevention recommendation