How severe is this incident and what response does it need?
Decision tree
Overview
Decision Tree
Start: Are production systems currently down or inaccessible?
yes
- Continues to question: Is data loss or a security breach involved?
no
- Continues to question: Is the incident degrading performance for a significant number of users?
Machine-Readable JSON (Canonical Model)
View JSON
{
"_meta": {
"schema": "https://www.drawdecisiontree.com/decision-dag.schema.json",
"source": "https://www.drawdecisiontree.com",
"description": "DrawDecisionTree.com is a free tool for building, sharing, and embedding interactive decision trees. This file is the machine-readable export of a published decision tree. The `dsl` field contains the original source in the Decision DAG DSL; the `dag` schema is documented at the URL in `schema` above.",
"links": {
"interactive": "https://www.drawdecisiontree.com/t/drawdecisiontree/incident-severity.html",
"embed": "https://www.drawdecisiontree.com/embed/path/drawdecisiontree/incident-severity",
"dsl_reference": "https://www.drawdecisiontree.com/decision-tree-dsl-reference.html",
"guides": "https://www.drawdecisiontree.com/guides",
"schema_docs": "https://www.drawdecisiontree.com/decision-dag.schema.json",
"author_trees": "https://www.drawdecisiontree.com/trees/drawdecisiontree"
},
"generated_at": "2026-05-29T12:05:39.307Z"
},
"author": {
"handle": "drawdecisiontree",
"first_name": "Andrew",
"last_name": null,
"avatar_url": "1d32d828-b6ca-40ec-bdd7-771fe7b9c36a/avatar-1778531481027.svg",
"display_name": "Andrew"
},
"file": {
"id": "1dddcd00-2300-4f44-881f-c5efe2deae45",
"name": "How severe is this incident and what response does it need?",
"public_slug": "incident-severity",
"updated_at": "2026-05-12T16:53:43.587978+00:00",
"url": "https://www.drawdecisiontree.com/t/drawdecisiontree/incident-severity.html",
"json_url": "https://www.drawdecisiontree.com/t/drawdecisiontree/incident-severity/tree.json",
"dsl_url": "https://www.drawdecisiontree.com/t/drawdecisiontree/incident-severity/tree.dag"
},
"meta": {
"description": null,
"mode": "decision",
"entry": "Q1",
"tags": [],
"image": null
},
"questions": [
{
"id": "Q1",
"text": "Are production systems currently down or inaccessible?"
},
{
"id": "Q2",
"text": "Is data loss or a security breach involved?"
},
{
"id": "Q3",
"text": "Is the incident degrading performance for a significant number of users?"
},
{
"id": "Q4",
"text": "Has the incident lasted more than 30 minutes?"
},
{
"id": "Q5",
"text": "Is this a single-user or cosmetic issue?"
},
{
"id": "Q6",
"text": "Could this issue escalate if left unresolved?"
}
],
"outcomes": [
{
"id": "OUT_P0",
"label": "P0 — Critical"
},
{
"id": "OUT_P1",
"label": "P1 — High"
},
{
"id": "OUT_P2",
"label": "P2 — Medium"
},
{
"id": "OUT_P3",
"label": "P3 — Low"
},
{
"id": "OUT_P4",
"label": "P4 — Informational"
}
],
"dsl": "dag: How severe is this incident and what response does it need?\nversion: 1.0.0\nentry: Q1\n\nQ1: Are production systems currently down or inaccessible?\n hint: \"Down\" means users cannot complete core workflows.\n yes -> Q2\n no -> Q3\n\nQ2: Is data loss or a security breach involved?\n yes -> [OUT_P0]\n no -> [OUT_P1]\n\nQ3: Is the incident degrading performance for a significant number of users?\n yes -> Q4\n no -> Q5\n\nQ4: Has the incident lasted more than 30 minutes?\n yes -> [OUT_P2]\n no -> [OUT_P3]\n\nQ5: Is this a single-user or cosmetic issue?\n yes -> [OUT_P4]\n no -> Q6\n\nQ6: Could this issue escalate if left unresolved?\n yes -> [OUT_P3]\n no -> [OUT_P4]\n\n[OUT_P0]: P0 — Critical\n description: Full outage or data/security incident. Page on-call immediately. War room within 15 min.\n code: SEV_P0\n\n[OUT_P1]: P1 — High\n description: Major functionality down, no data loss. Notify on-call. Response within 30 min.\n code: SEV_P1\n\n[OUT_P2]: P2 — Medium\n description: Degraded performance affecting many users. Assign to team lead. Resolve within 4 hours.\n code: SEV_P2\n\n[OUT_P3]: P3 — Low\n description: Minor issue with potential to grow. Log and schedule for next sprint.\n code: SEV_P3\n\n[OUT_P4]: P4 — Informational\n description: Cosmetic or single-user issue. Add to backlog for routine triage.\n code: SEV_P4\n"
}DSL Representation
dag: How severe is this incident and what response does it need?
version: 1.0.0
entry: Q1
Q1: Are production systems currently down or inaccessible?
hint: "Down" means users cannot complete core workflows.
yes -> Q2
no -> Q3
Q2: Is data loss or a security breach involved?
yes -> [OUT_P0]
no -> [OUT_P1]
Q3: Is the incident degrading performance for a significant number of users?
yes -> Q4
no -> Q5
Q4: Has the incident lasted more than 30 minutes?
yes -> [OUT_P2]
no -> [OUT_P3]
Q5: Is this a single-user or cosmetic issue?
yes -> [OUT_P4]
no -> Q6
Q6: Could this issue escalate if left unresolved?
yes -> [OUT_P3]
no -> [OUT_P4]
[OUT_P0]: P0 — Critical
description: Full outage or data/security incident. Page on-call immediately. War room within 15 min.
code: SEV_P0
[OUT_P1]: P1 — High
description: Major functionality down, no data loss. Notify on-call. Response within 30 min.
code: SEV_P1
[OUT_P2]: P2 — Medium
description: Degraded performance affecting many users. Assign to team lead. Resolve within 4 hours.
code: SEV_P2
[OUT_P3]: P3 — Low
description: Minor issue with potential to grow. Log and schedule for next sprint.
code: SEV_P3
[OUT_P4]: P4 — Informational
description: Cosmetic or single-user issue. Add to backlog for routine triage.
code: SEV_P4
Machine Access
- Static JSON:
/t/drawdecisiontree/incident-severity/tree.json - Live JSON (SPA):
/json/drawdecisiontree/incident-severity - Raw DSL:
/t/drawdecisiontree/incident-severity/tree.dag - Canonical HTML:
/t/drawdecisiontree/incident-severity.html
Questions in this decision tree
- Are production systems currently down or inaccessible?
- Is data loss or a security breach involved?
- Is the incident degrading performance for a significant number of users?
- Has the incident lasted more than 30 minutes?
- Is this a single-user or cosmetic issue?
- Could this issue escalate if left unresolved?
Possible outcomes
- P0 — Critical
- P1 — High
- P2 — Medium
- P3 — Low
- P4 — Informational
How to use this decision tree
Click "Open interactive version" to step through the questions. Your answers narrow the tree until a recommended outcome is reached. You can also embed this tree on your own site.
More decision trees by Andrew
Which API design pattern is right for my project?
Determine the right API design style for your integration scenario.
Authentication Method Selection
Authentication is a security-critical, high-friction decision to reverse — migrating users from one auth method to another requires coordinated password resets or credential migration campaigns. This tree eliminates methods that don't match your user type, enterprise requirements, and security posture, giving you a clear shortlist before you write a line of code.
Caching Strategy Selection
Premature or misapplied caching adds complexity — stale data bugs, invalidation logic, and distributed consistency problems — without solving the actual bottleneck. This tree routes you to the caching pattern that matches your data access profile, so you apply the right tool to the right problem rather than defaulting to Redis for everything.
CI/CD Pipeline Tool Selection
Choosing a CI/CD platform is a long-term infrastructure commitment — pipelines accumulate config, custom scripts, and team muscle memory that make switching painful. This tree eliminates tools that don't fit your source control host, infrastructure model, or team scale, leaving only the options genuinely viable for your situation.
Which cloud provider should I use — AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud?
Answer a few questions to identify the most suitable cloud platform for your workload.
Container Orchestration Platform Selection
Container orchestration is foundational infrastructure — the platform you choose shapes how you deploy, scale, network, and operate every service you run. This tree eliminates options that don't match your operational maturity, cloud provider commitment, and workload complexity, so you land on the platform that fits your team today without over-engineering for a scale you haven't reached.