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Vol. I · No. 251
Mon · 8 Jun
A Daily Lexicon of Trustworthy Data
The Lexicon

005·76

incident postmortem

/ˈɪn.sɪ.dənt ˌpoʊstˈmɔːr.təm/ - n.

1 [colloq.] A document that names the cause precisely, assigns the corrective action vaguely, and recurs on schedule.Keep. Punchy.This is the problem.

Working definition

2. A structured review after a quality incident that documents the timeline, impact, root cause, and corrective actions to prevent recurrence.

Evidence
See also
  • data downtimeThe hours the data was wrong, billed entirely to whoever used it, not whoever produced it.
  • remediationFixing the rows now and scheduling the cause for a quarter that does not arrive.
  • root cause analysisThe search for the underlying cause, which terminates the moment it reaches a team that can defend itself.