# Incident postmortem template

> A blameless incident postmortem template with a summary, impact table, timeline, root cause and actions. Copy it, or start it in Kanso.

Learn from what broke, without looking for someone to blame.

Web page: https://kansohq.app/templates/incident-postmortem

Updated: 5 October 2026

## The template

> Blameless: describe what the system and the process allowed, not who was at fault.

### Summary

What broke, who was affected and for how long, in two or three sentences.

### Impact

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Started |   |
| Detected |   |
| Resolved |   |
| Who was affected |   |
| Severity |   |

### Timeline

- Time — what happened, what we saw, what we did

### Root cause

The chain of causes, down to the one that, if it had been removed, would have prevented this.

### What went well

-

### What went badly

-

### Where we got lucky

-

### Actions

- [ ] Owner — action — by when
- [ ]

In Kanso, add a page and pick this template, or type / in any doc.

## How to fill it in

1. Say what broke, and for how long.
2. Write the timeline in order.
3. Ask why until you reach a cause.
4. Turn each action into an owned task.

## Questions

### What is a blameless postmortem?

One that looks at what the system and the process allowed to happen instead of who made the mistake, so people are honest about failures.

### What goes in a postmortem?

A summary, the impact, a timeline, the root cause, what went well and badly, and actions with owners and dates.

### When should a postmortem be written?

Start within a few days of the incident and finish within a week or two.

## Keep reading

- [How to write a blameless incident postmortem](https://kansohq.app/guides/how-to-write-a-postmortem.md): A blameless postmortem explains what broke, why and what changes. Learn the sections, how to write the timeline and root cause, and an example.
- [Retrospective template for software teams | Kanso](https://kansohq.app/templates/retrospective.md): A retrospective template with what went well, what did not, what we learned and what we will change, each change with an owner. Copy it, or start it in Kanso.
- [Bug report template: steps, expected, actual | Kanso](https://kansohq.app/templates/bug-report.md): A bug report template with a summary, steps to reproduce, expected and actual results and an environment table. Copy it, or start it in Kanso.
- [Decision record template (ADR) to copy | Kanso](https://kansohq.app/templates/decision-record.md): An architecture decision record (ADR) template with the decision, status, context, consequences and revisit condition. Copy it, or start it in Kanso.

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