SLO Intermediate By Samson Tanimawo, PhD Published Nov 11, 2026 8 min read

SLO-Driven Incident Postmortems

Postmortems with no SLO context are stories. With SLO context, they are accounting.

The pre-SLO postmortem trap

Without SLO context: postmortems list events; assign ‘learnings’; rarely change behaviour.

With SLO context: each minute of impact has a measurable cost; the trade-off conversations sharpen.

Four-section template

1. SLO impact: minutes consumed; budget remaining.
2. Timeline: events; decisions.
3. Root cause: what failed; why.
4. Action items: dated; owned.

Budget attribution math

Calculate: incident duration / window-budget = % of budget consumed.

Tagged in the postmortem; cumulative impact tracked over the quarter.

Action items that ship

Action items that protect budget; not action items that satisfy a checklist.

Each action item references the budget impact it would prevent.

Antipatterns

Postmortem with no budget impact. Disconnected from the SLO program.
Action items with no owner or date. Wishes.
Action items not tracked in sprint planning. Forgotten.

What to do this week

Three moves. (1) Apply the pattern to your most-impactful service. (2) Measure adherence for 30 days. (3) Rewrite the policy or the SLO if the gap is durable.