The Incident Escalation Tree

When an incident escalates, who do you page next? The tree that defines.

Levels

On-call → secondary on-call → on-call manager → director.

Each level has a time-to-respond commitment.

Triggers

Time-based: 15 minutes without response triggers next level.

Severity-based: sev 1 escalates to manager immediately.

Review

Tree updates when team structure changes.

Annual review; out-of-date tree is dangerous.