Post-mortem

Activation Triggers

• /post-mortem
• "write the post-mortem" / "postmortem" / "RCA" / "root cause analysis"
• "document this fix" / "write up the root cause" / "close out this bug"
• After systematic-debug lands a validated fix — proactively offer to draft one.

Purpose

The canonical engineering record of a bug fix. Written after debugging lands a real fix, for other engineers and future-you who will have forgotten everything in six months. Code identifiers are welcome — this is the artifact that lets the next person recover the mental model fast.

For the leadership-facing version of this content, hand the finished post-mortem to explain-in. Post-mortem owns the engineering truth; explain-in reframes it for stakeholders.

When NOT to Use