Post-mortem Process - Complete Guide

# Post-mortem Process Implementation

class PostMortemProcess {
  constructor() {
    this.template = this.getPostMortemTemplate();
    this.timeline = new IncidentTimeline();
    this.analysis = new RootCauseAnalysis();
    this.actionItems = new ActionItemTracker();
  }
  
  conductPostMortem(incident) {
    const postMortem = {
      incidentId: incident.id,
      title: incident.title,
      severity: incident.severity,
      conductedBy: this.getPostMortemLead(incident),
      participants: this.getParticipants(incident),
      scheduledFor: this.schedulePostMortem(incident),
      status: 'scheduled'
    };
    
    this.executePostMortem(postMortem);
    return postMortem;
  }
  
  executePostMortem(postMortem) {
    const phases = [
      'preparation',
      'data_collection',
      'timeline_reconstruction',
      'root_cause_analysis',
      'action_planning',
      'documentation',
      'follow_up'
    ];
    
    phases.forEach(phase => {
      this.executePhase(phase, postMortem);
    });
  }
  
  executePhase(phase, postMortem) {
    switch (phase) {
      case 'preparation':
        this.preparePostMortem(postMortem);
        break;
      case 'data_collection':
        this.collectIncidentData(postMortem);
        break;
      case 'timeline_reconstruction':
        this.reconstructTimeline(postMortem);
        break;
      case 'root_cause_analysis':
        this.analyzeRootCauses(postMortem);
        break;
      case 'action_planning':
        this.planActions(postMortem);
        break;
      case 'documentation':
        this.documentFindings(postMortem);
        break;
      case 'follow_up':
        this.scheduleFollowUp(postMortem);
        break;
    }
  }
  
  getPostMortemTemplate() {
    return {
      incident: {
        title: 'Incident Title',
        description: 'Incident Description',
        severity: 'Severity Level',
        startTime: 'Incident Start Time',
        endTime: 'Incident End Time',
        duration: 'Total Duration'
      },
      timeline: {
        events: 'Chronological list of events',
        decisions: 'Key decisions made',
        communications: 'Communication timeline'
      },
      impact: {
        users: 'Number of affected users',
        systems: 'Affected systems',
        business: 'Business impact',
        financial: 'Financial impact'
      },
      rootCauses: {
        immediate: 'Immediate causes',
        contributing: 'Contributing factors',
        systemic: 'Systemic issues'
      },
      lessons: {
        learned: 'Key lessons learned',
        whatWentWell: 'What went well',
        whatWentWrong: 'What went wrong',
        improvements: 'Improvement opportunities'
      },
      actions: {
        immediate: 'Immediate actions taken',
        shortTerm: 'Short-term improvements',
        longTerm: 'Long-term improvements',
        prevention: 'Prevention measures'
      }
    };
  }
  
  preparePostMortem(postMortem) {
    postMortem.preparation = {
      agenda: this.createAgenda(),
      materials: this.gatherMaterials(postMortem),
      participants: this.confirmParticipants(postMortem),
      environment: this.setupEnvironment()
    };
  }
  
  collectIncidentData(postMortem) {
    postMortem.data = {
      logs: this.collectLogs(postMortem.incidentId),
      metrics: this.collectMetrics(postMortem.incidentId),
      communications: this.collectCommunications(postMortem.incidentId),
      changes: this.collectChanges(postMortem.incidentId)
    };
  }
  
  reconstructTimeline(postMortem) {
    postMortem.timeline = this.timeline.reconstruct(postMortem.data);
  }
  
  analyzeRootCauses(postMortem) {
    postMortem.rootCauses = this.analysis.analyze(postMortem.timeline, postMortem.data);
  }
  
  planActions(postMortem) {
    postMortem.actionItems = this.actionItems.create(postMortem.rootCauses);
  }
  
  documentFindings(postMortem) {
    const document = this.generatePostMortemDocument(postMortem);
    this.publishDocument(document);
  }
  
  scheduleFollowUp(postMortem) {
    this.actionItems.scheduleFollowUp(postMortem.actionItems);
  }
}

class RootCauseAnalysis {
  constructor() {
    this.methods = {
      '5whys': new FiveWhysMethod(),
      'fishbone': new FishboneMethod(),
      'fault_tree': new FaultTreeMethod()
    };
  }
  
  analyze(timeline, data) {
    const analysis = {
      immediateCauses: this.identifyImmediateCauses(timeline),
      contributingFactors: this.identifyContributingFactors(timeline, data),
      systemicIssues: this.identifySystemicIssues(timeline, data),
      rootCauses: this.determineRootCauses(timeline, data)
    };
    
    return analysis;
  }
  
  identifyImmediateCauses(timeline) {
    return timeline.events.filter(event => 
      event.type === 'failure' || event.type === 'error'
    );
  }
  
  identifyContributingFactors(timeline, data) {
    const factors = [];
    
    // Analyze timeline for contributing factors
    timeline.events.forEach(event => {
      if (event.type === 'decision' && event.impact === 'negative') {
        factors.push({
          type: 'decision',
          description: event.description,
          impact: event.impact
        });
      }
    });
    
    // Analyze data for contributing factors
    if (data.metrics) {
      factors.push(...this.analyzeMetrics(data.metrics));
    }
    
    return factors;
  }
  
  identifySystemicIssues(timeline, data) {
    const issues = [];
    
    // Look for patterns in the timeline
    const patterns = this.identifyPatterns(timeline);
    patterns.forEach(pattern => {
      if (pattern.frequency > 1) {
        issues.push({
          type: 'systemic',
          description: pattern.description,
          frequency: pattern.frequency
        });
      }
    });
    
    return issues;
  }
  
  determineRootCauses(timeline, data) {
    const rootCauses = [];
    
    // Use 5 Whys method
    const immediateCauses = this.identifyImmediateCauses(timeline);
    immediateCauses.forEach(cause => {
      const rootCause = this.methods['5whys'].analyze(cause);
      rootCauses.push(rootCause);
    });
    
    return rootCauses;
  }
}

class ActionItemTracker {
  constructor() {
    this.actionItems = new Map();
    this.tracking = new ActionTracking();
  }
  
  create(rootCauses) {
    const actions = [];
    
    rootCauses.forEach(cause => {
      const action = this.createActionItem(cause);
      actions.push(action);
    });
    
    return actions;
  }
  
  createActionItem(cause) {
    return {
      id: this.generateActionId(),
      description: this.generateActionDescription(cause),
      owner: this.assignOwner(cause),
      priority: this.determinePriority(cause),
      dueDate: this.calculateDueDate(cause),
      status: 'open',
      dependencies: this.identifyDependencies(cause)
    };
  }
  
  generateActionId() {
    return 'ACTION-' + Date.now() + '-' + Math.random().toString(36).substr(2, 9);
  }
  
  generateActionDescription(cause) {
    return `Address root cause: ${cause.description}`;
  }
  
  assignOwner(cause) {
    // Assign based on cause type and team responsibilities
    if (cause.type === 'technical') {
      return 'Engineering Team';
    } else if (cause.type === 'process') {
      return 'Process Team';
    } else if (cause.type === 'communication') {
      return 'Management Team';
    }
    return 'TBD';
  }
  
  determinePriority(cause) {
    if (cause.severity === 'critical') return 'high';
    if (cause.severity === 'high') return 'medium';
    return 'low';
  }
  
  calculateDueDate(cause) {
    const days = cause.severity === 'critical' ? 7 : 
                 cause.severity === 'high' ? 14 : 30;
    return new Date(Date.now() + days * 24 * 60 * 60 * 1000);
  }
  
  identifyDependencies(cause) {
    // Identify dependencies based on cause analysis
    return [];
  }
  
  scheduleFollowUp(actionItems) {
    actionItems.forEach(action => {
      this.tracking.scheduleFollowUp(action);
    });
  }
}