The Pitt Four Things to Say helps teams communicate clearly during high-pressure engineering incidents. By stating context, impact, action, and next steps, this framework reduces confusion and supports faster resolution.
Use this structure consistently across engineering, product, and operations so everyone knows what to expect during outages and service disruptions.
| Component | Definition | Example | When to Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Context | What happened and where | API gateway latency spike in us-east-1 | Immediately after detection |
| Impact | Who or what is affected | 15 percent of checkout requests failing | During active investigation |
| Action | Workaround or mitigation in progress | Rolling back recent deploy, scaling workers | As soon as a safe option is identified |
| Next Steps | Follow-up communications and long-term fixes | Postmortem, alert tuning, capacity plan | After stabilization |
Incident Communication Using The Pitt Four Things To Say
During an incident, concise and structured updates keep stakeholders aligned. The Pitt Four Things to Say standardizes status messages so teams focus on facts rather than assumptions.
Context Definition
Context explains the observable problem, including system, region, and relevant time. Clear context lets engineering and leadership quickly orient to the situation.
Impact Assessment
Impact describes affected users, services, and business metrics. Accurate impact assessment prioritizes efforts toward the most critical areas.
Root Cause Analysis With The Framework
Applying the framework during postmortems turns anecdotal stories into structured learning. Each component maps cleanly to sections commonly found in reliability reports.
Action Tracking
Action statements should be specific, time-bound, and owned by a named role. This clarity prevents duplicated work and reduces follow-up ambiguity.
Next Steps Alignment
Next steps define monitoring improvements, configuration changes, and long-term architecture fixes. Linking these items to milestones supports measurable reliability gains.
Reliability Practices Powered By The Framework
Adopting this lightweight structure supports broader reliability initiatives by making communication predictable and actionable across teams.
- State context and impact before resolving into actions
- Assign owners and timeboxes for each action item
- Repeat the four components in follow-up messages
- Archive messages to create searchable incident patterns
- Use the same headings in postmortems to accelerate reviews
FAQ
Reader questions
How do I start a status message using The Pitt Four Things to Say?
Begin by stating context in one sentence, then list impact, action, and next steps in order so readers understand the situation immediately.
What should I include in the impact section during an outage?
Describe affected services, user segments, and key metrics such as error rate or transaction volume, avoiding speculation about cause.
Can The Pitt Four Things to Say be used outside incident response?
Yes, teams use the same four components in design reviews, project updates, and executive briefings to maintain consistent structure. Refresh next steps at defined intervals, such as every thirty minutes during active work, and whenever a significant milestone is reached.