On Call Book
2 min readMay 29, 2020
I’m Serhat Can, Technical Evangelist at Atlassian and the author of “On Call”. I’ve spent years participating in and helping customers build on-call programs. I recently compiled all my insights into one eBook, with over 100 pages focused solely on on-call benefits, challenges, and best practices.
Key insights include:
- Why a strong on-call program is essential for business success: Regardless of the industry, the basic idea behind on call is the same: be ready to respond to customer issues when you are called. It can be a competitive advantage to reduce down-time and lead to high-performing teams, but it can also lead to stress and burnout if mishandled.
- Choosing your on-call model: The design and development of your on-call program has a huge impact on your organization’s ability to respond quickly and efficiently, and ultimately on your ability to meet customer expectations. We’ll look at the pros and cons of each model, and ask questions to help determine the right approach for your team.
- Defining roles and responsibilities and best practices for scheduling on-call rotations: Ensure your team knows who to turn to at each stage of an incident, how to document and share information before, during, and after an incident, and considerations for scheduling on-call shifts.
- Choosing a compensation model: On-call work is necessary but inherently stressful. How you compensate employees will vary based on local laws, culture, and management practices, so companies need to be strategic about their compensation model.
- Continuous learning and training: Read details on setting your team up for success with tools and processes, and get additional resources!
I’ve learned so much during my time working at Opsgenie and now Atlassian, and I hope you find the book useful. Download your copy here:
