FireHydrant Runbooks Re-Design
Speeding up the most critical minutes in incident response.
FireHydrant helps engineering teams respond to incidents—but in high-pressure moments, even small inefficiencies create costly delays. I redesigned the Runbooks experience to help teams move faster, reduce errors, and operate with confidence during critical incidents.
Overview.
Role: Senior UX Designer
Scope: Runbooks experience for incident response/
Goal: Reduce response time and improve consistency during incidents
Impact: Customers saved 30–90 minutes per incident and increased adoption contributed to new contracts
The Situation
In incident management, the first few minutes determine the outcome.
Teams need to:
Coordinate quickly
Execute the right steps
Avoid mistakes under pressure
But most teams relied on:
Manual workflows
Tribal knowledge
Inconsistent processes
This led to slower response times, confusion, and increased downtime.
The Problem
The issue wasn’t just tooling—it was execution under pressure.
1. Inconsistent Workflows
Teams handled incidents differently each time, leading to variability and errors.
2. High Cognitive Load
Engineers had to remember steps while actively debugging issues.
3. Slow Response Times
Manual coordination delayed critical actions.
4. Lack of Structure at Scale
As teams grew, it became harder to maintain consistency across incidents.
Why This Was Hard
Needed to work in high-stress, real-time environments
Required balancing structure vs flexibility
Had to support different team workflows and incident types
Mistakes in design could slow teams down instead of helping them
We weren’t just designing a tool—we were designing for behavior under pressure.
Strategy
We aligned around a core principle:
Reduce cognitive load during incidents by making the right actions obvious and easy to execute.
This led to three priorities:
Clarity in execution
Flexible but structured workflows
Automation of repetitive steps
Reduce cognitive load during incidents by making the right actions obvious and easy to execute.
Key Decisions
1. Introduce Structured, Repeatable Workflows
We designed Runbooks to guide teams through predefined steps during incidents.
Why: Consistency reduces errors and speeds up response
Tradeoff: Too much structure could limit flexibility
2. Balance Flexibility with Control
We allowed teams to customize workflows to match their needs.
Why: No two incident processes are identical
3. Reduce Cognitive Load Through Automation
We automated repetitive or predictable steps wherever possible.
Why: Engineers should focus on solving the issue—not managing the process
4. Prioritize Clarity and Usability
We simplified the interface to make it easy to:
Create runbooks
Modify workflows
Execute steps during incidents
Why: In high-pressure moments, clarity is critical
How I Led the Work
Translated incident response challenges into clear design problems
Focused on user behavior under pressure, not just feature design
Prioritized simplicity and usability in critical workflows
Balanced user needs with system flexibility and scalability
Solution
The redesigned Runbooks experience enabled teams to:
Create structured, repeatable workflows
Execute incident steps with clarity and confidence
Automate routine actions
Adapt workflows to their specific needs
The result was a system that supports teams in the moment—rather than slowing them down.
Wizard
Configure runbook
More configuration
Tablet
Outcomes
Customers saved 30–90 minutes per incident
Faster and more consistent incident response
Increased customer adoption and contract growth
Most importantly:
Teams were able to respond with confidence during high-pressure situations
What This Enabled
More reliable incident response processes
Reduced downtime and operational risk
A scalable foundation for growing team
What This Demonstrates
Designing for high-stakes, real-time environments
Reducing complexity through structure and automation
Balancing flexibility with usability
Creating systems that improve team performance under pressure
Final Takeaway
This wasn’t just a UI improvement—it was a performance improvement.
By reducing cognitive load and introducing structured workflows, I helped teams move faster and make better decisions when it mattered most.