June 2020 Summaries

PagerDuty has introduced a series of updates and enhancements designed to improve real-time digital operations management, focusing on integrating with popular tools and enhancing mobile app functionality for on-the-go incident management. These updates include a more secure mobile app with PIN locks, an updated menu for swift incident response, and expanded self-service capabilities through the REST API, allowing seamless integration with third-party tools. The rollout also features the early access Analytics API for viewing raw incident data and a public Business Services API that helps teams define and understand service impacts on businesses. Additionally, the Response Plays API facilitates coordinated incident responses, while the new event transformers enable custom integrations for event data. PagerDuty has expanded its ecosystem with new native integrations, such as with Jira Server, Data Center, and Microsoft Teams, to streamline workflows and enhance collaboration across distributed teams. These enhancements aim to provide users with the tools and flexibility needed to manage incidents effectively, whether at their desks or remotely.

Fifteen years ago, the author's life changed when their mother asked if a boy from Guinea could live with them, leading to a deep bond as siblings despite racial differences. As they grew older, the author observed increasing racial discrimination against her brother, which fueled her anger and determination to fight for equality. Amid a backdrop of racial violence against the Black community, the author found inspiration in her company's actions on Juneteenth, a day recognized as a paid holiday for advocating change. Through conversations with colleagues at PagerDuty—Asha Ingram, Anthony Rodari, and Tobi Ojo—the narrative highlights how they spent Juneteenth celebrating Black culture and promoting equity and inclusion in the workplace. The story emphasizes the need for companies to shift from intention to action by fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion through partnerships, meaningful dialogues, and leadership accountability. The author expresses gratitude for colleagues' efforts and the company's commitment to bettering itself for underrepresented employees, encouraging readers to reflect on their own journeys toward allyship and racial equity.

In the context of a society that heavily relies on automation for personal efficiency, a significant number of companies still use manual processes for issue resolution, with 90% lacking substantial automation in this area. PagerDuty's Spring 2020 product launch introduces enhancements aimed at improving team efficiency and revenue protection through intelligent response and automation. Key features include Intelligent Triage, which prevents duplicated work and offers real-time contextual insights by examining related incidents, and a new functionality allowing responders to reopen incidents without triggering new alerts, thus offering flexibility and reducing duplication. Moreover, integrations for runbook automation with tools like Rundeck, Ayehu, and Pliant streamline manual IT response play workflows, enabling quick and safe self-service access to diagnostic and repair procedures, ultimately shortening incident duration and minimizing escalations. These innovations aim to alleviate the burden on IT teams, allowing for improved resilience and customer relationship management while protecting revenue.

PagerDuty University (PDU) provides essential training for businesses navigating a post-COVID-19 digital landscape, focusing on virtual network operations centers and incident response through the PagerDuty platform. Offering modular, role-based, and best-practice training, PDU aims to educate customers on mobilizing the right personnel during crises and optimizing digital operations. The training includes webinars, such as "PagerDuty 101," which covers setting up user profiles, managing incidents, and applying best practices for escalation policies. The program also offers expanded webinar schedules and instructor-led courses to enhance digital transformation and operational efficiency, ensuring organizations are prepared for the demands of a digital-first world.

Marcus Cooper reflects on his childhood experience of attending a family barbecue, which he later learned was a Juneteenth celebration, a day commemorating the emancipation of the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas. He recounts how his mother explained the holiday's significance, emphasizing its importance for cultural awareness and reflection within the African American community. Cooper connects this memory to PagerDuty's #Day4Change initiative, aimed at fostering allyship and inclusivity through actionable support for the Black community. Highlighting tech industry's potential to uplift Black contributions, he shares stories of collective efforts by colleagues, such as fundraising for Black Lives Matter and creating resources like "The Peoples’ Police Registry." Cooper emphasizes that while a single day's actions won't suffice for lasting change, they provide hope for broader inclusivity and commitment to equity.

PagerDuty's latest enhancements, introduced in Spring 2020, focus on enabling proactive incident management by providing comprehensive visibility and management tools for digital services. The Dynamic Service Directory, now supplemented with Service Profiles, offers detailed information about each service, such as team ownership, past incidents, and preferred communication channels, facilitating quicker incident resolution. The addition of Service Dependencies enhances understanding of inter-service relationships, helping to identify and address vulnerabilities efficiently. The Services Dashboard and the new Visibility Console Experience further empower teams by visualizing operational metrics and KPIs, thereby improving cross-functional alignment and resource management. These tools aim to improve digital readiness, allowing teams to respond to incidents with better preparation, ultimately saving costs and protecting brand reputation.

In an update from Bikini Bottom, Plankton is enhancing the Chum Bucket's technical operations to compete with the Krusty Krab by integrating ServiceNow and PagerDuty for improved incident management. Plankton, assisted by his robo-wife Karen, has implemented this integration to handle online orders while maintaining social distancing, similar to the Krusty Krab's adaptation to the current times. The integration offers two mapping options: Assignment Group Only and Configuration Items + Assignment Group (CI + AG), both of which facilitate real-time incident tracking and management. The Assignment Group Only option is simpler, creating a technical service and escalation policy in PagerDuty for each assignment group, which may lead to a monitoring sink. In contrast, the CI + AG mapping is more robust, linking Configuration Items to PagerDuty technical services and escalation policies, allowing incidents to be created based on both CI and assignment group fields. Plankton's setup is guided by best practices for PagerDuty service configuration, aiming to avoid duplicating ServiceNow's Configuration Items in PagerDuty and ensuring effective synchronization between the two systems. Despite these advancements, Plankton and Karen's lack of additional staff means they remain the primary responders to incidents.

In 2020, PagerDuty adapted its inaugural Summit EMEA from a live event to a virtual format due to unforeseen global challenges, maintaining its focus on sharing best practices in digital operations for DevOps teams and IT leaders. The event features keynotes from PagerDuty's CEO Jennifer Tejada, discussions on agile transformation, and product updates from Senior Vice President of Product Jonathan Rende, aimed at enhancing team visibility, automation, and resilience. The Summit also offers sessions from industry experts, including discussions on DevOps principles, security integration, and real-time operations, with speakers from companies like ABN AMRO, Slack, and AWS. Additionally, the event emphasizes social impact, allowing attendees to earn points for charitable donations to organizations such as Mary’s Meals and the World Health Organization. Throughout the conference, participants can engage in activities like yoga and meditation, explore a virtual expo, and benefit from on-demand access to session content.

Amid the challenges of rapid digital transformation during the COVID-19 crisis, businesses have had to pivot quickly to prioritize seamless customer experiences, necessitating effective real-time business orchestration. PagerDuty, a digital operations management platform, plays a crucial role in this transition by enabling organizations to integrate business responses with technical incident responses, thus minimizing negative impacts and maintaining productivity. Recent enhancements to its platform include a Mobile Status Dashboard for non-technical stakeholders, a Microsoft Teams integration for streamlined communication and incident management, and customizable status update notifications to adhere to branding guidelines. Additionally, enhancements in on-call scheduling and the Salesforce Service Cloud integration further support efficient incident resolution and customer satisfaction by bridging gaps between technical and customer support teams. These tools are designed to empower businesses to thrive in the digital era by improving collaboration, communication, and overall customer experiences.

The blog post announces the enhanced integration between PagerDuty and Atlassian's Jira Server and Data Center, designed to optimize real-time incident response and collaboration for users working remotely. The updated integration introduces features such as an enhanced sidebar in Jira that allows users to acknowledge, reassign, and resolve incidents directly, as well as add notes and responders, without leaving the Jira interface. It also includes advanced workflow rules to automate key processes, reducing downtime and outages for digital services. Additionally, the integration supports two-way user mapping for capturing team responses and offers multi-account support to accommodate distributed teams, allowing multiple Jira and PagerDuty accounts to be linked for seamless global operations. These enhancements, developed based on user feedback, aim to streamline incident management and improve productivity across organizations.

PagerDuty's CEO has announced a comprehensive initiative called the Day for Change, set for June 19, 2020, in honor of Juneteenth, to combat racism and promote equality and justice for the Black community. On this day, most employees will be offline to engage in activities such as volunteering, peaceful activism, education, and financial contributions to organizations supporting Black communities. PagerDuty is expanding its Inclusion, Diversity, and Equity efforts by setting measurable goals, increasing transparency, and committing to long-term investments, including a $500,000 pledge to support systemic change through initiatives like voter education, justice reform, and leadership development in communities of color. The company also aims to enhance access to minority-led suppliers, enforce an anti-racism policy, and ensure inclusive leadership development through mandatory unconscious bias training for managers and a partnership with a certified training organization. This initiative reflects PagerDuty's commitment to fostering an equitable community and challenges the broader tech industry to join in advancing these efforts for lasting social change.

Originally published in June 2017 and republished for Pride Month, this blog from PagerDuty addresses the ongoing struggle for civil rights and equality, emphasizing the persistent relevance of these issues in light of current events. The author reflects on the challenges faced by marginalized communities, noting that while their own story may not be unique, many endure far worse, including violence against LGBTQ+ individuals and the psychological toll of living with secrets and shame. Despite setbacks in civil rights, the piece underscores the power individuals have to create inclusive and supportive environments within their spheres of influence, as exemplified by the formation of an LGBTQ+ resource group at PagerDuty. The author advocates for the creation of safe and just spaces at work, driven by ideological commitments to respect and support each other, fostering a sense of community and advocacy that can help shape a more equitable future.