A well-crafted runbook is a structured guide that provides clarity under pressure, reduces the risk of error, and helps Security Operations Center (SOC) teams respond faster and more confidently to incidents. A great runbook offers consistency in execution, enables faster incident resolution, accelerates onboarding for new analysts, and leaves a reliable paper trail for documentation and audits. To build an effective runbook, start with a clear purpose, break it into concise steps, use visuals to support clarity, define roles and responsibilities, add troubleshooting tips, make it a living document, and test before deployment. Effective runbooks are operational tools that strengthen a team's ability to respond, recover, and improve, and can be built using flexible tools like incident.io for free.