Why the Incident Commander should stay focused on command during an incident.

Should the Incident Commander wear another hat during an incident? The short answer is no. The IC should stay focused on guiding the response, not taking on another role. When chaos erupts, clarity matters more than ever, and singling out one person to steer the ship helps everyone stay on course.

What the Incident Commander does, in plain terms

Think of the Incident Commander as the quarterback of a high-stakes play. They set the objectives, decide what’s most urgent, and keep the team moving toward restoration. They maintain a big-picture view: what’s failing, which systems are most critical, and what the next few hours will require. They coordinate with tech leads, on-call engineers, communications, and logistics, but they don’t get bogged down in hands-on fixes.

In practice, the IC owns the incident timeline, the priority of actions, and the escalation path. They decide when to call for more help, when to pause a task, and when to shift priorities as the situation changes. This is not a distant, aloof role. It’s active leadership: calm, decisive, and communicative. And that requires focus.

Why splitting focus is risky

If the IC starts doing another job, several things can unravel fast. First, situational awareness can slip. When you’re juggling tasks, you miss subtle shifts in severity or new risks. Second, communication can degrade. The IC’s job is to give clear, concise directives and keep everyone aligned. If they’re also trying to fix a service or run a remediation, messages can become muddled, or people might duplicate work. Third, decision-making can slow down. The team looks to the IC for orders; if the IC is distracted, there’s a lag before priorities are re-evaluated and communicated.

These aren’t arcane theory points. In real incidents, a single miscommunication or mixed signal can derail a recovery. The goal is speed with accuracy, not speed alone. Keeping the IC focused helps ensure every action has a purpose and every voice is heard through the right channel.

Leaning on the team, not shifting hats

That doesn’t mean the IC works in a vacuum. It means the team needs clear roles so no one sits idle or fights for bandwidth. A well-structured incident response uses distinct roles that support the IC’s mission:

• Technical Lead (or Recovery Lead): owns the fix, validates fixes, and ensures changes won’t break other parts of the system.

• Communications Lead: handles status updates to stakeholders, runs the public status page, and drafts external messages.

• Incident Scribe: keeps the incident timeline, captures decisions, and records actions taken.

• Logistics or Tactical Lead: ensures people have the tools they need, coordinates on-call rotations, and handles meeting logistics.

• Risk Manager: tracks potential impact, safety concerns, and regulatory considerations.

With these roles defined, the IC can rely on a capable team instead of reaching into multiple tasks themselves. In practice, many PagerDuty-powered responses use runbooks that spell out who handles what, when to escalate, and how to roll back if a fix creates new issues. This lets the IC lead with confidence, not with a clock in their face.

Practical tips to keep the IC in the driver’s seat

If you’re building or refining your incident playbook, these tactics help keep the IC focused without sacrificing speed or quality:

• Clear escalation policy: define who gets involved when severity climbs, and at what thresholds. The moment a problem crosses a line, the IC should know exactly who to call next—without guessing or hunting for on-call contacts.

• Incident timeline: maintain a running record of what’s happened, what’s planned, and what’s changed. A visible timeline keeps the IC honest about what’s done and what remains.

• Runbooks you can trust: have ready-made, tested steps for common failure modes. When time is tight, the IC won’t be inventing procedures on the spot.

• Status-page discipline: a single source of truth for stakeholders. The IC speaks to the team; the communications lead speaks to the outside world.

• Regular, short cadence updates: quick checks with the team prevent drift. A 5–10 minute standup can keep everyone aligned without pulling the IC into low-value tasks.

• Handoff rituals: when new people join, or when tasks shift, a clean handoff preserves continuity. The IC should announce who is taking over which task, and why.

• Post-incident review ready-to-go assets: part of the culture is learning. Having a structured debrief plan helps capture insights without blaming anyone.

A few real-world analogies to anchor the idea

Imagine a traffic controller at a busy airport. The controller doesn’t land planes or fuel them; they coordinate ground crews, manage gates, and route flights to avoid a tangle. If the controller started juggling a radio and a checklist at the same time, there’d be missed calls, misrouted planes, and delayed landings. The same logic applies to incident response. The IC’s value lies in orchestration, not in wearing multiple hats.

Or picture a band during a sudden power outage. The conductor signals the rhythm section, fades in the backup guitarist, and keeps the tempo on track. If the conductor starts tuning their guitar or soldering a loose cable, the entire song risks missing its moment. The role relies on a steady hand at the baton.

Pitfalls to dodge (and how to dodge them)

Even with a solid plan, teams slip. Here are common missteps and simple fixes:

• The IC micromanages fixes: stay in command, not in the weeds. Delegate hands-on work to experts, but keep the bigger goals in view.

• Too many cooks in the kitchen: define roles clearly and confirm who owns what. A quick check-in at the top of each shift can prevent overlap.

• Overcommunication with every detail: be concise. The IC should give direction, not narrate every step. The scribe or communications lead can fill in the details later.

• No timeline or decision log: capture decisions as they happen. It avoids “we did this” confusion later and speeds the debrief.

• Skipping the post-incident review: always close with learnings. A few actionable changes now prevent the same issue from surfacing again.

How PagerDuty reinforces the IC’s focus

Tools matter when the clock is ticking. In PagerDuty, you set up clear escalation paths so the IC isn’t hunting for the next person to bring in. You can tie runbooks to specific incident types, so responders know exactly what to do. The incident timeline feature acts as the memory of the response, showing what happened, when, and why decisions were made. And status pages help you communicate with users and stakeholders without pulling the IC into messaging tasks.

In practice, the IC uses PagerDuty to keep the incident moving forward while the rest of the team handles the concrete work. The IC’s calendar is not crowded with chores; it’s filled with decisions, prioritization, and coordination. That balance is what makes a response efficient and credible.

Balancing form and function

Let’s acknowledge a simple truth: people are not machines. A human IC will feel the weight of responsibility, especially in high-severity incidents. It’s okay to feel the pressure. The key is to channel that energy into leadership—clear directions, accountable ownership, and steady communication. The rest of the team covers the how, while the IC keeps the why front and center.

So, what’s the verdict? No, an Incident Commander should not take on another role during an incident. Not if you want a fast, reliable recovery. Not if you want to minimize confusion and maximize coordination. Not if you want to preserve trust with stakeholders and customers.

A final thought to carry forward

Incidents are stressful, yes. They’re also occasions to demonstrate what a well-oiled team can do when roles are clean and the chain of command is tight. The IC is the compass, not the electrician, not the comms associate, not the scheduler. Give the IC a reliable crew, give the crew clear duties, and you’ll see the incident resolve quicker with less noise and fewer mistakes.

If you’re organizing an incident response this week, take a moment to map out roles, rehearse the handoffs, and confirm who owns what. The result isn’t just a faster fix; it’s a calmer, more confident response that people remember long after the incident is closed. And that’s what great incident management is all about.