On-Call Rotation: A Complete Guide to Best Practices
An on-call rotation is a schedule where team members are available to respond to incidents and ensure system reliability. Key elements include balanced scheduling, effective handoffs, post-mortem analysis, optimized alerting, and runbook maintenance. For global teams, the follow-the-sun model ensures 24/7 coverage, while single-region teams can rotate shifts quarterly. Tools like Squadcast, Prometheus, and Datadog streamline incident management and reduce workload. By implementing best practices, organizations can minimize downtime, improve response times, and foster a culture of reliability.














