A product outage affects your customer, and there is no confirmed recovery time. What would you tell them?

Example Answer

I'd use the incident facts confirmed by Support or the incident owner and explain what we know, what we do not know and what the customer can do safely. I'd ask which workflow is affected so I can pass the business impact to the response team.

I'd say: “I'm sorry this has interrupted your work. The team is investigating the outage, and we do not have a confirmed recovery time yet. I'll make sure your affected workflow is included in the incident record. Let's check whether there is an approved workaround, and agree when you will hear from me again, even if the investigation is still ongoing.”

I'd keep that update commitment, distinguish a confirmed workaround from a suggestion, and use the designated channel so the customer does not receive conflicting explanations. Once service is restored, I'd confirm their workflow works and arrange an appropriate follow-up on impact and prevention. I'd coordinate any credit request with the people authorized to assess it.

Make it your own

Use the incident owner’s verified facts, approved workaround and update process. Choose an update commitment you can actually keep.

Why this works

It gives the customer useful information and a dependable contact without inventing a recovery time or taking over incident management.

Interviewer follow-up

The customer demands a recovery time immediately. What would you say?

I'd acknowledge why they need a time and explain that an unsupported estimate could disrupt their planning further. I'd share the latest verified status, ask which decision depends on recovery and help identify an approved alternative if one exists. I'd give the next update commitment, while leaving the recovery estimate with the incident owner.

References

• GitLab customer success operating handbook