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Shadow on-call

Shadowing is a role in an on-call schedule that monitors or aids the existing on-calls. It's commonly used for:

  • Training new on-call staff, where a more experienced person oversees and helps out
  • Monitoring activity, like a department or tech lead getting notified alongside the on-call rotation
  • Supplementing, like joining the on-call rotation for an hour to help with a change or to preempt noise or alerts related to a task
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Anyone shadowing is notified at the same time as anyone in the schedule or stage being shadowed!

Shadow a shift​

It's common for folks new to an on-call rotation to work with a shadow for the first few shifts. When your new friend is scheduled for their first shift, add yourself as a shadow so you receive copies of any pages:

  1. Go to the Schedule page and click + Add shadow in the left sidebar. You'll see a form:

    Adding a new shadow to the schedule.

  2. Select yourself as the user that's shadowing.

  3. Choose which stage you'd like to observe. If left blank, you'll observe the whole schedule.

  4. Set an End time, when the shadow period should terminate. For example, if you're shadowing a new staff member, align your end time with the end of their stint.

    If you'd to shadow indefinitely, leave the End time unset. You can always remove it later.