Choosing the right focus tags for a training module
Training modules fail when they try to cover everything. Focus tags are constraints: if the tags are messy, the module will be too.
Pick tags from three buckets
- Symptom: latency, errors, timeouts
- System: payments, auth, search
- Action: rollback, flag, scale
Limit each module
Three to five tags is enough. More than that, and the module turns into a wiki page.
Use tags for reuse
When a new incident happens, you can connect it to the right module by tags instead of rewriting content.
Review tags quarterly
If a tag is never used in incidents or questions, remove it. If a tag shows up constantly, consider a dedicated module.
Good tags keep training small, searchable, and honest.