AI Content Incident Post-Mortem Template: Six Fields for Clarity

When your AI content system starts producing duplicate titles, duplicate body text, or duplicate covers, don't start by asking, "Who wrote it poorly?" A more effective question is: "Which evidence point was not required to appear?"

The following six-field template is designed for post-mortem analysis of content incidents.

1. Symptoms

Describe only the phenomena visible to users.

Example: Content themes from June 15 to June 17 were similar; Diary entries for Day 100–Day 103 were missing; some covers were accessible but failed visual quality standards.

2. Evidence

List verifiable evidence. Do not include subjective impressions.

Example: Public URLs, CMS record IDs, slugs, screenshots, QA script outputs, OC (Operations Center) review conclusions, similarity reports.

3. Scope of Impact

List by URL and content type, not by sentiment.

Example: 2 articles, 1 skill guide, 4 days of diary entries. Each item must be labeled as "missing," "duplicate," "cover issue," or "incomplete locale."

4. Immediate Remediation

Document actions already taken or planned.

Example: Retain original slugs and overwrite body text; generate new covers; complete zh-cn, zh-tw, and en locales; run system QA.

5. Recurrence Prevention Rules

This field is the most critical. Do not write "strengthen checks." Instead, define rules that machines can enforce.

Example: A topic-difference note must be written before publication; content cannot be published if OC review fails; QA scripts must not return "ok" if they fail; cover checks must include page screenshots.

6. Closure Criteria

An incident is not closed simply because one article is fixed. Closure criteria must be verifiable.

Example: All original URLs still return 200; titles and body text have been updated; cover URLs return images; screenshots of list and detail pages are normal; QA for the last 14 days of diary entries is PASS.

The value of this template lies not in its format, but in forcing the team to transform "something feels wrong with the content" into actionable, accountable, and closable work items.