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Database Performance Degradation Template

Jan 19, 2026 | by OpenStatus | [performance]

Use this template when experiencing database performance issues, elevated latency, or query slowdowns. Ideal for engineering teams and technical stakeholders.

When to Use This Template

  • Elevated database latency
  • Slow query performance
  • Connection pool exhaustion
  • Database infrastructure issues

Template Messages

Investigating

We are experiencing elevated database latency affecting some features. Users may experience slower response times.

Our database team is actively investigating and working to restore normal performance levels.

Identified

We have identified the root cause. Our team is implementing a fix.

Monitoring

Database performance improvements have been deployed. Latency is returning to normal levels. We are continuing to monitor.

Resolved

Database performance has been fully restored. All queries are executing at normal speeds.

Real-World Examples

GitHub: "Infrastructure update to data stores"

Context: Data store infrastructure changes Duration: ~1.5 hours Impact: 1.8% combined failure rate, peaking at 10%

What they did well:

  • Quantified impact with specific percentages
  • Identified multiple affected services
  • Committed to post-incident RCA (Root Cause Analysis)
  • Provided precise UTC timestamps

Sample messaging: "Infrastructure update to data stores caused 1.8% combined failure rate, peaking at 10% across multiple services Jan 15, 16:40-18:20 UTC."

Fly.io: "Network instability in IAD region"

Context: Regional infrastructure issue Approach: Geographic specificity

What they did well:

  • Identified specific region (IAD = Ashburn, Virginia)
  • Focused on infrastructure layer
  • Technical but clear naming

This demonstrates the value of being specific about location when database issues are region-specific.

Tips for Technical Communication

  1. Include specific metrics when you have them (p95 latency, error rates, query times)
  2. Name the layer - application, database, network, storage
  3. Be technical if your audience is technical - don't oversimplify for engineers
  4. Quantify impact - "affecting 2% of queries" is better than "some users"
  5. Share root cause when resolved - technical teams appreciate learning

Customization Ideas

For developer audiences:

We are experiencing elevated p95 latency (2.5s vs normal 150ms)
on write operations to our primary PostgreSQL cluster.

Root cause: Connection pool exhaustion due to long-running
transactions from the reporting service.

Mitigation: Killed long-running queries, increased pool size
from 100 to 150 connections, added query timeouts.

For general users:

We are experiencing slower than normal response times for some
features. Our team is working to resolve this quickly.

Warning Signs to Monitor

Watch for these indicators that might trigger using this template:

  • P95 latency > 2x normal
  • Error rate > 1%
  • Connection timeouts
  • User reports of slowness
  • Database monitoring alerts

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