Coverage and Scheduling

Where Do I Find My Schedule?

Your on-call schedule lives in Incident.io. This is our central source of truth.

How to Access It

  1. Log into Incident.io
  2. Go to Rotations or Schedule
  3. Find your team’s rotation

You can also:

  • Filter to see only your shifts (look for the filter option)
  • Set calendar notifications
  • See who’s on-call this week, next week, and beyond

Reading the Schedule

A typical schedule shows:

  • Your name or initials when you’re on-call
  • The dates and times of your shift
  • Your rotation “slot” (which week you’re covering)
  • Who’s on-call before and after you (helpful for handoffs)

Understanding Different Types of Coverage

24x5 (24 hours, 5 days)

You’re on-call Monday-Friday, 24 hours each day. You’re expected to respond even at 2 AM. This is typical for critical services.

Work Hours Only

You’re on-call during standard work hours in your timezone. For most timezones, this means approximately 9 AM - 5 PM local time. Some services or situations may require coverage to start 1-2 hours earlier or end 1-2 hours due to the diversity of timezones here at GitLab.

Multiple Rotations

There are multiple types of rotations:

  • Tier 2 On Call — Tier 2 SME on Call specific to DevOps (Rails)
  • IMOC — Incident Manager On Call

These should NOT be simultaneous. If you are in the IMOC rotation you should not be in the Tier 2 rotation and the reverse is also true.

Are You in Multiple Rotations?

If you are currently in the IMOC rotation and you have been selected for Tier 2 do the following:

  • Confirm with the tier2-sme-rollout slack channel that your offboarding will not negatively impact the IMOC rotation, if it does not then proceed with Offboarding from the IMOC rotation
  • Onboard ito the Tier 2 rotation

How Shifts Are Distributed Fairly

Your rotation leader considers:

  • Equal frequency — Everyone gets roughly the same number of shifts
  • Timezone fairness — Scheduling nights/weekends to balance across regions
  • Predictability — Publishing schedules far in advance so you can plan
  • Historical load — Not putting the same person on-call too many times in a row

Coverage Across Timezones and Domains

For geographically distributed teams, your rotation likely accounts for:

  • Timezone coverage — Making sure someone is awake during different times
  • Domain expertise — Ensuring the right specialist is on-call

For example, if you have engineers in San Francisco, Amsterdam, and Singapore:

  • Singapore engineer covers APAC hours
  • Amsterdam engineer covers EMEA hours
  • San Francisco engineer covers AMER hours
  • This way, someone knowledgeable is always available

What If My Shift Gets Reassigned?

Occasionally, circumstances require a change:

  • Someone calls out sick and needs coverage
  • Business priorities shift
  • There’s an error in the schedule

If this happens:

  1. You’ll get notified (usually by Slack or your rotation leader)
  2. You might swap with someone else
  3. Or an override might be created to reassign that period
  4. You should receive reasonable notice unless it’s an emergency

Viewing Future Coverage

You can typically see your on-call schedule:

  • 3-6 months in advance in Incident.io
  • This helps you plan vacation, major projects, etc.
  • If you have conflicts, let your rotation leader know early
Last modified October 19, 2025: drs-add-landing-page-tier2 (6f2cba79)
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