Behind the Scenes: Shift-Based Schedules
The PagerDuty team lifts the hood on the newly rolled out Shift-Based Schedules. This session breaks down how PagerDuty is moving away from layer-based architecture to a flexible system that natively scales with modern engineering teams and naturally fits their workflows.
Timestamps:
00:00 - Introductions
03:25 - Why Reinvent Schedules? Product Manager Todd Murphy explains the historical context of moving away from layered scheduling systems toward a modern, AI-ready architecture
07:26 - What's Coming to the Roadmap: A discussion on upcoming self-service upgrade tools, Outlook calendar integrations, and automated gaps/conflict detection using AI
10:48 - Live Demo: Creating Shift-Based Schedules: Product Designer Kelsey demonstrates the refreshed UI, quick start templates (e.g., Follow-the-Sun, Work Week/Weekend), and how to manage shifts natively on a standard calendar view
14:37 - Rotations vs. Layers: Software Engineer Ken explains how the backend configuration language shifted focus to when coverage is needed and who provides it
15:58 - Unassigned Shifts & Double Coverage: A demo on leaving placeholder shifts for departing team members, configuring overlapping rotations, and setting up one-time custom shifts
19:29 - Managing Overrides: Demonstration of the new one-click overrides and time-range adjustments for holidays or team vacations
22:44 - Under the Hood (API & Terraform): Ken showcases automated syncing with custom Python scripts via the API and building schedules directly inside production environments using Terraform
29:56 - Architectural Redesign Overview: MJ breaks down the engineering effort behind the full-stack overhaul, highlighting data model coexistence to ensure zero system downtime
37:11 - Q&A Panel: The team answers community questions regarding primary vs. peer responders, guidance on when to use custom shifts vs. overrides, and how unassigned shifts behave during an incident
44:27 - Conclusion & Community Resources: Closing remarks, upcoming community events, and a final reminder for the next live broadcast
Speakers:
Ken Choate (Software Engineer)
Kelsey Yocum (Sr. Product Designer)
MJ (Sr. Engineering Manager)
Todd Murphy (Principal Product Manager)
Host: Mandi Walls (Sr. Developer Advocate)