The Shiftctl Blog
Honest comparisons, practical guides, and original research on on-call management and shift handovers.
On-Call Onboarding: How to Prepare a New Engineer for Their First Rotation
A structured 30-60-90 day plan for on-call onboarding — shadow shifts, readiness checklists, buddy systems, and how to reduce on-call anxiety for new engineers.
Read articleThe Hidden Cost of Shift Changes for MSPs: Why Tickets Get Lost Between Engineers
Shift-boundary failures cost MSPs thousands per month in lost productivity, unnecessary escalations, and client churn. Learn how structured handovers fix MSP ticket handover problems.
Read articleOpsgenie Is Shutting Down: What MSPs Need to Know (Migration Checklist)
Opsgenie shuts down April 2027. This MSP-specific migration guide covers the timeline, why MSPs face unique challenges, JSM pros and cons, and a practical migration checklist.
Read articleOn-Call Fairness: How to Measure and Fix Uneven Shift Burden
Equal rotation does not mean fair rotation. Learn how to measure on-call fairness with Difficulty-Weighted Hours, identify hidden inequities, and fix on-call burden distribution before your best engineers burn out.
Read articleOn-Call Difficulty Ratings: A Simple Metric That Transforms Shift Management
Introduce On-Call Difficulty Ratings to your SRE team. A 1-5 shift score that detects burnout early, drives fair scheduling, and justifies staffing decisions with real data.
Read articleOn-Call Handover Guide: Checklist, Templates & Best Practices (2026)
Build a structured on-call handover process that prevents context loss. Free checklist, templates, and best practices for SRE, DevOps, and MSP teams.
Read articleBest PagerDuty Alternatives in 2026
An honest comparison of 10 PagerDuty alternatives — what each tool does better, who it is built for, and how to choose the right one for your team.
Read article