After-Hours & Escalation Policy¶
What Counts as After Hours¶
After hours is defined as any time outside of 8:30am – 5:00pm AEST, including weekends and public holidays.
How We Handle After-Hours Issues¶
Trove does not currently operate a formal on-call roster. There is no dedicated on-call engineer, and no staff member is contractually obligated to respond outside business hours.
That said, we understand that real emergencies happen. If something genuinely urgent comes up outside business hours, here's how to handle it.
Step 1 - Post in the Urgent Slack Channel¶
For any after-hours issue, your first step is always to post in:
#urgent-bugs-questions-trove
Describe the issue clearly - what's happening, when it started, and what impact it's having. This creates a visible record and gives the team context if someone picks it up.
Use this channel sparingly
This channel is for genuine emergencies only - not for issues that can wait until the next business day. If it can wait, it should wait.
Step 2 - Direct Contact (Emergencies Only)¶
If you have posted in the Slack channel and the issue is a genuine emergency that cannot wait, you may attempt to reach the CTO directly via text, call, or WhatsApp.
Joshua Curci - CTO First and only point of direct after-hours contact for technical emergencies.
Direct contact is a last resort
Direct contact outside business hours should be reserved for situations where the business or its customers are being materially impacted right now - for example, the platform is completely down, there is a suspected data breach, or a critical payment system failure. It should not be used for bugs, minor issues, or things that are frustrating but not immediately harmful.
Response Time Expectations¶
All after-hours responses are made on a best-efforts basis. There is no guaranteed response time outside business hours. Do not assume a response will come immediately - or at all - until business hours resume.
If the issue is urgent enough to require immediate action and no response has been received, use your judgement and document what happened so the team can review it the next business day.
What Counts as an Emergency¶
When deciding whether something warrants after-hours contact, ask yourself:
- Is the platform completely unavailable to customers or brands right now?
- Is there an active data breach or suspected security incident?
- Is a critical payment or financial system failing in a way that cannot wait?
- Will waiting until tomorrow cause significant, irreversible harm?
If the answer to any of the above is yes - it's likely worth raising after hours.
If the issue is a bug, a slow feature, a non-critical error, or something a customer has reported that isn't actively impacting their ability to use the platform - it can wait until business hours.
During Business Hours¶
For urgent issues during business hours (8:30am – 5:00pm AEST), post in #urgent-bugs-questions-trove and tag the relevant team member directly.
See Communication & Collaboration and Slack Usage & Channel Guidelines for general guidance on how we communicate as a team.