# Autoscaling policy misconfigured: first 30 minutes checklist

Source: https://releasefailures.com/incidents/autoscaling-policy-misconfigured/
Content version: 1.0.0
Verified on: 2026-10-22
Licence: CC BY 4.0

Definition: A scaling change fails to add capacity or scales to zero under load.
- [ ] FM-01 When latency or job-start alerts fire, compare the serving instance count with the minimum baseline.
- [ ] FM-02 Check whether the last deployment changed an auto-scaling rule or a capacity threshold value.
- [ ] FM-03 Roll back the scaling change before debugging it, because rolling back or reverting the change restored service in three of the five public reports.
- [ ] FM-04 If the rollback is slow, raise the instance count by hand to the peak-hours level.
- [ ] FM-05 Watch the queued backlog of workflow runs drain and declare recovery only after it clears.
- [ ] FM-06 Post a status update naming the affected cluster or service and the share of failed or delayed jobs.
- [ ] FM-07 Freeze further scaling configuration changes until a load test of the corrected rule passes.