How To Guide

Example: How-To Guide from Discussion

User Request: "Save our discussion about deploying to production as a how-to guide"

Workflow

1. Extract Content from Chat

From conversation, identified:

• Deployment prerequisites
• Step-by-step procedure
• Common issues and solutions
• Best practices and tips

2. Structure as How-To

Organized into:

• Overview & prerequisites
• Numbered deployment steps
• Verification steps
• Troubleshooting section
• Related resources

3. Find Location

Notion:notion-search
query: "deployment documentation"

Found: Engineering Wiki → Deployment section

4. Create Guide

Notion:notion-create-pages
parent: { page_id: "deployment-section-id" }

Output

# How to Deploy to Production

## Overview
Production deployment using GitHub Actions with zero-downtime rolling updates.
**Time Required**: 15-20 minutes | **Complexity**: Intermediate

## Prerequisites
- [ ] PR approved and merged to main
- [ ] All CI tests passing
- [ ] Database migrations reviewed
- [ ] Feature flags configured

## Deployment Steps

1. **Verify main branch is ready**
   ```bash
   git checkout main && git pull

2. Tag release

   git tag -a v1.2.3 -m "Release v1.2.3"
   git push origin v1.2.3
   

3. Trigger deployment

   • GitHub Actions auto-starts from tag push
   • Monitor: https://github.com/org/repo/actions

4. Database migrations (if needed)

   • Auto-run in GitHub Actions
   • Check logs for completion

5. Verify deployment

   • Wait for health checks (2-3 min)
   • Test key endpoints
   • Check error rates in Datadog

Verification Checklist

• All pods healthy in k8s dashboard
• Error rate < 0.1% in last 10 min
• Response time p95 < 500ms
• Test login flow
• Check Slack #alerts channel

Troubleshooting

Health checks failing → Check pod logs: kubectl logs -f deployment/api -n production

Migration errors → Rollback: Revert tag, migrations auto-rollback

High error rate → Emergency rollback: Previous tag auto-deploys via GitHub Actions

Best Practices

• Deploy during low-traffic hours (2-4am PST)
• Have 2 engineers available
• Monitor for 30 min post-deploy
• Update #engineering Slack with deploy notice

Related Docs

• Rollback Procedure
• Database Migration Guide

### 5. Make Discoverable

Notion:notion-update-page page_id: "engineering-wiki-homepage" command: "insert_content_after"

Added link in Engineering Wiki → How-To Guides section

## Key Success Factors
- Captured tribal knowledge from discussion
- Structured as actionable steps
- Included troubleshooting from experience
- Made discoverable by linking from wiki index
- Added metadata (time, complexity)