Swarming

What it is

Swarming is a support model where a difficult ticket stays with one owner, who brings in specialists to work on it collaboratively, often in a shared channel, rather than escalating it through tiers.

Why it matters

It cuts handoffsHandoffPassing ownership of a ticket from one person or team to another. and gets hard tickets resolved faster, but it pulls senior people and engineers into many conversations.

Best practices

1. Keep one owner – The swarm helps; it doesn't take over.
2. Bring evidence to the swarm – Don't ask experts to start from zero.
3. Capture the answer – Turn the result into a note or article.

How Decimal helps

Decimal does the first round of investigation before a swarm forms, so experts only join when the evidence says they're needed.