Use this as a written practice worksheet
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The pilot is tomorrow. A required review is not ready.
The fictional team has built the support assistant, but its source owner needs two more days to approve the knowledge base. A sponsor asks the project manager to keep the announced pilot date.
- The pilot requires approved sources and a rehearsed human handoff.
- Synthetic cases are available and may be used for internal rehearsal.
- The project manager coordinates the decision; they cannot approve sources for the owner.
Include the blocked dependency, work that continues, role owners, next decision time, and sponsor update.
Why can the proposed work continue safely, and who has authority to unblock the pilot?
- Run an internal rehearsal and replan the pilot: Keep the approval dependency visible and name the next owner-led decision.
Scripted guidance for this choice
This separates useful progress from pilot readiness. Your plan needs allowed work, the blocked activity, named role owners, a checkpoint, and what the sponsor will hear.
- Pilot now and obtain approval afterward: Record source review as follow-up work.
Scripted guidance for this choice
Moving the required review after the pilot changes the release boundary. Keep it blocking, and identify rehearsal work that can continue without that permission.
- Stop all team work for two days: Wait without changing the delivery plan.
Scripted guidance for this choice
The release is blocked, but independent work can still reduce risk. Name the rehearsals and handoff preparation that are safe to do, alongside the owner and decision checkpoint.
Review criteria
- A usable dependency map: Does the plan distinguish the blocked pilot from work that can safely continue?
Hold pilot access; rehearse synthetic cases, human escalation, and recovery while awaiting source approval.
- Owners and checkpoints: Does each decision have a responsible role, a time to revisit it, and evidence needed to proceed?
Source owner reviews Thursday; delivery lead convenes the checkpoint after source approval and the support handoff rehearsal.
- An honest update: Can the sponsor understand the change, impact, next action, and open uncertainty without a false delivery promise?
The Wednesday pilot is held. Rehearsal continues; the next date will be decided after the required evidence is reviewed.
Revise your attempt
Turn the plan into something your team could act on without guessing. Repair one missing dependency, owner, checkpoint, or communication detail.
Approval arrives. The operator is unavailable.
The knowledge base is now approved, but the support operator who owns escalations cannot attend the pilot or handoff rehearsal. The sponsor thinks approval means the pilot is ready.
- An unattended escalation queue would leave difficult requests without an accountable receiver.
- A substitute operator may be assigned, but must rehearse the handoff before the pilot.
What dependency changed, who owns it now, and what must happen before the pilot?
Explain why the previous approval is not sufficient.
- Assign and rehearse with a responsible operator: Keep the pilot held until coverage and the handoff are demonstrated.
Scripted guidance for this choice
Source approval and operating coverage are separate dependencies. Update the readiness decision, name the receiver, and rehearse a difficult request before confirming the pilot.
- Launch because the source review passed: Let escalations wait until the operator returns.
Scripted guidance for this choice
A passed source review does not create an operating owner. Your plan must cover the human part of the workflow before exposure.
- Name a substitute and proceed immediately: Send the runbook as the handoff.
Scripted guidance for this choice
A name on a plan is not a demonstrated handoff. Have the substitute use the runbook on a difficult case and repair what they cannot do.
Run a five-minute delivery review with a teammate. Ask them to name the next decision, its owner, and what could still block it.
