Escalation Playbook

Three escalation lanes

Escalations aren't a single channel. They route to different people for different reasons. Knowing the right lane keeps escalations from feeling like "FDE flailing" and turns them into "FDE doing professional ops hygiene."

Platform escalation

For: "the platform doesn't do X and the customer needs it" or "extraction quality on this layout class is structurally bad" or "we found a bug."

Routes to

• Platform PM (for product-shaping requests).
• Engineering lead (for bugs / regressions).
• Sometimes a vertical owner (e.g., "owner of the SAP integration") for system-specific issues.

What to include in the write-up

1. Customer impact. Which customer, what use case, how visible to them.
2. Concrete evidence. Sample documents, failed extractions, accuracy metrics. Not "this seems wrong" — specific exhibits.
3. What you've tried. Workarounds attempted, why they didn't work or aren't sustainable.
4. What you need. A bug fix? A feature? A doc? A new model version? Be specific.
5. Timeline urgency. Customer expectation date and what slips if it's missed.
6. What you can do in the meantime. Workarounds, temporary HITL coverage, scope adjustment — so platform knows the deployment isn't entirely blocked.

The pattern

Platform escalations work best when they come with a customer-evidence narrative. "Customer X says feature Y is broken" is weak. "Customer X's 2018 supplier contracts (sample attached) all extract effective_date wrong because the layout is rotated 90° and the parser doesn't detect rotation — see screenshots" is strong. The second one becomes a JIRA ticket; the first becomes Slack noise.

Commercial escalation

For: scope changes, contract questions, customer-relationship friction, expansion opportunities, churn risks.

Routes to

• Account Executive (for scope, commercial questions, contract issues).
• Customer Success Manager (for relationship issues, advocacy, expansion).
• VP Sales (when the AE can't unblock).

What to include

1. The conversation. What was said, by whom, in what context.
2. Your read on intent. Is this a real request or a discovery question? Are they testing the waters or asking for action?
3. Commercial implications. Out-of-scope work? Different SLA? Premium tier?
4. Recommended response. What you'd say if you were the AE.
5. Your action while waiting. Are you stalling the customer or actively trying to figure it out?

The common case

"The customer asked for X." The AE needs to know:

• Is X in scope per working agreement? If yes, just do it.
• If not, is X small enough to absorb? Or does it warrant a scope-change conversation?
• If a scope-change conversation, what's the right framing — expansion, swap, deferral?

Don't decide unilaterally on scope changes. The AE owns the commercial frame; you own the technical inputs. Escalating to them isn't weakness — it's role discipline.

Leadership escalation

For: this deployment is at risk; this customer is becoming a reference risk; this account is structurally larger than the FDE function can support; we're learning something the platform direction should respond to.

Routes to

• FDE Lead / Manager (first stop).
• VP CX / VP Engineering (when the manager can't unblock).
• Executive sponsor on your side (when the customer-side escalation has to be matched in seniority).

What to include

Same as platform / commercial, plus:

• What's at stake strategically. Renewal value, reference value, segment learning, etc.
• The decision you're asking them to make. Be specific — "approve a temporary resource allocation" vs "give me air cover for a difficult conversation" vs "pause this deployment until X."
• What you've done already. Internal leadership doesn't want to be the first to hear about a problem; they want to be the last to hear about it after you've exhausted lower-altitude options.

The cadence

If a leadership escalation might be coming, foreshadow it. Mention the risk in your monthly internal report. Note it in 1:1s with your manager. By the time you actually escalate, leadership should already be aware of the shape — your escalation is then a request for action, not a surprise announcement.

The "escalate early" instinct

New FDEs hesitate to escalate because it feels like admitting failure. Senior FDEs escalate early and often, and treat it as professional hygiene.

Why early beats late

• Early is cheap. A 30-minute platform conversation in week 4 prevents a 3-week rework in week 8.
• Early preserves trust. When leadership hears about an issue from you proactively, they trust your judgment. When they hear from the customer, they question it.
• Early surfaces options. The earlier the conversation, the more options are still on the table — reshape, defer, swap resources, change architecture. Late conversations have fewer.
• Early models good behavior for the customer-side team. They see how you escalate professionally, and they do the same back.

The "I'm not surprised by what I'm telling you" rule

The signal a senior FDE sends in an escalation is: "I'm not surprised by what I'm telling you. I've been watching this. Here's where we are, here's what I've tried, here's what I'm asking for."

Internal leadership hears that and knows you're managing the situation. The opposite — "I just discovered this is a problem" in week 8 — is what damages your credibility, not the escalation itself.

Escalation write-up template

# Escalation: [Short title]
Lane: [Platform / Commercial / Leadership]
Customer: [name]
Drafted: YYYY-MM-DD by [name]

## TL;DR
One sentence. What's broken / needed / at risk.

## Customer impact
- Use case affected:
- How visible to the customer today:
- What happens if we don't resolve in [timeline]:

## Evidence
- [Specific artifact 1]
- [Specific artifact 2]
- [Link to docs / sample / dashboard]

## What we've tried
1. [Attempt]: [Outcome]
2. [Attempt]: [Outcome]

## What I'm asking for
Be specific. A decision, a resource allocation, a fix, a conversation.

## What I'm doing in the meantime
- Workaround / containment in place: [description]
- Customer expectation set: [what you've told them]

## Timeline
- Customer expectation date:
- What slips if we miss:
- My ask-by date for the escalation owner:

## Context
Anything else they should know.

Anti-patterns

Slack-as-escalation

"Hey, the customer is asking for X — can someone help?" in a channel is not an escalation. It's noise. Use the write-up template; put it in the right channel with the right people tagged.

Escalating without trying

If you haven't documented what you tried, your escalation looks like a tossed problem. Always have at least one attempted workaround.

Multiple escalations on the same item

Don't escalate to platform, commercial, and leadership simultaneously hoping someone responds. Pick the right lane. If you're unsure which lane, escalate to your manager and ask.

Surprise escalations

If your manager has never heard of an issue before reading your escalation write-up, you've missed steps. Foreshadow in 1:1s.

Holding the issue too long

Trying to figure it out yourself for "just one more week" is the most common failure mode. If you've been blocked for 5+ business days, escalate. The clock is more expensive than the embarrassment of asking for help.