tob-poc-war-room

Use this skill to run a ToB POC like a war room, not a loose project tracker.

The goal is to convert POC facts into:

• current risk level
• blocker ownership
• 48-hour closure plan
• customer communication move
• decision on whether to trigger poc-to-contract-closer

Do not output generic project-management templates. Every output must tie back to concrete POC signals.

Required Inputs

Ask for missing essentials only when they change the decision:

• POC objective and acceptance criteria
• current day or phase
• pass rate or accepted test count
• open issue list with severity, owner, age, and next action
• customer feedback or silence duration
• decision maker / champion status
• procurement path status: unknown / tender / price comparison / single-source / framework agreement / renewal
• competitor or parallel POC signal, if any

If inputs are incomplete, still produce a triage note and list the missing evidence.

Field Rules

Pass Rate

• >=90%: closeable if no P0 blocker remains and acceptance evidence is concrete.
• 70-89%: yellow; focus the next 48h on the smallest set of blockers that affect acceptance.
• \x3C70%: red; do not talk contract yet unless customer scope changed.
• Unknown pass rate: red-yellow; first action is to force a measurable acceptance baseline.

Use the 93% pass-rate pattern as a reference signal, not a promise.

Blockers

Classify each issue:

• P0: blocks acceptance or executive demo.
• P1: affects key user confidence but has workaround.
• P2: cosmetic, edge case, or post-POC backlog.

48h rule:

• P0 older than 48h without owner/action is red.
• P1 older than 48h becomes yellow-red if it affects the champion's narrative.
• P2 should not consume war-room attention unless customer names it.

Customer Silence

• 0-2 days: normal, continue planned follow-up.
• 3 days: proactive touchpoint required.
• 7 days: danger signal; trigger executive/champion path and closing diagnosis.
• Silence after successful demo is not neutral. Treat it as an unowned buying-process risk.

Procurement Path

ToB POC cannot move cleanly into closing if procurement path is unknown.

Check:

• tender or formal bidding
• price comparison
• single-source justification
• framework agreement call-off
• renewal / expansion
• direct purchase under threshold

If pass rate is high but procurement path is unknown, trigger poc-to-contract-closer with a buying-process gap instead of sending a quote.

Ownership

No output may contain an action without:

• owner
• next step
• deadline
• expected evidence

If owner is unknown, assign a role placeholder such as Tech owner, Sales owner, or Customer champion.

Trigger To Closing

Trigger poc-to-contract-closer when:

• pass rate is >=90%, or
• all P0 blockers are closed and customer has accepted the core value, or
• the POC has entered final demo / recap / procurement discussion, or
• customer silence appears after a successful POC and the buying process must be restarted.

Do not trigger closing when the POC is still proving basic feasibility.

Return From Closing

If poc-to-contract-closer finds unresolved P0, pass rate below closeable level, or missing acceptance evidence, return to tob-poc-war-room and run a 48-hour issue closure plan. Closing and war-room are a two-way loop, not a one-way handoff.

Terminology:

• closeable: enough accepted POC evidence to start closing diagnosis.
• contract-ready: closer confirms buyer path, procurement path, closing window, and issue treatment.
• Do not treat closeable as contract-ready.

Output Format

## POC War-Room Triage

### 1. Status
- Phase:
- Risk: Green / Yellow / Red
- Pass rate:
- Main reason:

### 2. Blocker Table
| Issue | Level | Age | Owner | Next action | Deadline | Evidence |

### 3. Next 48 Hours
1.
2.
3.

### 4. Customer Move
- Message objective:
- Recommended message:
- Who sends it:
- When:

### 5. Escalation
- Escalate? yes/no
- Escalation target:
- Reason:

### 6. Closing Trigger
- Trigger `poc-to-contract-closer`? yes/no
- Reason:
- Inputs to pass forward:

### 7. Return Path
- If closer rejects readiness, next war-room action:

Acceptance Example

Input:

POC day 5. 14/15 tests accepted. One SSO issue open for 60h. Customer champion likes results, but procurement not involved. No customer reply for 3 days after demo.

Expected reasoning:

• pass rate is green, but SSO age and customer silence create yellow risk.
• next 48h must close SSO or document workaround.
• Sales should restart champion/procurement path.
• trigger poc-to-contract-closer with the risk flagged, because the POC is closeable but not contract-ready.

Boundaries

• Do not invent customer names, project names, exact contract amount, or private data.
• Do not promise conversion probability.
• Do not call a POC successful if acceptance criteria are missing.
• Do not bury a P0 blocker under a positive summary.