poc-success-criteria

name

poc-success-criteria

description

Decide if a POC is warranted and, if so, write measurable success + exit criteria a champion signs before kickoff, scope a time-boxed plan, and build the evaluation scorecard that converts a passed POC to a technical win. Reach for this when a prospect asks for a proof-of-concept or pilot, or when an SE needs to keep a POC from sprawling. Used by `poc-evaluation-lead` (primary) and `sales-engineer`.

Skill: poc-success-criteria

Invoked by: poc-evaluation-lead (primary); sales-engineer when a deal turns toward a POC.

When to invoke: "the prospect wants a POC"; "what are the success criteria?"; "scope this pilot"; "the POC is done — did we win?".

Output: a go/no-go verdict, signed success + exit criteria, a time-boxed scope, and (on completion) a scorecard — using ../../templates/poc-success-criteria.md.

Procedure

1. Gate first. Traverse the build-the-POC? tree in ../../knowledge/se-engagement-decision-trees.md: qualified pain? a champion who'll drive it? explicit decision criteria? a reachable definition of success? If any is missing, recommend the cheaper alternative (tailored demo, reference call, guided sandbox) and stop.
2. Write 3-6 measurable success criteria tied to the discovered pain. Each must be testable ("imports a 1M-row file in < 5 min", not "is fast") and owned (who verifies it). Per ../../knowledge/poc-and-evaluation-best-practices.md.
3. Write the matching exit/kill rules. Each criterion gets a pass/fail test; the POC overall gets a kill rule (what ends it early) and an extend rule (the one condition under which you add time). A POC you can't fail is one you can't win.
4. Time-box and scope. Set the duration, in-scope/out-of-scope, the data + environment prerequisites, and the milestone checkpoints. Name what is explicitly not being proven so the POC doesn't drift into an unpaid implementation.
5. Get the champion's signature on the criteria + scope before kickoff. Unsigned criteria move the moment results arrive.
6. Score honestly on completion. Criterion-by-criterion pass / partial / fail against the signed definitions. Route a failed criterion to a workaround, a roadmap item, or an honest no — never restate a fail as a pass.

Output

The signed success/exit criteria + scoped, time-boxed plan; on completion, the scorecard + a technical-win summary the champion takes internally.

Anti-patterns this skill prevents

• An open-ended POC with no written success criteria ("we'll know it when we see it").
• Success criteria with no exit/kill rule (un-failable → un-winnable).
• Scope creep into a free implementation.
• Starting before the champion signs.
• Spinning a failed criterion as a pass.