Playbook Maintenance

Use this process to turn engagement retrospectives into reusable improvements across the playbook instead of letting lessons stay isolated in lessons/.

Review Cadence

Run a maintenance review monthly if the team is actively adding retrospectives, or quarterly if retrospective volume is low. Schedule the review before planning new enablement work so guide and template updates can be prioritized alongside new content.

Review Inputs

Before the review, gather:

• New or updated retrospectives in lesson retrospectives
• Recent issues, PR feedback, or field notes that mention playbook gaps
• Any templates, scripts, customer-facing examples, or internal artifacts referenced by retrospectives

Review Process

1. Review new retrospectives

   • Read every retrospective added since the last maintenance review.
   • Capture the outcome, root causes, action items, and artifacts worth saving.
   • Note whether each lesson identifies a playbook update, example, or battle card.

2. Identify repeated patterns

   • Group similar failures, successful tactics, customer objections, environment constraints, and escalation triggers.
   • Prioritize patterns that appear across multiple engagements or represent high-impact risk.
   • Distinguish one-off context from reusable guidance.

3. Update relevant guides and templates

   • Add or refine guidance in the lifecycle area where the lesson applies, such as pre-sales/, implementation/, environments/, recovery/, or templates/.
   • Prefer small, practical updates: checklist items, decision points, warning signs, sample language, or validation steps.
   • Link back to supporting lessons when the context helps future readers understand why the guidance exists.

4. Add new battle cards or examples

   • Convert repeated objections, failure modes, or recovery patterns into reusable battle cards when a reader needs fast tactical guidance.
   • Convert strong artifacts into examples when they help readers copy, adapt, or compare against real-world output.
   • Keep examples sanitized and product/customer-neutral unless explicit approval exists to share details.

5. Archive outdated advice

   • Remove guidance that is no longer accurate, safe, or aligned with current practice.
   • Replace outdated recommendations with current guidance rather than leaving contradictory notes in place.
   • If historical context is still useful, mark it clearly as deprecated and explain what superseded it.

6. Close the loop

   • Record which files changed as a result of the review.
   • Open issues for larger improvements that cannot be completed during the review.
   • Update the reviewed retrospectives or review notes so future maintainers can see what was incorporated.

Maintenance Checklist

Use this checklist during each review:

• [ ] Reviewed all new or changed files in lessons/ since the last review
• [ ] Identified repeated patterns, risks, objections, and successful tactics
• [ ] Updated relevant guides, templates, or checklists
• [ ] Added or refreshed battle cards/examples where tactical reuse is valuable
• [ ] Archived or replaced outdated advice
• [ ] Created follow-up issues for larger improvements
• [ ] Documented which playbook files changed because of the review

Suggested Review Output

Capture a short summary in the PR, issue, or review notes:

## Maintenance Review: YYYY-MM

Retrospectives reviewed:
- `lessons/example-retro.md`

Patterns found:
- Pattern 1
- Pattern 2

Playbook updates made:
- `path/to/file.md` — what changed and why

Follow-ups:
- [ ] Larger improvement or owner/date