POC Recovery
📝 Context
The POC isn't working as expected - technical issues, missing success criteria, or the customer is losing confidence. This is critical - POCs often determine whether you win the deal. Recover systematically.
📋 Assessment Checklist
- [ ] What's actually broken? (Be specific)
- [ ] What success criteria are at risk?
- [ ] How much time is left in the POC?
- [ ] What's the customer's current sentiment?
- [ ] What resources do you need to fix it?
- [ ] Is this recoverable or should you pivot?
🎯 Recovery Framework
Step 1: Assess the Situation
- What's working vs. what's not?
- Which success criteria are still achievable?
- What's the root cause? (Technical, scope, expectations?)
- How much time do you have?
- What's the customer's mood? (Frustrated, patient, checked out?)
Step 2: Communicate Transparently
- Don't hide problems - be transparent
- Acknowledge what's not working
- Share your plan to fix it
- Set realistic expectations
- Get their input on priorities
Step 3: Prioritize and Focus
- What success criteria matter most?
- What can you fix quickly?
- What should you deprioritize?
- Focus on must-haves, not nice-to-haves
Step 4: Execute Recovery Plan
- Fix critical issues first
- Validate incrementally
- Keep customer updated on progress
- Show progress, even if small
- Don't go silent
Step 5: Reassess and Adjust
- Are you making progress?
- Is the customer re-engaging?
- Do you need to adjust success criteria?
- Should you extend the POC timeline?
🎯 Common POC Failure Scenarios
Technical Issues Blocking Progress
- Timebox troubleshooting ⏱️ 30-60 min
- Escalate to engineering if needed
- Consider workarounds or alternative approaches
- Document what you've tried
- Be transparent with customer about blockers
Success Criteria Not Met
- Which criteria are at risk and why?
- Can you adjust scope to focus on achievable criteria?
- Are the criteria realistic? (May need to renegotiate)
- Can you demonstrate partial success?
- Document what was achieved vs. what wasn't
Customer Losing Confidence
- Schedule a checkpoint call
- Listen to their concerns
- Address issues directly
- Show what is working
- Re-align on priorities and expectations
- Consider extending timeline if needed
Timeline Running Out
- Assess what's achievable in remaining time
- Prioritize must-have success criteria
- Consider requesting timeline extension
- Be honest about what can be accomplished
- Focus on quality over quantity
🎯 Recovery Actions
If Technical Issues
- Use Troubleshooting framework
- Escalate to engineering with Requesting help
- Consider alternative approaches or workarounds
- Document issues and resolutions
- Keep customer informed
If Scope Issues
- Refer back to original scope document
- Identify what's out of scope that's blocking
- Consider scope adjustment (document and get approval)
- Focus on core use cases
- See Scope Creep for managing scope
If Timeline Issues
- Assess what's achievable
- Request extension if needed (with justification)
- Prioritize critical success criteria
- Be realistic about what can be done
If Relationship Issues
- Schedule face-to-face or video call
- Listen to concerns without being defensive
- Address issues directly
- Rebuild confidence with small wins
- Consider Escalation if needed
🎯 When to Pivot vs. Persevere
Pivot If:
- Core functionality fundamentally doesn't work
- Success criteria are completely unrealistic
- Customer has completely checked out
- Timeline is impossible even with extension
- Relationship is irreparably damaged
Persevere If:
- Issues are fixable with time/resources
- Customer is still engaged
- Partial success is valuable
- Relationship is salvageable
- Success criteria can be adjusted
⚠️ Gotchas
- Not communicating problems early - they compound
- Trying to fix everything - prioritize and focus
- Hiding issues from customer - transparency builds trust
- Not reassessing - adjust course if needed
- Giving up too early - many POCs recover
- Not documenting what you tried - wastes time