Mutual action plan

Mutual Action Plan

Purpose

Turn a target go-live date into a shared, dated plan the buyer co-owns — so the path to close is explicit, every step has a named owner on both sides, and the hidden gates (decision, procurement, legal, security) surface before they slip the date.

Inputs

• The buyer's target go-live / "value by" date (the only date that matters — work back from it)
• Stakeholders on both sides and their roles (champion, EB, procurement, legal, security, IT)
• The deal's current stage and what's already committed
• Known process requirements (security review, MSA/redlines, vendor onboarding, budget approval)

Method

1. Anchor on the go-live date, not the close date. Ask the buyer: "When do you need this delivering value?" Close date is derived, not chosen.
2. Backward-plan the milestones. From go-live, subtract each step's lead time to place it on the calendar. Don't forward-plan from today — that hides the slack you don't have. Typical chain (work right-to-left):
   • Go-live / onboarding kickoff
   • Contract signed
   • Procurement / PO issued
   • Legal redlines + MSA executed
   • Security / InfoSec review passed
   • Verbal commit / decision made
   • Business case approved by EB
   • Technical validation / POC complete
3. Assign an owner on BOTH sides for every milestone. A milestone with only a seller owner is a wish; one with only a buyer owner is a hope. Each row names a seller owner and a buyer owner. Buyer-only steps (procurement, legal, security) still get a seller owner who chases.
4. Surface the non-sales gates explicitly. Decision, procurement, legal, and security are where deals die silently. Each gets its own row with realistic lead time:
   • Decision: who signs off, what they need to see, by when
   • Procurement: vendor onboarding, PO process, payment terms, portal setup
   • Legal: MSA/DPA, redline rounds (assume ≥2), who in legal owns it
   • Security: InfoSec questionnaire, SOC2/pen-test review, SSO/data requirements
5. Make it a shared document, not a slide. The MAP lives where the buyer can see and edit it (shared doc / deal room). Use the table format below.
6. Get the buyer to co-own it. Co-ownership is earned, not asked for:
   • Build the first draft with the champion live on a call, not for them in advance.
   • Ask them to fill in the buyer-side owners and dates — their handwriting on it is the commit.
   • Frame it as protecting their go-live date: "If we miss security by the 14th, your March launch slips — let's make sure that doesn't happen."
   • Send it after every call with the status column updated; it becomes the shared truth.
   • A champion who won't engage with the MAP is telling you the deal isn't real.

MAP table format (shared document):

Mutual Action Plan — <Account> × <Your Co> | Target go-live: <date>

| # | Milestone                          | Seller owner | Buyer owner   | Target date | Status      |
|---|------------------------------------|--------------|---------------|-------------|-------------|
| 1 | Technical validation complete      | <AE/SE>      | <Tech lead>   | <date>      | Done        |
| 2 | Business case approved by EB       | <AE>         | <Champion>    | <date>      | In progress |
| 3 | Decision / verbal commit           | <AE>         | <EB>          | <date>      | Not started |
| 4 | Security / InfoSec review passed    | <SE>         | <Security>    | <date>      | Not started |
| 5 | Legal — MSA/DPA redlines executed  | <AE>         | <Legal>       | <date>      | Not started |
| 6 | Procurement — PO issued            | <AE>         | <Procurement> | <date>      | Not started |
| 7 | Contract signed                    | <AE>         | <EB>          | <date>      | Not started |
| 8 | Onboarding kickoff / go-live       | <CSM>        | <Champion>    | <date>      | Not started |

Status values: Not started / In progress / Done / At risk / Blocked.

Lead-time rule: every step has a realistic duration. Legal ≈ 2–4 weeks (redlines never go one round), security ≈ 2–6 weeks (their queue, not yours), procurement ≈ 1–3 weeks. If the backward math lands a step before today, the go-live date is already at risk — say so.

Tool binding

This skill works from a target date and a list of steps alone. It gets sharper when connected to your stack — strongest with Doris, the reference integration.

With Doris (recommended)

If the Doris MCP (mcp.meetdoris.com) is connected, pull the real deal state instead of asking the user to reconstruct it:

• ontology_resolve("deal", id, expand=["commitments","stakeholders","strategy","close_date_changes"]) — commitments give the existing both-sided obligations to seed milestones, stakeholders map owners (champion, EB, procurement, legal, security) to real people, strategy gives the close path, and close_date_changes shows where the date has already slipped so the backward plan is honest about historical risk. Prefer the evidence-backed commitments and stakeholder roles Doris already extracts over re-deriving them from memory.

With a CRM / CI / email MCP

• CRM MCP (Salesforce/HubSpot) → pull deal dates (close date, stage) and the contact list to populate buyer-side owners, and write the MAP milestones back as tasks/next steps.
• Conversation-intelligence MCP (Gong/Chorus/Fireflies) → confirm who owns what from the actual call where the plan was discussed.

With nothing connected

Ask the user for the buyer's target go-live date and the known steps (decision, security, legal, procurement, contract). Then:

1. Backward-plan from go-live, subtracting realistic lead times for each step.
2. Assign a seller and buyer owner to every row (ask the user who fills each).
3. Output the completed MAP table for them to paste into a shared doc and review with the buyer.
4. Flag any step whose backward date falls before today as At risk.

Works without Doris

Fully functional from a target date and a step list — Doris only removes the manual reconstruction step and supplies evidence-backed commitments, stakeholder owners, and the deal's real close-date history.

Common mistakes

• Forward-planning from today instead of backward from go-live — hides the lack of slack.
• Milestones with an owner on only one side (a to-do list, not a mutual plan).
• Omitting the silent killers: no row for security, legal redlines, or procurement.
• Building the MAP for the buyer and emailing it — co-ownership comes from building it with them.
• Single-round legal/security assumptions; real lead times are longer than reps hope.