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VP Sign-off

Experiment owners are responsible for securing VP sign-off. Sign-off isn’t a technically blocking step to launch - but your acceptance that you have communicated effectively to the VP(s) who would get any escalations if there is an incident. Good details avoid assumptions and delays by providing the information necessary for the VP(s) to have an informed opinion.

  • include why you are proposing this experiment and the risks that have been identified.
  • Including what has been done to reduce or mitigate that risk - or why the risk is worth accepting.

VP Sign-off is needed whenever:

  1. a partner is involved
  2. there’s potential revenue impact
  3. there is high-risk to brand

These experiments/rollouts are considered "Higher Risk" of incidents and require a VP sponsor to sign-off. If the experiment causes an issue - the people who it will escalate to should already be informed and have agreed with your risk/reward decision to the plan. This is to make sure product teams aren't making certain decisions without leadership support.

A sample email template is below. Include the link to the Experiment brief and Experimenter ticket in the email.

To: VP(s) cc: People related to experiment such as: Data Science, PM, Eng, EPM Summary: VP Sign-off Requested for (replace with Experiment Name)

Hi __, I am requesting VP Sign-off for (your experiment name): (link to your experiment study) and (link to experiment brief)* because:

  • List each specific risk and what has been done to reduce, mitigate, or accept each risk. Good details help reduce friction for VP to be able to OK, make suggestions, or block moving forward
  • Note: If there is a previous version of this study that had VP approved risk, please add "Risk approved in a previous version of this study here (link to that experimenter study). If there is a combo of previously approved risks and new risks (from study changes), please mark the new risks as "New".

These are the reasons why we think the risk is minimal or mitigated and we should still move forward:

  • List reasons this experiment is important - the justification for moving forward despite the risks

Please reply to all with any questions. If everything looks OK, please let us know. Thank you!