War-game a supplier exit plan by proving each dependency class has a named owner, a measured exception window, and a reverse path before the plan starts governing every supplier offboard.
Supplier exit plans fail when "exited" means a status without a decision artifact, when teams dual-count a draft cutover as both approved and live, and when high-risk dependency paths still pin to one thin buyer roster because the map is incomplete. The review needs one written inventory of dependency classes, one owner who can deny a risky shortcut, and a documented consequence when a failed exception ages past the deadline.
What must be on the desk
Bring the supplier map, exit tools in use, last exit incidents, open dependency tickets, and one case where a delayed offboard hurt a cost or risk narrative. State the decision: clear the exit plan, revise specific controls, or hold until a freeze owner is named. Include which product or engineering systems still bypass the same review.
List dependency classes by system, exception window, owner roster, last skip reason, and evidence required to keep the exit. Attach overdue cutovers and any emergency waiver in the last quarter. Name which classes are out of scope and why.
Decision gates
- Roster proof. Every critical dependency class has at least two named owners who completed a timed dry run in the last quarter.
- Exception proof. Exports show when each exception expires and who receives the overdue alert.
- Exit proof. Logged cutovers list owner, cohort, and restore path; shared overrides fail the gate.
- Conflict proof. No buyer certifies their own standing exception without a second set of eyes.
- Abort proof. A named person can freeze exit exceptions at week end without waiting for the system owner.
Run four cases in Pingpong: a team still pinned to one overloaded category buyer, an exception that left a dependency live without procurement review, a class that mixed security and spend criteria, and a request to skip a production exit because volume is rare. Start from the documented exit language. Ask who can extend an exception window and which export proves completion. Any step that depends on an unnamed person becomes a freeze condition.
Replay one prior supplier exit under the proposed rules. If the incident would still age without a reverse owner, revise the rules before calling the plan ready.
Pair with the procurement ops lead seat, a sole-source exception stress test, a RFP scorecard rewrite, and a vendor exit stress test. More operating decisions live in the war-game decisions hub.
Close only when approved and blocked labels can be reproduced from stored exports without a verbal override.