Before the board approves a rule that lets the company scale automatically, war-game the rule. Write the metric, the threshold, and how many consecutive periods it must hold. Name who confirms the trigger fired, exactly what it unlocks, and what rolls back if the numbers slip afterward. Then test it against two years of your own data. Paste the draft rule, metric definitions, historical results, and what it would release into one request. Instruct Pingpong to flag thresholds a single large deal could cross, metrics the person who benefits can influence, unlocks with no rollback, and rules that would have fired at the wrong moment in your own history. Review your written answers in a second round.
This page is for chief executives and finance leaders asking the board for standing permission to expand once agreed conditions are met, instead of returning for approval each time. Executive starting points live under Pingpong for executives.
Six parts of a trigger
- The metric: one or two numbers, defined the same way as in the board pack.
- The threshold: a figure, compared with plan, with one-off events excluded.
- The duration: how many consecutive months or quarters the threshold must hold.
- The confirmer: someone who does not benefit from the expansion checks the numbers and tells the board.
- The unlock: the exact budget, seats, or market entry released, often in tranches.
- The rollback: what pauses or reverses if a trailing measure slips after the trigger fires.
Why soft triggers turn into habit
Expansion rules are usually written in a good quarter, by people who want to expand. The first draft says something like "when pipeline is strong and the core business is on plan." Everyone nods. A few months later a large deal closes, one month looks excellent, and the leader who wrote the rule declares it met. Without a number, a duration, and an independent check, a trigger becomes a formality that approves whatever the most enthusiastic person wants. Directors will ask who decides the trigger fired, and they want the answer to be someone who does not gain.
A worked example
This example is illustrative and does not describe a customer. A software company wants standing approval to open a second sales region, with ten sales roles and $3 million in marketing, once the first region proves the model. The draft rule says the company may expand "when pipeline is strong and the first region is hitting plan."
The chief executive pastes the rule, eight quarters of results, pipeline history, and the budget.
A useful pass finds that "strong" and "hitting plan" are undefined. Tested against history, the rule as written would have fired twice: once in a quarter lifted by a single large contract, and once just before two quarters of misses. Pipeline is reported by the sales leader who would run the new region. The full $3 million and all ten roles unlock at once. Nothing says what happens if the first region weakens after the money is spent.
The revised rule fires when first-region net new recurring revenue reaches 105 percent of plan for two consecutive quarters, with any single deal above $500,000 excluded, while gross retention stays at or above 90 percent and acquisition cost payback stays at or below 20 months. All three use board pack definitions. The finance leader confirms the trigger and notifies the board within ten days. The first tranche releases five roles and $1 million. The second releases after those hires reach half of quota for two quarters. If payback passes 26 months for two quarters, hiring for the region pauses and unspent marketing returns to the plan. Against history, it would have fired once, at a sensible moment. The board keeps the right to override in either direction by vote, but the default runs without a meeting.
Pairing triggers with kill rules
A trigger without a matching stop rule only works in one direction. The same logic applies to channel bets with kill criteria, such as war-game a marketplace expansion before the board approves the channel, and to midyear release gates inside a headcount plan, covered in war-game a headcount plan before the board approves the cost base.
A request you can copy
Below are our draft trigger rule, metric definitions, two years of results, and what the rule would release. Test when the rule would have fired in our history and whether those were good moments. Flag thresholds a single deal could cross, metrics influenced by the person who benefits, unlocks with no tranches, and missing rollback terms. Suggest a precise threshold, duration, confirmer, unlock schedule, and rollback. Stop there so we can answer in writing, then review our answers.
How Pingpong runs the review
The web review app sends your request through several models in order. Each later model receives the original request and every earlier answer, with instructions to assess the work so far. For the steps inside the app, see running your first review.
What a model can't review
A model can test the rule against your past, and the future will not repeat it exactly. Pingpong checks whether the rule is precise enough that two people would apply it the same way.
When the decision goes to the board, see war-game a decision before the board meeting. More guides live under work decisions before you commit.