Spotting Playbook Drift Before It Becomes a Risk: A Checklist

Having a playbook and keeping it accurate are two different challenges. In practice, what you agree to doesn’t always make it back into the playbook, and the gap between your playbook and your executed documents widens deal by deal, quarter by quarter, until your portfolio no longer reflects the risk posture you think you have.

The exposure builds quietly, one reasonable decision at a time, like accepting a deviation to close a deal. The problem arises when the playbook isn’t updated, and six months later, someone else accepts the same deviation without realizing it was ever an exception. That’s how liability caps increase, indemnities broaden, and termination rights find their way into agreements where they were never intended.

Playbook drift usually surfaces at the worst possible moment: a renewal, an audit request, or a claim under a provision no one remembers agreeing to. That’s why we created the checklist below to help you spot where practice has drifted from policy before it becomes a problem. Use the checklist as a simple way to pressure-test whether your agreements still reflect the standards you think you’re operating under. 

Run it quarterly, ahead of major renewals, and any time you update the playbook.

Did You Know?

Draftwise can automatically do all of this for you: apply your institutional knowledge to every agreement, surface deviations in real time, and keep your playbook aligned with your best deals. Get in touch to learn more.