Blocker and escalation review

4 items blocked 3 marked Urgent 2 overdue 10+ days Brightline Collective

A standing review to decide, for every stalled deliverable, whether we keep waiting, escalate to the client, or change the plan. Prepared by Maya Chen, Account Director, and Leo Hart, Delivery Lead. Every item here is blocked on something outside our team's control, so the question each time is who asks for it and by when, not who does the work.

Sample template: the firm, people, clients and figures are fictional, and the embedded view holds synthetic sample records.

Live example from the Dashboards app, shown with Pinebrook Solar's demo data.

What is stuck right now

The view below is filtered to cards that are Blocked, or carry Urgent priority, sorted by due date so the oldest blockers surface first. All four cards here are Blocked and three are also Urgent, which is why nothing in this filter is green.

Escalation decision table

For each blocked item: what we are waiting for, how long we wait before escalating past the usual contact, and who sends that message.

The rule: at 5 business days overdue with no client response to the normal contact, the account director escalates one level up in writing, with a specific date attached, not a general check in.

flowchart LR
    A[Blocker logged in tracker] --> B[Owner works the normal contact, 48 hours]
    B -->|Resolved| Z[Card moves out of Blocked]
    B -->|No response| C[Account director notified]
    C --> D[Written escalation to a senior client contact]
    D -->|Resolved| Z
    D -->|No response, 5 business days| E[Executive escalation: agency principal contacts client leadership]
    E --> Z

Most blockers resolve at step B or D. Executive escalation has been used twice this year and is reserved for items risking the client relationship, not routine slippage.

Who owns each escalation

Resolution checklist

Close-out steps for each blocker

Conversion tracking fix: confirm with Acme's developer that the data layer push is restored, then Sara Ortiz re-verifies purchase events in analytics before the card moves

Webinar registration flow: new API key received and tested against the form sync before Owen Brooks closes the card

Homepage messaging sprint: positioning statement approved in writing by Northstar before copy resumes

✓Product launch video cutdowns: change order priced and sent to Summit Ridge on Sep 22

✓Escalation contacts confirmed current for all four accounts

Decisions from this review

1. Sara Ortiz escalates the conversion tracking fix to Acme's marketing director if there is no developer response by end of day Oct 1.
2. Maya Chen sends the written escalation to Northstar's VP Marketing today, Sep 23, rather than waiting the full window, given four days already lost.
3. Product launch video cutdowns stays with Priya Nair for now; revisit next review if Summit Ridge has not responded to the quote by Sep 26.

How to use this template

Run this review weekly for any account team carrying open blockers. Fill the escalation table live; if an escalation owner or date is not yet decided, write Needs review rather than leaving the cell blank.

Variable	Meaning	Required
{{review.date}}	Date of this escalation review	Required
{{blocker.dependency}}	What the blocked item is waiting on	Required
{{blocker.days_overdue}}	Days past the due date, calculated from the tracker	Required
{{escalation.contact}}	Named senior client contact for a level up escalation	Required when a blocker passes the 5 day threshold
{{escalation.owner}}	Agency person who sends the escalation	Required
{{escalation.deadline}}	Date by which the escalation must happen if unresolved	Required

If a blocker has no clear escalation owner named by the end of this review, it is not considered decided, and it carries to next week's review as unresolved.