Set Service Levels You Can Actually Keep

Added 2026-11-06

An SLA you cannot meet is a permanent leak.

I am committing service levels to clients: [service, team size, expectations]. Set the SLA: 1) list the measurable promises — response, recovery, availability, resolution — and how each is measured; 2) judge which ones the team can hold long term, and on what evidence; 3) flag the promises that break when several incidents coincide — multiple clients, single dependencies, no night cover; 4) give tiers — standard, priority, urgent — with matching price or conditions; 5) design what happens on a miss — credits, refunds, review — with a cap; 6) define legitimate exclusions such as client-side causes and force majeure, worded so it does not read as blame-shifting.

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Replace these placeholders 1

Swap the bracketed parts for your own details before sending.

[service, team size, expectations]

How to use

Model the worst day before promising how many nines.

Try tweaking it

Have it state how the hypothesis could be falsified before discussing execution.
Split the plan into a one-week testable experiment.

What you should get

A small testable experiment with a failure threshold
Costs, risks, and what needs outside confirmation

Common mistakes

Asking for a "full business plan" and getting unverifiable optimistic assumptions.
No failure threshold, so you never know whether to continue.

How to check the output

There is a clear failure threshold, testable within a week.
Costs, assumptions and risks are listed separately.

Where it works

Good for: turning business assumptions into a small testable experiment with a failure threshold first.
Watch out: for pricing, contracts and legal points, treat output as a draft needing professional review.