Buyer decision tool
A pilot result is about to authorise a much larger stage, and the conditions that made it work are rarely written down. This planner produces a stage-gate record with evidence, an approver, and a pause trigger for each increase in volume.
Use it: Before a successful pilot is allowed to become production.
Proof scale
300+ languages 1,000+ brands served since 2015 across AI data, translation, localization, media, and interpretation.When to use this
A good pilot answers a buyer decision. It does not prove that the same people, review effort and working setup will survive at a larger scale.
What it produces
The checklist
Every question below is on the page as text. Use the link on any row to send a colleague straight to that one question.
| Ask this | A useful answer is specific about | What the answer actually tells you |
|---|---|---|
| What buyer decision is the pilot meant to inform? # | One clear decision, such as feasibility, language-variety fit, instruction clarity, acceptance method, or operating readiness. | Whether the pilot has a job to do or is simply a small delivery. |
| What conditions made the pilot possible? # | The people, review attention, sourcing method, onboarding work, transfer route, and buyer availability used during the pilot. | What the result depends on and what cannot be assumed at a larger scale. |
| What will change when volume increases? # | Staffing mix, review share, turnaround expectations, hand-offs, access, and the speed of buyer decisions. | Where a successful pilot may stop being representative. |
| What is still provisional before full production is allocated? # | The brief, access, acceptance rule, pilot result, and any buyer or supplier decision that is not final. | Whether production is genuinely ready to be released or is being built on open assumptions. |
| How will the ramp happen in stages? # | The next stage, what must be seen before it begins, and who can approve it. | Whether each increase has a clear reason to proceed. |
| What pauses the ramp, and what restarts it? # | The issue that triggers a stop, who investigates it, and the evidence needed to continue. | Whether a failed stage has a controlled response instead of becoming production rework. |
| How will pilot decisions reach people who join later? # | Where each clarification is written and how new contributors and reviewers receive it. | Whether later teams will use the pilot’s decisions or repeat them. |
How to fill it in
Work down the first column with the supplier in the room. A row is only answered when the middle column is specific — a yes that is not specific about anything is the thing this tool exists to catch. Write the unresolved rows down; those are the ones worth a call.
What counts as evidence
A named owner, a document you can open, a sample produced under the instructions you will actually use, or a test whose result changes the decision. A capability statement, an organisation-wide headcount, or a claim about a different assignment does not answer these rows.
The document
The PDF needs no sign-in and is free to forward or quote. The working document is there if you would rather copy the checklist into your own process. If either will not open for you, tell us and we will fix it the same day.
Stuck on a row?