Owner decision
What must work during a 30-day owner absence?
Customers must still be served, people and vendors must be paid, normal decisions must move, exceptions must reach the right person, and critical access must not live with the owner alone. Run a bounded absence test because job titles do not prove the company can operate without you.
Use this now: Use a 30-day owner-absence test with service, cash, authority, access, and exception checkpoints.
Owner worksheet
Thirty-day owner-absence operating test
| Check | Write down |
|---|---|
| Customer delivery | List the customer commitments due during thirty days, the operating owner for each, the acceptance evidence, and the exception path when delivery slips. |
| Cash and obligations | Map collections, payroll, taxes, vendor payments, and cash approvals across the absence window; name the authorized payer, backup, and funding trigger. |
| Normal decisions | Name the recurring pricing, staffing, purchasing, and customer decisions that must continue, with the role, limit, and decision record for each. |
| Exceptions | Define which failures or amounts require escalation, who receives them when the owner is unavailable, and the maximum safe waiting time. |
| Critical access | Test access to banking, contracts, systems, credentials, and records with the approved backup; record the dated result rather than assumed access. |
Close the decision: The absence test passes only when every critical function has a named acting owner and dated proof; assign and retest the first failed function.
01Service and cash move02Authority and access work03Exceptions reach a backup