Test the Exit Before You Renew

A vendor renewal should answer more than “Is the service working today?” It should also test whether essential work could continue if the arrangement changed.

Try a short exit rehearsal before renewal: trace how needed data or work would be handed back, name who owns each step, and identify the fallback that keeps service available during the transition. Then decide whether to renew, renegotiate, or plan a replacement based on what the rehearsal reveals.

This isn’t a prediction that the vendor will fail—or a reason to leave. It’s a way to keep a useful relationship from becoming an unexamined dependency. If nobody can name the handoff owner or fallback, that is worth resolving before the next commitment.

What would you test first in an exit rehearsal?