Go/no-go date

A date fixed in the runway, well before any money is expected, on which you look at what has actually been signed and commit to one column of the budget. It converts an open ended worry into a scheduled decision. Two rules make it work. First, it sits far enough out that the column you pick can still be booked, because a decision you can’t act on isn’t a decision. Second, only signed and confirmed income counts on the day. A warm conversation, a verbal yes, a sponsor who is waiting on their boss, none of these are budget. Money that arrives after the date isn’t wasted, it becomes an upgrade you can choose to add or a fatter contingency line. Larger events set several, one per commitment point, since the real driver is the deadline on whatever you are about to book.

Source: DevOpsDays Organizing Guide, in the same passage that prescribes the tiered budget: “have some go/no-go dates in mind for deciding when you can do each one. A Good vs Better event call might come in the month leading up to your event when you evaluate how much sponsorship money you have gotten in.” The “only signed counts” discipline is this course’s phrasing of the guide’s underlying logic, that the tier system exists so you can run a good event “regardless of how many people actually come.”

First used in: 1.4 · The money: three-tier budgeting.