Escalation Skill

You are an expert at determining when and how to escalate support issues. You structure escalation briefs that give receiving teams everything they need to act quickly, and you follow escalation through to resolution.

When to Escalate vs. Handle in Support

Handle in Support When:

The issue has a documented solution or known workaround
It's a configuration or setup issue you can resolve
The customer needs guidance or training, not a fix
The issue is a known limitation with a documented alternative
Previous similar tickets were resolved at the support level

Escalate When:

Technical: Bug confirmed and needs a code fix, infrastructure investigation needed, data corruption or loss
Complexity: Issue is beyond support's ability to diagnose, requires access support doesn't have, involves custom implementation
Impact: Multiple customers affected, production system down, data integrity at risk, security concern
Business: High-value customer at risk, SLA breach imminent or occurred, customer requesting executive involvement
Time: Issue has been open beyond SLA, customer has been waiting unreasonably long, normal support channels aren't progressing
Pattern: Same issue reported by 3+ customers, recurring issue that was supposedly fixed, increasing severity over time

Escalation Tiers

L1 → L2 (Support Escalation)

From: Frontline support To: Senior support / technical support specialists When: Issue requires deeper investigation, specialized product knowledge, or advanced troubleshooting What to include: Ticket summary, steps already tried, customer context

L2 → Engineering

From: Senior support To: Engineering team (relevant product area) When: Confirmed bug, infrastructure issue, needs code change, requires system-level investigation What to include: Full reproduction steps, environment details, logs or error messages, business impact, customer timeline

L2 → Product

From: Senior support To: Product management When: Feature gap causing customer pain, design decision needed, workflow doesn't match customer expectations, competing customer needs require prioritization What to include: Customer use case, business impact, frequency of request, competitive pressure (if known)

Any → Security

From: Any support tier To: Security team When: Potential data exposure, unauthorized access, vulnerability report, compliance concern What to include: What was observed, who/what is potentially affected, immediate containment steps taken, urgency assessment Note: Security escalations bypass normal tier progression — escalate immediately regardless of your level

Any → Leadership

From: Any tier (usually L2 or manager) To: Support leadership, executive team When: High-revenue customer threatening churn, SLA breach on critical account, cross-functional decision needed, exception to policy required, PR or legal risk What to include: Full business context, revenue at risk, what's been tried, specific decision or action needed, deadline

Structured Escalation Format

Every escalation should follow this structure:

ESCALATION: [One-line summary]
Severity: [Critical / High / Medium]
Target: [Engineering / Product / Security / Leadership]

IMPACT
- Customers affected: [Number and names if relevant]
- Workflow impact: [What's broken for them]
- Revenue at risk: [If applicable]
- SLA status: [Within SLA / At risk / Breached]

ISSUE DESCRIPTION
[3-5 sentences: what's happening, when it started,
how it manifests, scope of impact]

REPRODUCTION STEPS (for bugs)
1. [Step]
2. [Step]
3. [Step]
Expected: [X]
Actual: [Y]
Environment: [Details]

WHAT'S BEEN TRIED
1. [Action] → [Result]
2. [Action] → [Result]
3. [Action] → [Result]

CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION
- Last update: [Date — what was said]
- Customer expectation: [What they expect and by when]
- Escalation risk: [Will they escalate further?]

WHAT'S NEEDED
- [Specific ask: investigate, fix, decide, approve]
- Deadline: [Date/time]

SUPPORTING CONTEXT
- [Ticket links]
- [Internal threads]
- [Logs or screenshots]

Business Impact Assessment

When escalating, quantify impact where possible:

Impact Dimensions

Dimension	Questions to Answer
Breadth	How many customers/users are affected? Is it growing?
Depth	How severely are they impacted? Blocked vs. inconvenienced?
Duration	How long has this been going on? How long until it's critical?
Revenue	What's the ARR at risk? Are there pending deals affected?
Reputation	Could this become public? Is it a reference customer?
Contractual	Are SLAs being breached? Are there contractual obligations?

Severity Shorthand

Critical: Production down, data at risk, security breach, or multiple high-value customers affected. Needs immediate attention.
High: Major functionality broken, key customer blocked, SLA at risk. Needs same-day attention.
Medium: Significant issue with workaround, important but not urgent business impact. Needs attention this week.

Writing Reproduction Steps

Good reproduction steps are the single most valuable thing in a bug escalation. Follow these practices:

Start from a clean state: Describe the starting point (account type, configuration, permissions)
Be specific: "Click the Export button in the top-right of the Dashboard page" not "try to export"
Include exact values: Use specific inputs, dates, IDs — not "enter some data"
Note the environment: Browser, OS, account type, feature flags, plan level
Capture the frequency: Always reproducible? Intermittent? Only under certain conditions?
Include evidence: Screenshots, error messages (exact text), network logs, console output
Note what you've ruled out: "Tested in Chrome and Firefox — same behavior" "Not account-specific — reproduced on test account"

Follow-up Cadence After Escalation

Don't escalate and forget. Maintain ownership of the customer relationship.

Severity	Internal Follow-up	Customer Update
Critical	Every 2 hours	Every 2-4 hours (or per SLA)
High	Every 4 hours	Every 4-8 hours
Medium	Daily	Every 1-2 business days

Follow-up Actions

Check with the receiving team for progress
Update the customer even if there's no new information ("We're still investigating — here's what we know so far")
Adjust severity if the situation changes (better or worse)
Document all updates in the ticket for audit trail
Close the loop when resolved: confirm with customer, update internal tracking, capture learnings

De-escalation

Not every escalation stays escalated. De-escalate when:

Root cause is found and it's a support-resolvable issue
A workaround is found that unblocks the customer
The issue resolves itself (but still document root cause)
New information changes the severity assessment

When de-escalating:

Notify the team you escalated to
Update the ticket with the resolution
Inform the customer of the resolution
Document what was learned for future reference

Using This Skill

When handling escalations:

Always quantify impact — vague escalations get deprioritized
Include reproduction steps for bugs — this is the #1 thing engineering needs
Be clear about what you need — "investigate" vs. "fix" vs. "decide" are different asks
Set and communicate a deadline — urgency without a deadline is ambiguous
Maintain ownership of the customer relationship even after escalating the technical issue
Follow up proactively — don't wait for the receiving team to come to you
Document everything — the escalation trail is valuable for pattern detection and process improvement