An SLA written to sound impressive during the sales conversation, a two-hour response time, 99.9% uptime, becomes a real liability the first time your team can't actually hit it. A commitment that looked good on the proposal but wasn't grounded in what the team can genuinely deliver damages trust faster than never having made the promise at all.
A good SLA isn't the most aggressive one you can write. It's one you can genuinely stand behind when it's actually tested.
A commitment that sounds impressive during sales becomes a liability the first time you miss it
An SLA is a promise the team has to live up to on an ordinary Tuesday, not just a line that helped close the deal. Write targets the team can genuinely meet consistently, not just the version that sounds best in the pitch.
Set targets from real historical performance, not from what sounds competitive
A target set by looking at what a competitor advertises, rather than at what your own team actually achieves, is a target you're guessing at. Base it on real historical data about what the team consistently delivers.
In Stelaah, real response times and delivery history stay on the record, giving an SLA a factual basis instead of an optimistic guess. See how reports works.
Define exactly how each metric is measured, not loosely enough to argue about later
"Response time" needs a precise definition, from what moment to what moment, measured how, or it becomes a source of dispute the first time it's tested. Define the measurement precisely before the commitment is ever made.
Build in real exceptions for what's genuinely outside your control
Third-party outages, client-caused delays, force majeure events genuinely shouldn't count against your SLA performance. Build in real, specific exceptions, rather than committing to targets with no accounting for what you don't control.
Attach a real, proportionate remedy for a miss, not just a stated target
A target with no consequence attached is a statement of intent, not a real commitment. Attach a proportionate, specific remedy for a genuine miss, service credits, a defined make-good, so the SLA is a real enforceable term.
A simple checklist
If you do nothing else, do these five things:
- Set targets from real historical performance, not aspiration.
- Define exactly how each metric gets measured.
- Build in real exceptions for what's outside your control.
- Attach a proportionate, specific remedy for a genuine miss.
- Don't write commitments that only sound good during sales.
Do that, and an SLA becomes a promise the team genuinely keeps, not a liability that surfaces the first time it's actually tested.
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