playbook

A playbook is a collection of planned actions, procedures, and best practices intended to guide decision making and action in a given domain. The term originated in sports, especially American football, where coaches diagram plays and reference them during a game.

In sports, a playbook documents formations, player responsibilities, routes, and situational strategies. It may organize plays for red zone situations, two-minute drills, and special teams, and it is regularly revised as players study opponents and adjust tactics.

In business and technology, playbooks codify repeatable processes, decision criteria, and workflows. Common examples include sales playbooks with target profiles and messaging, marketing playbooks for campaigns, product launch playbooks, and incident response or security playbooks that specify steps, escalation paths, and communication templates.

Playbooks are usually living documents kept under version control, with checklists, runbooks, and dashboards that track progress and outcomes. They support onboarding, consistency, and faster execution while preserving flexibility to adapt to new information.

Challenges include risk of becoming outdated, over-reliance on scripted responses, and the need for ongoing governance, testing, and periodic review to remain effective.