Escalation Context

An escalation without context is a delegation of confusion. The escalation context package is more demanding than a standard handoff package because the recipient needs not just the work — they need the failure analysis.

The escalation context template: What Was Attempted — the agent describes what it tried and what specific result it expected. What Happened Instead — the actual outcome, with evidence (error messages, unexpected outputs, conflicting data). Why Self-Resolution Failed — the agent's assessment of why its role contract and capabilities were insufficient for this issue. Recommended Next Step — the agent's best judgment on what the next tier should try. Impact Assessment — what downstream work is blocked, what deadlines are affected, what customer commitments are at risk.

The "Recommended Next Step" field is the most frequently omitted — and the most valuable. An agent that escalates with a hypothesis gives the handler a starting point. An agent that escalates with just "I could not do this" forces the handler to start from zero.