In his recent Substack post, Taking the Terror out of Territories, Gradient Works CEO Hayes Davis compared territory planning to a horror movie. He explained how RevOps teams face a uniquely terrifying challenge: even the smallest tweak in a territory model can unleash massive downstream chaos.
In a follow-up blog, we explored Why territory planning is a knapsack problem, which unpacked the mathematical difficulty of balancing territories. That post focused on why territory design is complex. This one focuses on why it’s so fragile, how a tiny change can force a complete rebuild, and what you can do to make your systems more resilient.
What chaos theory has to do with RevOps
The “butterfly effect” comes from chaos theory; the idea that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil could set off a tornado in Texas. It’s not about magic; it’s about sensitivity to initial conditions. In interconnected systems, small inputs can cause outsized outcomes.
RevOps is exactly that kind of system. Every rule, data point, and exception touches dozens of dependencies: CRM records, account hierarchies, assignment logic, compensation models, and dashboards. When you change one, you’re not flipping a switch, you’re rerouting a power grid.
That’s why territory planning can be so painful. Fix a seemingly small issue: a rep change, a segmentation tweak, a new ICP flag and suddenly your model no longer balances, your reports break, and your sales team starts asking why their territories “look weird now.”
What dependencies really mean in RevOps
Dependencies in RevOps aren’t just technical, they’re organizational, procedural, and political. A “dependency” is anything that relies on another part of your system to function correctly. And in modern GTM stacks, almost everything does.
Common dependencies that make territory systems brittle include:
- Data dependencies: Hierarchies, account families, and ICP fields that drive assignment rules. Reclassify one parent account, and dozens of child accounts shift.
- Logic dependencies: Rules that determine how accounts flow into territories. Change one segmentation rule, and the model can collapse.
- System dependencies: Integrations between CRM, routing, engagement, and compensation tools. One sync error can multiply across all of them.
- Human dependencies: Stakeholder preferences, sales exceptions, and “temporary” overrides that linger forever, creating invisible friction that compounds over time.
Combine all these and you’ve got a complex, dynamic ecosystem. It works, until it doesn’t.
Common scenarios that trigger chaos
If you’ve worked in RevOps for more than a quarter, you’ve likely seen these play out:
- Adding or removing a rep breaks capacity models and rebalances everyone’s book.
- Adjusting account scoring redefines “good” or “ICP” accounts, forcing reassignment.
- Updating hierarchies causes overlapping ownership or gaps.
- Changing a single territory boundary triggers a domino effect across adjacent patches.
- Implementing mid-cycle exceptions creates conflicts between automated logic and manual overrides.
How to build systems that withstand the butterfly effect
You can’t eliminate chaos entirely, but you can design for resilience. The best RevOps leaders build systems that expect change and contain it.
- Map your dependencies
Before making changes, document what’s connected to what. Think of it as a wiring diagram for your GTM engine, anticipating breakpoints before they break. - Timebox changes and test in sandboxes
Batch updates together and test them in isolation. Changing one variable at a time helps pinpoint where the chaos starts. - Standardize inputs
Fewer unique rules mean fewer failure points. Keep one hierarchy definition, one ICP field, one consistent set of routing rules. - Automate rebalancing
Manual maintenance multiplies errors. Automation, like dynamic books, helps your system self-correct faster and reduce risk. - Communicate before you calculate
Territory changes aren’t just operational, they’re emotional. Explaining why something is changing prevents small shifts from becoming political hurricanes.
Embrace the chaos
The butterfly effect isn’t a bug, it’s a feature. It proves your GTM system is interconnected and alive. But it also means territory planning can’t be treated as a one-time project. It’s an evolving, sensitive ecosystem that needs constant calibration.
Hayes was right: the pain of territory planning isn’t just in the math, it’s in the dependencies. Once you understand that, you stop trying to eliminate chaos and start designing processes that absorb it.
