Overview
Launches fail when someone forgets to update the help docs, or the support team doesn't know about the new feature, or analytics aren't instrumented. This skill generates a comprehensive, customized checklist so nothing falls through the cracks.
Before You Start
Ask the user:
- What's launching? — New feature, major release, beta, hotfix, pricing change.
- Launch type — Big bang (all users at once), phased rollout, beta/early access.
- Date — Fixed or flexible?
- Teams involved — Engineering, design, marketing, support, sales, legal, ops.
- Risk level — High (revenue-impacting, customer-facing) or low (minor enhancement).
Launch Checklist
# Launch Checklist — [Feature/Release Name]
**Target date:** [date] | **Launch type:** [type] | **Risk level:** [High/Med/Low]
**DRI:** [name] | **Status:** 🔴 Not Ready / 🟡 In Progress / 🟢 Ready
---
## T-2 Weeks: Pre-Launch Prep
### Engineering
- [ ] Code complete and merged to main
- [ ] Feature flagged and testable in staging
- [ ] Load/performance testing complete
- [ ] Security review complete (if applicable)
- [ ] Database migrations tested and rollback plan documented
- [ ] Monitoring and alerting configured
- [ ] Runbook for on-call team created
### Design
- [ ] Final designs reviewed and approved
- [ ] Edge cases and error states designed
- [ ] Accessibility review complete
- [ ] Mobile/responsive testing done
### Analytics
- [ ] Events instrumented and verified in staging
- [ ] Dashboard created or updated
- [ ] Success metrics baseline captured
- [ ] A/B test configured (if applicable)
### Documentation
- [ ] Help center articles written/updated
- [ ] API documentation updated (if applicable)
- [ ] Internal knowledge base updated
- [ ] Changelog/release notes drafted
---
## T-1 Week: Readiness Check
### QA
- [ ] Full regression test passed
- [ ] Cross-browser testing complete
- [ ] Edge case testing complete
- [ ] Accessibility testing passed
- [ ] Sign-off from QA lead
### Support
- [ ] Support team briefed on new feature
- [ ] FAQ and troubleshooting guide created
- [ ] Escalation path defined for new issues
- [ ] Canned responses updated
### Marketing / Communications
- [ ] In-app messaging configured
- [ ] Email announcement drafted and scheduled
- [ ] Blog post / changelog entry ready
- [ ] Social media posts scheduled (if applicable)
- [ ] Sales team notified and collateral updated
### Legal / Compliance (if applicable)
- [ ] Privacy review complete
- [ ] Terms of service updates (if needed)
- [ ] Regulatory compliance verified
### Stakeholders
- [ ] Final stakeholder sign-off obtained
- [ ] Executive briefing sent
- [ ] Partner/integration teams notified
---
## Launch Day
### Go / No-Go Decision
- [ ] All checklist items above are ✅
- [ ] On-call engineer identified and available
- [ ] Rollback plan tested and ready
- [ ] Communication plan ready (in-app, email, social)
### Execution
- [ ] Feature flag enabled for target audience
- [ ] Smoke test in production
- [ ] Monitoring dashboards open and watched
- [ ] Communications sent
---
## T+1 Day: Post-Launch
- [ ] Metrics checked against baseline
- [ ] Error rates and support tickets reviewed
- [ ] Any urgent bugs triaged
- [ ] Team retro scheduled (T+1 week)
## T+1 Week: Post-Launch Review
- [ ] Metrics report generated
- [ ] User feedback collected and reviewed
- [ ] Bugs and issues cataloged
- [ ] Retro completed with learnings documented
- [ ] Feature flag cleanup (remove if fully shipped)
---
## Kill Criteria
If any of these occur, immediately roll back:
- [ ] Error rate exceeds [X%]
- [ ] [Critical metric] degrades by more than [Y%]
- [ ] [Support tickets] exceed [N] in first 24 hours
Save as LAUNCH-CHECKLIST-[name]-[date].md.