Product Launch Checklist — Template

Summarize what is launching, who it is for, and why it matters. Link to the feature spec or product brief for full context.

Question	Answer
What is launching?	One-sentence description of the feature or change
Who is it for?	Target user segment
What is the expected impact?	Primary metric and target
What is the rollout strategy?	Big bang / Phased / Beta → GA / Feature flag
What is the rollback plan?	Feature flag off / Revert deploy / Disable endpoint

Track every launch work item in one table. This replaces separate checklists per team — one view, one source of truth.

Area	Item	Priority	Owner	Status	Notes / Link
Product	Feature complete, merged, and passing CI	P0	Eng Lead	Not Started
Product	No open P0/P1 bugs	P0	QA	Not Started
Product	Feature flag or rollout mechanism configured	P0	Eng	Not Started
Product	Rollback tested in staging	P0	Eng	Not Started
Product	Monitoring dashboards and alerts configured	P0	Eng	Not Started
Product	Analytics events instrumented and verified	P0	PM / Data	Not Started
Product	Performance / load testing passed	P1	Eng	Not Started	Skip for minor launches
Product	Security review completed	P1	Security	Not Started	Required if handling new data types
Product	Accessibility check (WCAG 2.1 AA)	P1	Design	Not Started
Support	Help docs written and published	P0	PM / Docs	Not Started	Link to docs
Support	Support team briefed on feature and known issues	P0	Support Lead	Not Started
Support	Escalation path defined for launch-day issues	P1	Support Lead	Not Started
Marketing	Blog post or announcement drafted	P1	Marketing	Not Started	N/A for internal-only launches
Marketing	Email / in-app notification prepared	P1	Marketing	Not Started
Marketing	Product page or changelog updated	P1	Marketing	Not Started
Sales	Sales team briefed, demo environment ready	P2	Sales Eng	Not Started	N/A if no sales motion
Legal	Terms, privacy policy, compliance reviewed	P1	Legal	Not Started	Required if new data collection

Step-by-step sequence for launch day. Assign a DRI (directly responsible individual) and a time for each step.

Time	Action	DRI	Status
T-60min	Final staging smoke test	QA	Pending
T-0	Deploy to production (staged rollout: 5%)	Eng Lead	Pending
T+15min	Verify core flows, check error dashboards	Eng	Pending
T+30min	Expand rollout to 25%	Eng Lead	Pending
T+1hr	Expand rollout to 100% if no issues	PM + Eng	Pending
T+1hr	Publish blog post / send announcement	Marketing	Pending
T+1hr	Internal Slack announcement	PM	Pending
T+2hr	Confirm analytics events firing correctly	Data / PM	Pending
EOD	Post launch-day summary in Slack	PM	Pending

Define how you will measure whether the launch achieved its goals. Review these at day 1, day 7, and day 30 post-launch.

Metric	Target	Day 1	Day 7	Day 30
Adoption (% of target segment)	XX%
Activation (first meaningful action)	XX%
Error rate	< X%
P95 latency	< Xms
Support ticket volume (feature-related)	< X/day
User satisfaction (NPS / CSAT)	XX+

Audience	Channel	Timing	Owner	Status
Executive team	Slack / email summary	Launch day	PM	Not Started
All-hands / company	Slack announcement	Launch day	PM	Not Started
Customers	Email / in-app notification	Launch day	Marketing	Not Started
Sales team	Enablement session	Pre-launch	PM	Not Started
Support team	Training session	Pre-launch	Support Lead	Not Started

Complete within one week of launch. Capture what went well, what didn't, and what to change for the next launch.

Product Launch Checklist Template