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Launch Readiness Checklist
Launches fail from overlooked details, not big mistakes. GitScrum helps coordinate launch activities with checklists, task tracking, and team coordination features that ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
Launch Checklist Framework
Categories
LAUNCH READINESS CATEGORIES:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ TECHNICAL READINESS: │
│ Is the product stable and tested? │
│ • Functionality verified │
│ • Performance tested │
│ • Security reviewed │
│ • Infrastructure ready │
│ • Monitoring in place │
│ │
│ OPERATIONAL READINESS: │
│ Can we support this in production? │
│ • Support team trained │
│ • Documentation complete │
│ • Runbooks ready │
│ • Incident process defined │
│ │
│ BUSINESS READINESS: │
│ Is the business ready to launch? │
│ • Marketing prepared │
│ • Sales enabled │
│ • Legal/compliance approved │
│ • Stakeholders aligned │
│ │
│ CONTINGENCY: │
│ What if something goes wrong? │
│ • Rollback plan tested │
│ • Communication templates ready │
│ • Escalation paths clear │
│ • War room scheduled │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Technical Checklist
TECHNICAL READINESS CHECKLIST:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ TESTING: │
│ ☐ All features tested (QA sign-off) │
│ ☐ Regression test suite passing │
│ ☐ User acceptance testing complete │
│ ☐ Cross-browser/device testing done │
│ ☐ Accessibility testing passed │
│ ☐ Known issues documented and accepted │
│ │
│ PERFORMANCE: │
│ ☐ Load testing completed │
│ ☐ Performance under expected load acceptable │
│ ☐ Performance under peak load acceptable │
│ ☐ CDN configured and tested │
│ ☐ Database queries optimized │
│ │
│ SECURITY: │
│ ☐ Security scan completed (no critical issues) │
│ ☐ Penetration testing done (if applicable) │
│ ☐ Auth/authz tested │
│ ☐ Data encryption verified │
│ ☐ Secrets management reviewed │
│ │
│ INFRASTRUCTURE: │
│ ☐ Production environment provisioned │
│ ☐ DNS configured │
│ ☐ SSL certificates installed │
│ ☐ Auto-scaling configured │
│ ☐ Backups verified │
│ │
│ MONITORING: │
│ ☐ Application monitoring active │
│ ☐ Error tracking enabled │
│ ☐ Alerts configured │
│ ☐ Dashboards ready │
│ ☐ On-call rotation set │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Operational Checklist
OPERATIONAL READINESS CHECKLIST:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ DOCUMENTATION: │
│ ☐ User documentation complete │
│ ☐ API documentation published │
│ ☐ Release notes written │
│ ☐ FAQ updated │
│ ☐ Known limitations documented │
│ │
│ SUPPORT: │
│ ☐ Support team briefed on new features │
│ ☐ Support documentation updated │
│ ☐ Common issues and solutions prepared │
│ ☐ Escalation path defined │
│ ☐ Support channel ready (chat, email, etc.) │
│ │
│ RUNBOOKS: │
│ ☐ Deploy runbook updated │
│ ☐ Rollback procedure documented │
│ ☐ Common issues runbook ready │
│ ☐ Emergency contacts listed │
│ │
│ TRAINING: │
│ ☐ Internal teams trained (support, sales, CSM) │
│ ☐ Training materials available │
│ ☐ Demo environment ready │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Launch Process
Timeline
LAUNCH TIMELINE:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ T-2 WEEKS: PREPARATION │
│ • Complete major feature development │
│ • Begin systematic checklist review │
│ • Schedule all testing activities │
│ • Alert all stakeholders │
│ │
│ T-1 WEEK: TESTING & POLISH │
│ • Focus on testing, not new features │
│ • Bug fixes only │
│ • Documentation finalization │
│ • First go/no-go meeting │
│ │
│ T-2 DAYS: FINAL PREP │
│ • Feature freeze │
│ • Final testing pass │
│ • Pre-production deployment │
│ • All checklist items green │
│ │
│ T-1 DAY: FINAL GO/NO-GO │
│ • Review all checklists │
│ • Stakeholder sign-off │
│ • Confirm war room schedule │
│ • Final communications prepared │
│ │
│ LAUNCH DAY: │
│ • Execute deploy plan │
│ • Monitor closely │
│ • War room active │
│ • Communicate success │
│ │
│ T+1 WEEK: STABILIZATION │
│ • Monitor metrics │
│ • Address early feedback │
│ • Post-launch retrospective │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Go/No-Go Decision
GO/NO-GO MEETING:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ MEETING STRUCTURE (30 min): │
│ │
│ 1. CHECKLIST REVIEW (15 min) │
│ Walk through each category │
│ Red/yellow/green status for each item │
│ │
│ 2. RISK ASSESSMENT (10 min) │
│ What are the remaining risks? │
│ What's the mitigation plan? │
│ What could cause a no-go? │
│ │
│ 3. DECISION (5 min) │
│ GO: Proceed with launch │
│ CONDITIONAL GO: Proceed if X is resolved by Y │
│ NO-GO: Postpone until issues resolved │
│ │
│ DECISION CRITERIA: │
│ │
│ 🟢 GO: │
│ • All critical items green │
│ • Known issues have mitigations │
│ • Rollback plan tested │
│ │
│ 🟡 CONDITIONAL: │
│ • Minor items outstanding │
│ • Clear path to resolution │
│ • Acceptable risk level │
│ │
│ 🔴 NO-GO: │
│ • Critical items not ready │
│ • Unacceptable risk │
│ • No viable mitigation │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Launch Day
Execution
LAUNCH DAY EXECUTION:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ PRE-LAUNCH (Morning): │
│ ☐ War room active (virtual or physical) │
│ ☐ All team members confirmed available │
│ ☐ Monitoring dashboards open │
│ ☐ Communication channels ready │
│ ☐ Rollback script ready │
│ │
│ DEPLOYMENT: │
│ ☐ Execute deployment runbook │
│ ☐ Verify deployment successful │
│ ☐ Run smoke tests │
│ ☐ Check monitoring (no alerts) │
│ ☐ Verify key user flows │
│ │
│ POST-DEPLOYMENT MONITORING (First 2 hours): │
│ ☐ Watch error rates │
│ ☐ Watch performance metrics │
│ ☐ Watch user-reported issues │
│ ☐ Watch support queue │
│ │
│ SUCCESS CONFIRMATION: │
│ ☐ Metrics stable for 2+ hours │
│ ☐ No critical issues │
│ ☐ Internal stakeholders notified │
│ ☐ External communications sent │
│ ☐ War room closed (leave on-call active) │
│ │
│ IF ISSUES ARISE: │
│ See rollback decision framework │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Rollback Decision
ROLLBACK FRAMEWORK:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ ROLLBACK TRIGGERS: │
│ │
│ AUTOMATIC ROLLBACK: │
│ • Error rate > 5x baseline │
│ • Core feature completely broken │
│ • Data integrity issues │
│ • Security vulnerability exposed │
│ │
│ DECISION REQUIRED: │
│ • Error rate 2-5x baseline │
│ • Non-core feature broken │
│ • Performance degraded but functional │
│ • Many user complaints │
│ │
│ MONITOR & FIX FORWARD: │
│ • Minor issues │
│ • Workarounds available │
│ • Fix can be deployed quickly │
│ │
│ ROLLBACK PROCESS: │
│ 1. Decision maker confirms rollback │
│ 2. Execute rollback runbook │
│ 3. Verify rollback successful │
│ 4. Communicate status │
│ 5. Schedule post-mortem │
│ 6. Plan re-launch │
│ │
│ DECISION MAKER: [Pre-defined - usually tech lead or PM] │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Post-Launch
Review
POST-LAUNCH ACTIVITIES:
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ T+1 DAY: │
│ • Review metrics from launch day │
│ • Address any immediate issues │
│ • Collect initial feedback │
│ • Thank the team │
│ │
│ T+1 WEEK: │
│ • Comprehensive metrics review │
│ • User feedback analysis │
│ • Support ticket review │
│ • Performance trends │
│ │
│ LAUNCH RETROSPECTIVE: │
│ • What went well? │
│ • What didn't go well? │
│ • What was missing from checklist? │
│ • What should we do differently next time? │
│ │
│ CHECKLIST UPDATE: │
│ Based on retrospective: │
│ • Add items that were missed │
│ • Remove items that weren't useful │
│ • Adjust timeline if needed │
│ • Document lessons learned │
│ │
│ CELEBRATE: 🎉 │
│ Launches are team achievements - recognize the effort! │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘