Product Preflight · SideGuy
✈️ Product Launch Preflight
Roadmap alignment, GTM handoffs, and decision-drag reduction before launch. Work through each section before the kickoff call.
🎯
Launch Objective
Clarify the exact launch outcome and what must be true before release. Ambiguity here causes scope creep.
- What is the single sentence this launch must accomplish?
- What does "done" look like — metrics, not vibes?
- Is the MVP scope locked, or still in negotiation?
- What is explicitly out of scope for v1?
- Who owns the final "ship it" call?
🗺️
Stakeholder Map
PM, engineering, GTM, leadership. Who owns each decision checkpoint — and who is informed vs. accountable?
- PM sign-off: requirements locked and acceptance criteria written?
- Engineering: QA and staging environment ready?
- GTM: launch copy, landing page, and comms drafted?
- Legal / compliance: any blockers for this release?
- Leadership: aware and aligned on launch date?
⚠️
Decision Drag Risks
Surface before kickoff
These are the most common reasons launches slip. Check each before the meeting.
- Are there unresolved dependencies on another team or vendor?
- Are there approvals that require legal, security, or finance sign-off?
- Is there a feature that "needs one more round of feedback"?
- Is there a stakeholder who hasn't confirmed alignment?
- Is the rollback plan documented if launch goes wrong?
📣
GTM Readiness
Go-to-market clarity prevents the "we launched but nobody knew" failure mode.
- Customer comms drafted (email, in-app, or both)?
- Internal team briefed on what's changing?
- Support / CS prepared for inbound questions?
- Launch timing confirmed (avoid holidays, conflicting releases)?
- Success metrics defined and dashboards ready?
Working through a launch and want a second opinion on readiness or sequencing? Text PJ — same-day answer, no pitch.
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