A Mini Hack To Ensure Product Launch Success
We’re all familiar with the concept of a post-mortem. An unanticipated incident occurs, and we retrospectively identify factors that contributed to the issue at hand, with the aim of preventing a repeat occurrence.
So imagine we take a moment to reflect before a product or major feature launch. Let’s picture for a moment that the event has already occurred. It could be a new checkout journey, or an entirely new app launch. What could possibly go wrong when we hit ‘go’?
You could prevent something going wrong
In the lead up to launch, it’s easy to get carried away with blasting through stories and delivering each sprint. The enthusiasm and momentum needed for day to day delivery can sometimes mean we forget to take a step back and review things holistically. The chance to do so could highlight something that you hadn’t seen before, giving you an opportunity to mitigate it.
It’s far easier to respond to an issue when you’re not in the heat of the moment, and as Mike Tyson famously said, “Everybody has a plan until they get hit. Then, like a rat, they stop in fear and freeze.”
Get everyone on the same page
The classic risk register (the pre-mortem’s clunky waterfall sister) has been a staple in larger projects. Think ERP implementations. One of the many things it’s great for, however, is getting everyone on the same page. A risk register is a living document that is reviewed continuously by multiple parties, and allows everyone to be aware of what could go wrong, the likelihood of it going wrong, and what any agreed action might be.
The pre-mortem can provide a similar framework for this. Imagine you launch a new on-boarding experience on your website using social log ins, and upon *something* not working (let’s assume you’re in an endless loop of trying to log in), a frustrated customer tweets about this. Let’s assume, as sod’s law would dictate, this customer happens to be a particularly vocal and well-respected influencer with a large following. Perhaps this might prompt us to ensure our customer service department is not only aware of the upcoming feature, but is also prepared for any potential issues.
The pressure of delivering a feature or product can prevent us from stepping back and ensuring that every stakeholder who needs to be involved is aware of what’s going on. It’s crucial to communicate widely what is about to launch, and whether there will be any possible impact. Think about feature launches holistically, and speak to everyone involved (it could be further reaching than you think!).
Plan any action with a clear head
You excitedly launch a feature that encourages customers to add personalised gift messages with their order. Perhaps it’s near the holidays, so we’re expecting a spike in the use of this feature anyway. But now, you’re about to add the ability to include emoji’s, or a custom font. What a great customer experience, right?
Well imagine upon launch, this feature is so successful that it slows down the throughput of orders being fulfilled in the warehouse. We didn’t consider that each gift message has to be printed on a separate system, as the fulfilment software can’t handle emoji’s. Each order is now taking longer to get out of the door, the warehouse is strained, we didn’t plan enough capacity, and as a result, some customers are experiencing delays. Not the result we wanted right?
If we’d identified this potential outcome ahead of time, we may have had a chance to test things end to end with the warehouse team and identify any inefficiencies up front. Even if we then go ahead with the feature, as collectively agreed, the fulfilment team can still mitigate any issues on their side by planning some extra shifts, or managing any orders with gift messages differently. The key here is that the plan is made in advance, rather than in haste.
So how can we do a pre-mortem effectively?
Prior to launch, and with a sprint or two available to action anything, schedule some time with your team for this activity.
- Inform the team that the launch has failed spectacularly!
- Have everyone independently write reasons they believe it’s failed
- Review the list together and identify ways to strengthen your feature prior to launch.
Good luck!
