Project Plan Templates

Product Feature Launch Template

Use this template by Shona Fenner, Sr. Customer Success Operations Manager at PetDesk to jumpstart your process for turning ideas into features

[This template serves as a functional checklist for the steps needed to take an idea, turn it into a feature, and go-to-market. To ensure successful execution and launch, it includes phase breakdowns, checklists, stakeholder details, and roles.]

Product Development Checklist

Phase 1: Product Discovery

• Surveys, user interviews, competitor analysis, and general exploration

• Content sourced from existing Feedback, churn insights, prioritization from CS leaders, and input from pre and post-sale leads

phase 2: Feature Technical Definition

• Engineering teams prioritization, sizing, and documentation needed to build DesignQA

• High-level value proposition established

Phase 3: product development

• Development work needed to get feature enabled for Alpha testing

• Product documentation

• Epic and product stories

• Technical stories

Phase 4: alpha/beta testing

• Pre-alpha to alpha testing

  • Determine testers - market, size, tech requirements, etc.

  • Metrics of testing

    • Timeline

    • Functionality included

    • Location count

      • Determine stats to track

      • Define when to move to the next phase

• Beta Phase

  • Determine if it will be product-led or CS-led

  • Metrics of testing

    • Timeline

    • Functionality included

    • Location count

identify stakeholders and create accountability

[Create a matrix with phases / deliverables in the rows, and stakeholders / accountabilities in the columns. The below table reflects examples, but should be customized to your project. To create accountability, we recommend using the RACI model:

• Responsible. Those who do the work to complete the task.

• Accountable. This person delegates work and is the last one to review the task or deliverable before it’s deemed complete.

• Consulted. Every deliverable is strengthened by review and consultation from more than one team member. Consulted parties are typically the people who provide input based on either how it will impact their future project work or their domain of expertise on the deliverable itself.

• Informed. These team members simply need to be kept in the loop on project progress, rather than roped into the details of every deliverable.]

Go-to-Market Checklist

[When the product development checklist is completed, to the go-to-market checklist begins. Product Marketing efforts ramp up and additional stakeholders in Sales, Analytics, Support, and Customer Success are involved. Engineering is no longer involved until post-mortem items like retrospectives are reached.]

Phase 1: Define and Scope GTM

• Identify launch owners

• Value proposition

  • Pain-point addressed

  • Position against competition or alternative

• Persona details

• Pricing and packaging

• Marketing assets needed

  • Feature messaging

  • Email Announcement

  • Blogpost

  • One-pager

  • Video

  • Webinar

  • Company website - new or updated pages

Phase 2: Internal communication plan

• Announcement method(s)

• New or updated Guru cards

• New or updated Feature Guide docs

• Sales rollout plan and training

• CS/Imp/Support/Enablement rollout plan and training

Phase 3: external communication plan

• Email Announcement

• Help Center Articles

  • Create new feature documentation

  • Make edits to existing articles and information flow

• Partner plan

  • Which partners are affected? Who will communicate to partners about launch

Phase 4: launch

• Announcements and marketing assets made public

• Mark feature as “Released” in Pendo Feedback

Phase 5: post-launch review

• Internal

  • Prod/Eng - Project retrospective

  • Solicit feedback and reassess messaging

• External

  • Success criteria at 1m, 3m, and 6m

  • Plan for missing or exceeding these expectations

[Create a matrix with phases / deliverables in the rows, and stakeholders / accountabilities in the columns. The below table reflects examples, but should be customized to your project.]