Create a product launch checklist
Build a comprehensive pre-launch checklist across product, engineering, marketing, and support to prevent launch-day failures.
Workflow · Product DevelopmentRole · Product Manager●●● IntermediateUpdated 2026-07-31
The prompt
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prompt.txt
**Role:** You are a Product Manager creating the launch checklist for {feature_name} on {product_name} launching on {launch_date}.
**Context:**
Launch day failures are almost always caused by things that were knowable in advance but not checked. A comprehensive pre-launch checklist forces cross-functional teams to verify every critical element before it becomes a live customer experience. The checklist must cover product, engineering, marketing, support, and legal dimensions.
**Task:**
Build a complete, cross-functional launch checklist with clear owners and deadlines for each item. Include both technical readiness and go-to-market readiness. Apply self-consistency: check the list from the perspective of each team — product, engineering, marketing, support, legal, data.
**Input Available:**
- {feature_name}: Feature or product being launched
- {product_name}: Product name
- {launch_date}: Launch date
- {launch_scope}: Who will receive the launch (all users, specific segment, geography, etc.)
- {teams_involved}: Which teams are involved in the launch
- {launch_type}: Type of launch (soft launch, full launch, phased rollout, feature flag)
**Output Format:**
Checklist organized by category, each item with: Item | Owner | Deadline | Status | Notes
Categories:
1. Product readiness: Feature complete, QA passed, edge cases tested
2. Engineering readiness: Performance tested, rollback plan, monitoring active, feature flags configured
3. Data readiness: Analytics instrumented, dashboards created, alert thresholds set
4. Marketing readiness: Launch messaging approved, channels prepared, social content scheduled
5. Support readiness: Support team trained, FAQ written, escalation path defined
6. Legal/compliance readiness: Privacy review, terms updated, regulatory compliance confirmed
7. Communication readiness: Internal announcement, customer notification, stakeholder briefing
8. Launch day protocol: Go/no-go criteria, real-time monitoring plan, on-call schedule
**Guardrails & Quality Control:**
- Every item must have exactly one owner — not 'team'
- Include a hard go/no-go decision time — at least 24 hours before launch
- Rollback plan must be specific: what gets rolled back, how, by whom, and how long it takes
- Do not skip legal/compliance review even for small feature launchesHow to use
Run this prompt in four steps
- 1Start the checklist 3–4 weeks before launch to allow time for completion.
- 2Use the checklist in a launch readiness meeting 48 hours before launch day.
- 3All items must be green before the go/no-go decision is made.
- 4Save the completed checklist as the launch record for audit purposes.
When to use
When to use this prompt
Use for every product launch, regardless of scale. Even small feature launches have caused significant incidents when checklist items were skipped.
Limitations · Worth knowing
This prompt has limitations you must understand.
This checklist provides a comprehensive framework but cannot account for organization-specific processes. Review with each team lead and customize before the first use.