What is the best cadence for gathering stakeholder feedback in preparation for a launch?

Depends on the stakeholders' seniority and role in the initiative, but here's a few guidelines that I use, which I outline below. However, one important GitLab cultural practice that is very helpful is that for every major initiative we have internally public channels where anyone interested in the initiative can join (the only exception are projects that must remain confidential). That way, as we make progress on the initiative anyone interested (all stakeholders and curious individuals) can jo ...Read More

It's a best practice to keep all stakeholders in the loop from proposal to delivery. The drivers (team) at different stages of product discovery or development could change, however keeping all stakeholders in the loop ensures that they are able to actively track, participate and influence vs. being on the receiving end. This also brings clarity in capacity planning across multiple stakeholders from the proposal phase. Robust documentation bolsters communication while also keeping an audit trail ...Read More

If you believe that your partners are there to help you build the best experiences/products possible, then you should have continuous feedback loops with them not just at the start and finish. The most effective teams include their internal partners in their sprint cadences which look something like this: You are involving them early in the discovery process to see the opportunities you are exploring and the outcomes you are trying to achieve. This is how you can make sure you are aligned from t ...Read More

TLDR: get as much feedback as early as you can from your customers to validate the use case you're solving and your approach to solving it, validate the solution with product leadership, as well as with sales and marketing in terms of messaging, make sure the product can be built to the requirements customers need, and ensure all go-to-market functions sign off on the launch plan. There are two big influences on the cadence of gathering feedback: Which stakeholders - who are you referring to as ...Read More