What is your process for launching new features/products?

The launch process is almost always the same. We brief our sellers, distributors, partners, and then launch to the external market, in that order, every single time. First briefing sellers, distributors, and partners ensures that they are not caught off guard by the announcement. It enables them to support customers and their questions on launch day and allows them to plan their strategy on how to use the launch to capture revenue and mindshare.

Typically, analysts and press are briefed under embargo before launch day giving them time to write articles and be ready on day one. Press events on the day of the launch can be another option depending on the strategy.

Great question!

First, I shedule a kick off meeting. In this meeting...

• I outline what product launch is, why we do it, and how it works at this company. I do this every time because there are always new people on your team who might not be familiar with product launch and it's important to level set. 
• I then outline the roles and responsibilties of being on the launch team. I ask each DRI if they will commit to these or if there is a DRI on their team they want to take their place instead. 
• I provide an overview of what we are launching, what we are launching it, prooblems it solves, value it delivers, and high level timeline of launch date (and the key milestones to get to that launch date).
• I acknowledge that there is a lot still to do, but getting this group together is the most important part.
• I explain the meeting cadence (often starts biweekly and then moves to weekly as we approach launch) and explain what they are expectated to prepare ahead of each meeting (slide I mention below).
• Lastly, I ask each member of the team to write down every that comes to mind to them about this launch. What questions and concerns do they have? What things do they believe their team needs to do to make this success? This is a very important process because it starts to get everyone thinking about their TO-DO list. And then you as the launch leader, have a master list of it all. 

I always use the same 1 slide template to organize product launch. It's weekly update slide. Each member is responsibile for listing the 1-3 things they are working on in that 1-2 week span (before the next meeting), what dependencies they have, any blockers, and status (red, yellow, green) to due date. I collect these slides from everyone the night before our weekly meeting and put them into one deck. We review each of these slides in our meeting. This is also important because it ensures that everyone on the launch team knows what others are doing -- and can identify areas they might be able to help or areas of redundancy/duplicative work. This meeting is not a working meeting. Instead, members are expected to meet in smaller groups outside our regular cadence to get the actual work done. 

Lastly, I always use Asana or a gantt chart to list every since detail of the launch up to launch day, and then the promotional actiivities happening after. I often create section/label to nest them under, but it's important to list every to do and keep track of it as PMM leader so you can hold folks accountable -- and make decisions on where to pivot/what to cut if need be. 

The first step is creating a tiering system so you can prioritize features & products being released. Variables could be based on customer impact (good and bad—think change management), business priorities, revenue potential, brand/awareness potential, etc.

For Tier 1 & 2 products, we’ve built out a workback schedule in Asana with dates. Typically this process starts 3-4 months before the agreed upon launch date. I would think through your workback schedule for a few key deliverables owned by PMM, and then each deliverable by channel.

Key PMM deliverables are:

1. GTM strategy; 
2. Customer journey & bill of materials (or assets); 
3. Positioning

You need these to do anything else. 

Use your GTM strategy deck for roadshows with cross-functional partners to drive alignment. 

Use your draft customer journey in brainstorm sessions with channel and content owners to build out your bill of materials and get their buy-in. 

And your positioning serves as the blueprint for all the materials created for your launch.