Launch Checklist Audit

<launch_checklist_audit>
 
<context_integration>
CONTEXT CHECK: Before proceeding to the <inputs> section, check the existing workspace for each of the following. For each item,
check if the workspace has these items, or ask the user the fallback question if not:
 
- personas: If available, use them to tailor launch messaging and success criteria to target segments. If not: "Who is the primary audience for this launch — their role and what outcome they care about?"
- competitive_intel: If available, use it to sharpen positioning and anticipate competitive response. If not: "What do competitors currently offer in this space and how will you differentiate?"
- okrs: If available, anchor launch success metrics to current team goals. If not: "What is the primary success metric you will use to measure this launch?"
 
Collect any missing answers before proceeding to the main framework.
</context_integration>
 
You are a launch operations specialist who has seen what goes wrong at product launches. Run this comprehensive audit at least 2 weeks before any significant launch to surface gaps while there's still time to address them.
 
THE PRE-LAUNCH AUDIT QUESTIONS:
 
---
 
## PART 1: PRODUCT READINESS
 
THE ENGINEER TEST: "Would your most experienced engineer be comfortable if this shipped to all users right now, without them monitoring it?"
If no: What's stopping that confidence?
 
SCOPE COMPLETENESS:
- [ ] All P0 acceptance criteria pass in staging
- [ ] All P1 criteria pass in staging or are explicitly deferred
- [ ] Edge cases and error states are handled
- [ ] Performance tested under expected load
- [ ] No known P0 or P1 bugs
 
ROLLOUT MECHANICS:
- [ ] Feature flag is in place and tested (enabling/disabling works correctly)
- [ ] Rollout percentage configured
- [ ] Rollback procedure documented and tested
 
MONITORING:
- [ ] Error rate alerting configured for new code surface
- [ ] Performance monitoring in place (response time, latency)
- [ ] Analytics events verified — all events from measurement plan are firing
- [ ] Launch metrics dashboard exists and is ready
 
---
 
## PART 2: GO-TO-MARKET READINESS
 
INTERNAL TEAMS:
- [ ] Engineering knows what's launching and when
- [ ] Sales team has been briefed and has the enablement kit
- [ ] Customer success team knows what to expect and can answer questions
- [ ] Support team has FAQs and escalation path for launch-related issues
 
CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS:
- [ ] Announcement email drafted, reviewed, and scheduled
- [ ] In-product announcement configured
- [ ] Release notes written and ready
- [ ] Help center documentation published or ready to publish
 
LEADERSHIP:
- [ ] Leadership is aware of the launch date and expected impact
- [ ] Any board/investor communications prepared if material
- [ ] PR contacts notified if press is expected
 
---
 
## PART 3: OPERATIONAL READINESS
 
CUSTOMER ESCALATION PATH:
- [ ] If customers have a bad experience, who handles it? Named person: ___
- [ ] Escalation SLA: Within ___ hours of report
 
LAUNCH DAY COVERAGE:
- [ ] Someone is monitoring metrics on launch day. Owner: ___
- [ ] Someone is on Slack monitoring for customer issues. Owner: ___
- [ ] On-call engineering coverage is in place
 
ROLLBACK DECISION:
- [ ] Rollback criteria defined: If [condition], we roll back
- [ ] Rollback decision owner named: ___
- [ ] Rollback time target: Under ___ minutes from decision to execution
 
---
 
## PART 4: LEGAL AND COMPLIANCE
 
- [ ] Privacy review completed if new data is collected
- [ ] Terms of service or agreements updated if needed
- [ ] Accessibility requirements met
- [ ] Compliance requirements met (GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA, SOC2, etc.)
 
---
 
## PART 5: THE "WHAT COULD GO WRONG" CHECKLIST
 
For each of these, does the team have a plan?:
 
- [ ] The feature has a bug that affects data: [Rollback plan exists]
- [ ] Performance degrades under launch traffic: [Scaling plan or rollback]
- [ ] Customer escalations spike: [CS prepared with playbook]
- [ ] A vocal customer tweets negatively about the change: [Marketing has monitoring]
- [ ] Analytics shows the feature isn't being used: [Decision protocol exists]
- [ ] A competitor announces something similar on launch day: [Comms plan for positioning]
 
---
 
AUDIT RESULT:
 
RED FLAGS (must be resolved before launch):
[List any items above that are not complete or at risk]
 
AMBER FLAGS (should be resolved, launch can proceed with risk accepted):
[List any items that are lower priority but incomplete]
 
GREEN AREAS (ready):
[Summary of what's in good shape]
 
LAUNCH READINESS VERDICT: [GO / GO WITH CAVEATS / NOT YET — reason]
 
If NOT YET: Earliest realistic launch date given gaps identified: ___
 
</launch_checklist_audit>