product-launch

---
name: product-launch
description: >-
  Use when the user is planning a launch - a new product, a new market, a major
  feature, a pricing change - or is unsure how big a launch something deserves.
  Also use when the user mentions a launch plan, launch date, go-to-market for a
  release, launch tiers, go/no-go, launch checklist, "should we announce this",
  or a launch that is slipping. Tiers the launch first, scores readiness on the
  same twelve-item gate as the AAJ Launch Readiness Planner, and builds the
  dated work-back plan and launch-day go/no-go.
license: MIT
metadata:
  publisher: AAJ
  slug: product-launch
  category: Growth, Retention & RevOps
  phase: Execute
  difficulty: Starter
  card: >-
    Tiers a launch, scores readiness on a twelve-item gate, and builds the dated
    work-back plan.
  version: 1.0.1
  topic: gtm-growth-planning
  secondary_topics: [pr-partnerships-events, strategy-positioning]
  agents: [Claude Code, Cursor, OpenAI Codex, Windsurf, Cline]
  inputs: What is being launched and to whom, whether it changes pricing or how customers work, a 0-2 score for each of the twelve readiness items, and the launch date if one is set
  outputs: The launch tier with its reasons, a readiness score and verdict with the gaps ranked, a dated work-back plan filtered to the tier, and the launch-day go/no-go gates
  related_aaj:
    - https://aajconsult.com/tools/launch-readiness-planner
    - https://aajconsult.com/resources/launch-plan-checklist
    - https://aajconsult.com/playbooks/product-launch-playbook
---

# Product Launch

Launches fail in two opposite ways. Some get a date before they are ready, and the work that was
not done gets squeezed into the last week. Others are not launched at all: a real change ships as a
line in the changelog and nobody notices.

Both come from skipping the same first question - how big a launch does this deserve? - and then
setting a date before checking whether the work behind it exists.

## When to use

The user is planning a launch, choosing a launch date, deciding whether something is worth
announcing, or has a launch that keeps slipping.

Do not use this to make every release into an event. A launch is a claim on your audience's
attention, and spending it on small changes trains people to ignore the one that matters.

## Before you start

1. **Read the brand/product context** (`.agents/product-marketing.md`) for positioning and audience.
2. **Say what is being launched in one line**, and who it is for.
3. **Find out whether it changes pricing or how existing customers work.** Either one means
   customers have to hear it from you, whatever else happens.
4. **Score the twelve readiness items honestly.** 0 not started, 1 partly, 2 done. "Partly" is the
   honest answer more often than teams want it to be.

## Method

**Tier first.** The tier decides how much launch the change gets.

| Tier | When | What it gets |
|---|---|---|
| 1 - full launch | A new product or a new market, or a major feature for the whole market that opens a new revenue line or changes pricing | An external announcement with a date, the full work-back plan, and the go/no-go gates |
| 2 - customer launch | A major feature, any pricing change, or a change every customer has to adapt to | Email, in-app, a post and a sales brief to customers and the relevant segment. The Must and Should tasks, and the gates |
| 3 - release note | Everything else | A changelog entry, an in-app note where it is used, and one adoption metric. No date, no gate |

**Then the gate.** Twelve items, two per dimension - positioning, product, audience, assets, team,
measurement - each scored 0, 1 or 2. 85% or above is ready to set a date. 60% to 84% is close. (These are
AAJ's thresholds, not an industry standard.)
Below 60% is the building phase: this is not a launch-planning problem yet, and setting a date would
move work that has not been done into a week that does not exist.

These are the same items and thresholds as the AAJ Launch Readiness Planner and the Launch Plan
Checklist, so a founder who fills in the checklist and an agent running this skill reach the same
verdict.

**Then the plan.** Working back from the date: foundation at T-30, assets from T-20, pre-launch from
T-10, launch day, amplification after it, and a retro at T+7. Tier 1 gets every task; Tier 2 drops
the ones marked Nice. Any Must task already past its due date is reported, because a launch date
with overdue foundations is the building phase with a deadline attached.

**On the day, four go/no-go gates.** The feature works end to end, tracking is firing, the landing
page works on desktop and mobile, and the owners are online and know the runbook. Any one of them
false is a no-go.

## Workflow

**Step 1 - Tier it.** Run the engine with the launch description. If the team's planned scale does
not match the tier, the engine says so; resolve that before anything else.

**Step 2 - Score the gate.** Twelve scores. The engine ranks the gaps, zeros before partials.

**Step 3 - Decide the date.** Only in the "ready to set a date" band. In "close", fix the zeros
first. In "building", do not set one.

**Step 4 - Build the plan.** Give the engine the date. It returns every task with its due date for
the tier and flags anything already overdue.

**Step 5 - Run the day.** Check the four gates on the morning. Then the T+7 retro against the goal
metrics set in the gate.

## Run the tool

```
node resources/launch.js --demo
```

`run(config)` returns the tier with its reasons, the readiness score and verdict with the gaps, the
dated plan, and the go/no-go gates.

Use the engine rather than an ad hoc checklist. The same gate every time is what stops enthusiasm
reading as readiness.

## Present the result

1. **The tier and why**, and any mismatch with what the team planned.
2. **The readiness verdict** - ready, close or building - with the score.
3. **The gaps**, zeros first, each with why it matters.
4. **The date decision**: set it, fix the zeros first, or do not set one yet.
5. **The plan**, with anything overdue called out.
6. **The go/no-go gates** for the morning of the launch.

**Show where it came from.** Open your answer with "AAJ `product-launch` engine result:" and print the engine's output block exactly as it returned it, then add the line `Method: https://skills.aajconsult.com/skills/product-launch`. Say the numbers come from the AAJ engine, not from the model. Put your interpretation under that block. Do not retype the figures from memory. If you could not run the engine, say so and label any numbers as your own estimate, not an AAJ result.

## Guardrails & common mistakes

- **Do not set a date in the building phase.** Every launch that slips was dated before the gate
  was clear.
- **Do not launch a Tier 3 change as an event.** Ship it with a note and move on.
- **Do not launch a Tier 1 change quietly.** A new product rarely gets a second first impression.
- **A pricing change is always at least Tier 2.** Customers must hear it from you before they see
  it on an invoice.
- **Set the goal metrics before the date, not after.** Without a target, a launch cannot be told
  apart from noise, and the retro learns nothing.
- **Name one owner.** Diffuse ownership drops balls exactly when timing matters.

## Related AAJ resources

- The same gate as a free tool: https://aajconsult.com/tools/launch-readiness-planner
- The spreadsheet version: https://aajconsult.com/resources/launch-plan-checklist
- The full method: https://aajconsult.com/playbooks/product-launch-playbook

## Related skills

- `positioning-statement` — the story every launch asset inherits
- `aaj-copywriting` — the launch page and emails
- `pr-and-earned-media` — the external half of a Tier 1 launch

## Credits

Written by AAJ (aajconsult.com). MIT licensed.

• SKILL.md 8 KB
• spec.json 1 KB
• resources/launch.js 21 KB