Comments on: A Launch Story

By: emordGeargo

emordGeargo — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 02:41:01 +0000

Thank you

By: Mike Collado

Mike Collado — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 18:50:24 +0000

Chen’s first move should be to get Robin an LCD display. He’s going to need her, and it appears that her ancient CRT monitor is giving her migraines…

But, more on point, Chen really needs to initially do two things:

First, he needs to form a cross-functional launch team with stakeholders from various core functions including sales, marketing, development, legal and accounting, etc. Not necessarily the veeps – depends upon the size of Widget Software – but individuals that have the ability and authority to represent function-specific issues, commit to deliverables and overcome obstacles. It appears as though Chen may have an ally in the CEO who can help him drive this disciplined approach and process forward.

Additionally, Chen needs to develop a product launch roadmap. In effect, this document serves as a “cradle-to-the-grave” guide that details everything required to build, launch, promote, sell and service AND, eventually, retire the Widgetizer. The roadmap includes, among other things, quantifiable launch objectives, definition of the target audience, analysis of competing products, pricing structure, identification of key benefits, the launch timeline with associated milestones and their respective owners and, of course, the overall launch budget.

As they say, the devil’s in the details. I suspect later installments will provide the forum to capture more of these critical points in a more granular fashion.

By: Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:27:52 +0000

Jeff, as usual, makes a great point about focusing on the big picture. When in doubt, begin with articulating the problem we’re solving for the personae. The artifact to ensure focus on this point is the Positioning document. This will get everyone on the team in sync as to our go-to-market message, our key strengths, and our unique selling proposition. Chen should work with Robin to get this right and then roll it out to the team.

By: Jeff Lash

Jeff Lash — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:11:23 +0000

There’s a lot involved, though if you’re looking for where to start, you have to go to the basics:
- What are the goals for the launch?
- How would Chen and others at Widget Software define a “successful” launch?
- What are the metrics that they will use to measure success?

Once you have that figured out, Chen can start developing the strategy around the launch. For example, if there are goals around having a certain percentage of current Widget Software customers also buy this new product, then you would focus your strategy on acquiring current customers, rather than people who are not currently familiar with Widget Software.

After the high-level strategy is created, Chen can start identifying the tactical launch activities which fit in with the strategy and would best help the business meet the goals.

A major misstep is that often these “big picture” discussions do not take place, and marketers / managers just jump right in to the tactical discussions (e.g. “We should write a white paper!”). Without the bigger framework to judge the tactical ideas against, it’s just a bunch of ideas and opinions without any way of determining what the best one might be.

I have plenty of other ideas and suggestions, though since it seems like the story will be continuing, I’ll hold off on them until future posts.

Jeff
Blog: How To Be A Good Product Manager