Ya’ll we are just out of the season of launching #allthethings x 1M! I mean this was crazy town over here, we had launches and promos and flipping things to live going on all over the place. While I LOVE the exhilaration of a good launch and being in the trenches with my teams, I’ve had to spend the last couple of sprints (with at least one more) debriefing the launch and other operational aspects.

A Launch Debrief, what is that? Well a launch debrief is where myself and my lovely CEO clients pick apart the launch and refine so we can improve the launch’s operational elements. It’s very similar to a sprint review, but solely focused on the launch.

Over the course of this two parter blog series I’m going to walk you through Part I: Launch Debrief Widgets (the what and why) AND Part II: Launch Debrief Results (the how) .

It’s really important that you LD as separate to a sprint review because a significant launch is much different than analyzing your regular ‘ole “stuff”. You may be re-launching your thing later this year so you need to know how to improve and make it a littler easier to replicate. You may even be turning this into an evergreen launch, so you gotta get it right and transitioned correctly from live launch to evergreen. You may even (probably most of you) be using this launch as the framework and process of other launches in Q2-4. So you’ll need to nail and refine the workflows, stages, and resource management.

Sidenote: Now this is where my thinking differs between other operational integrators or strategists. We don’t actually look at results of the launch. Say what? Yup. That’s right. In the LD we don’t look at the results for an important reason. You can have the most sales or revenue brought in or smash your goals, with the crummiest most duct-taped and “wing it” operational plan there is. AND those results (while INCREDIBLY important to track and assess) can subjectively change how you look at your operational strategy.

Today, let’s focus on Part I: The Launch Debrief Widgets
What you’re looking for, why, and how to go about rounding up the info.

We analyze at 3 aspects of the launch:
1. General Project Plan, including Pre-Live & LIVE strategy
2. Team, Support, and Resource Management
3. Tech

These are the most important areas to have a handle on. We are rounding up info you probably have within a few clicks, so get ready to print reports or have your journal out to make additional assessments. For my whacky brain, I print everything, label, and color coordinate between the areas as I debrief. I keep the printouts and notes together in a regular old school file and also keep a digital version in Evernote or Google Doc (which then ends up refining our launch plan in Asana or Trello).

As we gather you probably have a good idea of what these areas will glean for you, but just spend a couple hours gathering the info and we will analyze all the areas as a whole after!

General Project Plan, including Pre-Live & LIVE strategy

Dates and Calendar Assessment | starting at your very first task prepping for the launch through your ‘live’ date. Note, some of these dates may have crossover with other tasks. See #2 and #3.
Pre-live crossover work | note any team member, times or tasks that were working on either launch prepwork or regular tasks during pre-live portion of launch
Live crossover work | note any team member, times or tasks that were working on either prepwork or future tasks during LIVE portion of launch
Functional Areas and Sprint Assessments | focus on the following for launch: content, marketing, tech setup and management, planning, team management, and testing.

Team, Support, and Resource Management

Team Coordination, Pre-Live | list dates, members present, and general topics of team calls and Slack checkins completed during Pre-live stage
Team Coordination, Live | list dates, members present, and general topics of team calls and Slack checkins completed during Live stage
Deadlines Assessment | list any missed or rescheduled deadlines and by whom
Repurpose Assessment | list any content, tech, or workflows repurposed to fit this launch
Team Management Assessment | gather hours logged, tasks delegated (if separate from your own assignments) during Pre-Live and Live stages

Tech

Tech Launch List | list all the tech used (email marketing, spreadsheets, project management, software, website platforms, revenue tech, etc)
Tech Mishap Assessment | list any problems (broken, workarounds, issues) with any of those listed in #1
Tech Help | list any video walkthroughs or documented workflows specific to tech used in this launch

As I am diving into this debrief, I also ask my clients to simply form a google doc or we do this during a separate debrief call, where they download and bullet out all the good/bad/ugly from the launch. It helps merge our perspectives, normally we see the same thing and just analyze it differently.

These 3 main areas with 12 points of analysis are what I gather for each LD, we will dive into the analysis in Part II. Also remember, there are many things you know right off the bat could be better, so it’s important you get it all out of your head and start listing out refinement points in a systematic way.

Why I like to round up the reports is because it helps remove my personal bias or subjectivity as I look at the black/white reports or notes. The data, calendar, and reports also give me actual evidence to support (or not) my gut instincts during the launch.