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Launch Debrief Part I: Launch Debrief Widgets

Launch Debrief Part I: Launch Debrief WidgetsYa’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.

The 411 on Your Genius Zone (Why It Works and Doesn’t Work Too)

The 411 on Your Genius Zone (Why It Works and Doesn't Work Too)At some point you’ve heard these pieces of advice:

  1. Delegate everything and stay in your genius zone
  2. There’s only enough time in the day, be intentional and stay in your lane bro
  3. CEO doesn’t mean Chief of EVERYTHING Officer

I totally get it. These pieces of advice make a LOT of sense. If you are struggling to scale and break into that next level, you might have tried to apply one or more of these ideas. BUT delegation, genius zone, and figuring out what to work on first isn’t really as easy as it sounds. It’s easy to think there must be something wrong with YOU. Why is it so easy for everyone else? What are YOU doing wrong?

Nothing. No, I mean it. You aren’t doing anything wrong and there isn’t anything WRONG with you and there actually isn’t anything wrong with that advice. The only problem is that advice only works for SOME people but it doesn’t work for EVERYONE. And really all of those tips are theories and not as easy to implement. Like exactly how does one DELEGATE, stay in their lane, on top of it all. . . and waltz into their office with the right combo of Andy & Miranda?

This is the key difference. While other folks might preach the ‘get it off your plate’ mentality as the only path to success, it’s just not true.

If you are anything like my awesome clients, the ones that….

Create and publish magazines, books, and digital publications.
Lead thousands of women in membership sites.
Mentor, coach, and run high level masterminds.
Launch a podcast. Or maybe two.
Have 10K+ FB group members.
Walk into conferences and have immediate authority.

They ALL have found their genius zones and successfully hand off anything outside of it, but they didn’t start there and they certainly continue to have their pulse on all the things. . . without their finger in every pie.

My people (that’s you dear) tend to do better when they do things a different way.

My signature way of doing this is based on PROGRESS, basically everything I teach, preach, manage, and implement is a systematic way of planning for (and reaching) your goals, while we improve operational efficiency and scalability and minimize growing pains.

Why does this work for people like you?

Because instead of working off of a mile long list of have-to-dos or only working on the creative fun parts (while turning a blind eye to things like, I dunno REVENUE) , we focus on priorities based on goals, benchmarks, and milestones.

That’s why I created the VIP Intensive. I’m so over awesome people like you struggling to to manage #allthethings and keep shoving 100 days of work into 30, but never really getting anywhere with it and feeling like a complete loser because of it.

I wanted to create something that would work for MY type of people.

It’s 5 sprints with me as your progress guide. We dive deep. Gather facts and data. Set the goals. Break down the plan. And customize your 90 days to work for you and your team. We set you up to stay in your genius zone, slowly handing off those tasks you no longer want to handle and even help you build or train up team members.

If you’d like to…..
Set big fat audacious goals.
Carve out actual time to work on ‘one day projects’.
Have a team who has your back and buy in to your vision.
Feel accomplished at the end of every quarter.
Know what to work on and when.

This would be a good place to start. Listen, you can keep doing things the way you’ve been taught but I doubt much will change because you’ll never be the type of person those ways will work for.

You are in good company, I can’t do it either.

You’ll continue to….

STRUGGLE.
To diminish your dreams because you don’t have the right tactical plan.
Have work bleed over into your family time.
Beat yourself up because your brain is ALWAYS ON.
To see, feel, and ALLOW things to fall through the cracks.

But who wants that? Not when you can prioritize all the things into an actual plan. FINALLY stay in your genius zone, without blinders to what is happening within your business.

You can learn more here.

How to Actually Keep on Track with Your Business Goals

How to Actually Keep on Track with Your Business GoalsIf you’ve ever tried to set truly intentional, stretching, yet achievable goals for your business and not managed to reach the finish line exactly as you hoped, you are not alone. The truth is that a lot of people want to hit all the beautiful milestones they set out during all the yearly planning and annual goal setting review sessions, but not a lot of people actually do it.

With all of the goal setting journals, task managers, to do list dashboards, and even with the best dream teams. . . . Why is it STILL so hard to stay on track?

I’ve worked with a handful of seriously amazing (and crazy successful) business owners and pretty much all of them struggled with what I call #allthethings IDEA WHIPLASH. The #allthethings IDEA WHIPLASH is something all creatives tend to experience and it goes a little like this:

Here are my goals for Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4.
Offerings are XYZ, ABC, and 123.
Marketing for XYZ starts in February Q1.
Whoa, that sounds sooo cool.
Let’s do it.
Let’s move this, that, and that other thing so we can make room for this new amazing thing.
You bet we need a new funnel and marketing graphics
And #allthethings.
2 weeks to 1 month later.
Hold up yo.
I think I like XYZ better now.
Yes, for sure. Let’s go with that.
AND repeat.

Seem familiar? This happens a lot, especially for big dreamin’ creatives. What can you do about it? I’ve got 5 things you can do right now if you want to keep on track with your goals and keep your #allthethings IDEA WHIPLASH to a minimum.

#1) Accept that there is absolutely opportunity cost for new ideas.

Yes, you may be missing out on the next hot thing, but if you’ve set serious financial, growth, and personal goals you need to accept that the opportunity cost is 100% real. You may miss out, but you could hit it out of the park with your original (even refined) idea/s.

#2) Invest in some outside help to setting and PLANNING for these goals.

Sometimes I see business owners fall into #allthethings IDEAS WHIPLASH by default, simply because they have just come up with IDEAS and the when they’d like to meet it (like in 20K in Q2 by selling XYZ) but without actual plans to achieve these goals. Once you see a tactical plan (marketing, numbers, and projects), the idea / offer / promotion feels more “real”. You see the actual way to get there.

#3) Create actual milestones and analyze the heck out of it.

If you break down those quarterly goals into milestones (like in a sprint) it should help you see if your team’s work is really getting you closer to the goal. Benchmarks and milestones are so important and keeps the ping pong idea whiplash minimized. Here’s your out: After comparing your work to your goal/benchmark/milestone and you still feel kinda weird about the goal. . . then maybe it’s time to move on. You’ll have more idea remorse if you haven’t worked on it vs. leaving the idea by choice (backed up by facts).

#4) Set a GET OUT OF JAIL FREE card for these goals.

Much like #3, if you are working towards a goal that involves a lot of new work, refining, or potentially many more hours to finalize, set a date by this time if we have completed: a, b, and c then we will proceed. If we have not, then we can shelve this idea and adjust our marketing or financial goals. I love this because it allows you to lead your team towards those big visions and goals, but it also lets you have a pass if it simply looked good on paper but not in reality.

#5) Refine, adapt, and adjust. Remember– you set those goals in a business vacuum.

While yes, you took time to analyze and objectively look at your business- your business is a living breathing extension of your life and family. Things happen. Goals change. Major life moments affect our quarter-to-quarter projections. That means you have control (and the OK) to change or alter the goals.

If you do those 5 things, you WILL keep on track with your goals. It’s a process I’ve taken both large and small businesses through and every single one of my clients end up exceeding their goals and keeping their teams happy by avoiding #allthethings IDEA WHIPLASH. Sure, you can do this alone but if you are really serious about setting intentional goals, you can’t keep doing things the way you’ve done before.

Sign up for Your Progress Gameplan. It’s the best way to see how this crazy method Progress System works and helps keep you on track towards your goals.