It is absolutely critical that all phases of a product's life cycle be managed, especially launch. You can manage your products, or the market and your customers will. Take your pick.

However, that it needs to be managed does not mean it needs to be very formal or bureaucratic. What's most important is that there is clarity between departments on specific dates (release, availability, training, etc), pricing, features, etc. I come from an industrial equipment background, for consumer products and services there will no doubt be changes in the approach taken.

At my company launches are planned, as part of a 6-phase product development process.

posted August 31, 2007

David -
So many companies see the product launch as the "last step" of the development process, not the "first step" in managing the lifecycle of the product they are launching. They reduce the resources and effort behind a newly launched product almost immediately, practically guaranteeing that product will have a shortened lifecycle, simply out of neglect. An effective way of resetting this mindset is for the product manager (and the product team) to project support and upgrade/maintenance costs over the full lifecycle of the product as part of the initial investment - You might not get fully funded on Day One, but it changes the conversation about how to view the launch event in the bigger picture.

posted August 31, 2007

Concept to obsolescence is all a plan. If not, and one stage is missed products and companies can fail. Some are "lucky" but not forever. Even with a good plan getting the whole company from president to shipping and field service/customer service need to be involved and knwoledgable of the product and plan. It is a product the "life cycle" and needs to thought of this way by all.

posted September 1, 2007

I have found a direct correlation between the success of a product and the proportional investment of time, quality and money. The same drivers for a project also drive a product. The closet to balance there is in these areas the smmoother the launch.

I view a product as a live (breathing) organism, similar to a systems approach. It should be looked at as something that is in a constant state of growth and evolution. If not, the competition has a way of "leap frogging" with something more innovative.

Also, an emphasis on taking care of the people on the team is also important. Providing them the essnetial resopurces and leadrship support is essnetial. There is nothing like losing your valuable talent and valuable trade secrets to the competition. Consider their generation and manage/lead to them accordingly. Not everyone wants the same things I do.

Today's workforce and people are not a "treat others the way you want to be treated" workforce. We need to undersdtand their unique needs and "treat them the way they want to be treated." This also goes for the external customers who are using the product.

Constant focus on the changing needs of the customer/user is essential to continued innovation and predicting needs to innovate the product ahead of the competition. This requires stong leadership and unwavering support of an executive sponsor, product that supports the organizations objectives and values as well as buy-in from stakeholders.

I hope this helps. David, this is a great question, let's write a book on this.

Thank you,

Phillip

posted September 1, 2007

Hi David,

A product launch is part of a bigger strategy and needs to be seen as such.
Despite the high pressure. Despite the dedicated money and time. A launch without follow up is worth as much as customer service without product launch. T
herefore, if you see it as a set of wheels in a bigger machine, it will be easier to manage. And to be successful.

Kind regards,

posted September 2, 2007

Great question. I see the product launch - and those involved with the launch - as part of the product development process - not only at the front end, but throughout. It works well as a parallel development effort. For example, in consumer electronics how a new product may be displayed or demonstrated must be planned to fit the requirements of the retailers. Concepts and prototypes for the product may be shared along the way for valuable divergent input. Additionally, while there may be a specific launch date - building relationships and customer expectations start before and carry afterwards. --my two cents, Ed

posted September 3, 2007

Being in a industry where products require considerable customer involvement, product launches in this industry are planned and executed right from the time the product concept originates. Selling is often a case of getting buy-in s from the customers on the concept rather than the physical product/prototype.
The same applies to other industries such as consumer electronics,where one would have heard about product launches planned years earlier to coincide with major events [ like, new television model launches during World Cup or Olympics ].
Thinking about a launch strategy when the prototype is ready, is planning for failure.

posted September 3, 2007

Yes. However, the extent of this depends on how you are structuring things. For example, with a Web-based product in a start-up, you wouldn't want to be spending a huge amount of time planning and executing a launch. When trying to move fast, it's probably just product, marketing, and dev working together to determine what each group will do to "launch." Of course, it's always a plus to create growth goals (users, revenue, etc...) to baseline against.

Larger launches deem to careful planning. For example, a financial product at a bank rolling out to tens of thousands of tellers at thousands of branches across a country isn't just a matter of development throwing up some freshly compiled code on to production.

In my environment (a start-up), I'm baking 1 1/2 to 2 weeks into the launch process to first "go live" without any marketing fanfare. This lets us clean-up anything we may have missed or left off until the end, and fix any potentially serious issues that crop up once the product is public.

After this time period clears, I'm comfortable we can really start promoting the product and (hopefully) building a user base.

There won't be mountains of sales so expectation setting is very key. Everyone in the organization should be highly revved about the release (again, depending on size), and may in fact be disappointed and asking "what went wrong?" when you launch and don't start making millions of dollars in the first six months. Maybe even in the first month.

Don't let folks around you slip in to this trap - it will just hinder morale. Especially for v1.0 launches in a start-up atmosphere, everyone has to buy in to the product vision / problem the product is solving first, and buying expensive cars and private islands a distant second.

If everyone is all about the money, the launch will fail in their eyes. Remember, it's never the PM's product -- it belongs to the company, and everyone should feel some level of ownership for it, even though the higher-ups (or "the suits" if you're an Entourage fan) hold the PM completely accountable for failure and/or success.

So, yes. Plan the launch as a priority (v1.0 and beyond) and who is responsible for what. It's very important everyone doesn't run around assuming someone else is responsible for things.

posted September 3, 2007

While some companies do what you have mentioned (making product launch a second thought) my limited experience suggests me the following:

1. Product launch, like the product itself has a life cycle of its own and it should perfectly compliment how your product/brand behaves. ALWAYS REMEMBERING THAT PRODUCTS/BRANDS ARE LIKE HUMAN BEINGS BUT THEY AGE FASTER is something which the companies should NEVER FORGET.

2. Product launch has to graduate itself and should include a slot for quick feedback mechanism. This would save the companies from a sudden shock from the market in terms of reduced sales.

3. Most importantly product launch (as I have seen it) works best when a little bit of mystic surrounds it. Second leg of the pre-launch involves some distinguished achievers from the same lines (testimonial method) and finally the launch, which gives the potential users a chance to have a say on the product with a properly devised reward mechanism for the best suggestion

regards
rohit

posted September 4, 2007

We wrote about this a some length in our book. The launch is an important stage, but not the only stage. The success of a product does not only come from a great launch. And, there are plenty of other points in our book.

ajk.

Links:

• http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1592533418

posted September 5, 2007