The Pros and Cons of Product Launch Playbooks
Launching Reliably While Leaving Room for Innovation
🚀 Every founder wants to move fast and break things - do things that don't scale.
These have their benefits to an extent, but eventually, you will realize that launching new features can be chaotic without setting some ground rules.
If you are the founder who's still doing this yourself, remember it's difficult to offload your process and strategy into someone else's mind.
First, you might start formalizing the process - maybe even over-engineer it a bit?
Either way, you're on the right track, but there's a middle ground when building launch playbooks.
You don't want to overshoot and create the opposite problem where we play things too safe, either.
With product launch playbooks, the key is finding the middle ground between setting up guardrails and blocking the road.
Pros of Product Launch Playbooks
Launch playbooks exist for a good reason. It's beneficial to put order around how you release features and it helps future proof your process. As a founder, you've likely mainly been dealing with this yourself or working on a small team where communication is easy and everyone is aligned - but as you grow, you'll quickly grow out of that and hire new people who aren't up to speed.
Here's the top reasons playbooks are critical:
Structured Approach
Playbooks provide a structured approach, offering a step-by-step guide that gets the process out of your head (or your founding team's head) and streamlines the launch process. This approach has a checklist that ensures consistency and alignment among team members, boosting coordination and efficiency. It acts as a unified framework that helps in managing complex launch dynamics.
Risk Mitigation
We've all had the launch that failed - or the email sent to the wrong massive mailing list (whoops) - and playbooks are a great way to mitigate risks upfront. They help to predict potential challenges so you can formulate contingency plans before they happen. This proactive stance solves common launch issues and instills best practices, making the process more predictable and manageable.
Performance Measurement
When you aren't launching features on the fly, you get to build clear KPIs and success metrics from the start. This creates effective performance tracking and enables a structured feedback loop. This is crucial for continuous improvement and for gauging the launch's impact.
Time and Resource Optimization
Launches are complex, especially for large Tier 1 launches. Playbooks let you operationalize processes and checklists you use every launch to save time and optimize resources. It reduces the need for trial and error by providing a clear, predefined plan, ensuring optimal use of resources, budget, and your team.
Cons of Product Launch Playbooks
On the other end of this, playbooks have limiting factors to consider that can sometimes do more harm than good.
Over-Reliance
An over-reliance on playbooks can stifle creativity and result in inflexibility. Adhering too strictly to a set process might limit innovative thinking and fail to account for the unique aspects of your product or market nuances.
One-Size-Fits-All Pitfall
Playbooks are typically generic templates, so they are adaptable. This means strategies within playbooks may not always fit launches, and each launch is unique. I know you'd love to be able to have a one size fits all process, but each launch is different, and defining the best way to launch is an equal amount science as it is art.
Resource Intensiveness
Don't do too deep while creating this. The goal is to build enough of a guide to make your and your teams' lives easier and give you a reliable and strategic approach to releases. Developing and customizing a playbook can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, so don't over-engineer it.
False Security
You still need to stay on your toes! A playbook might give a false sense of security by underestimating prep time or market opportunity. Teams risk becoming too reliant on the playbook, potentially overlooking real-time opportunities or threats in the market.
Playbooks as Guides, Not Rulebooks
The key here is that all product launches are unique. A playbook should serve as a guide with flexibility and adaptability. So you can have strategies to fit your product's unique journey and be responsive.
If you are too strict with your playbook, you might discourage innovation or miss opportunities. Also, these are not set in stone; each launch is an opportunity to learn and continually evolve your playbook.
So, while a product launch playbook can be invaluable, it's not a catch-all solution. It should be used as a flexible guide, complemented by the insights and instincts of your talented team.