The Product Launch Playbook
Most product launches fail quietly. Features ship, nobody notices, and the team moves on wondering what went wrong. This playbook gives you the repeatable system that high-performing product teams use to plan, execute, and measure launches that actually move the needle.
What You'll Learn
Build a repeatable launch process
Stop reinventing the wheel. Create a launch framework your team can reuse across every release, from minor updates to major product bets.
Align cross-functional teams before launch day
Get engineering, design, marketing, sales, and support rowing in the same direction with clear roles, timelines, and deliverables.
Choose the right launch tier for every release
Not every feature deserves a press release. Learn to size your launch investment to match the expected business impact.
Run beta programs that generate real signal
Design early access programs that surface usability gaps, validate positioning, and build momentum before GA.
Write launch messaging that resonates
Move beyond feature lists. Craft positioning and messaging that connects your product to the problems your users actually care about.
Measure launch success with the right metrics
Define what "worked" before you ship, then track the adoption, activation, and retention signals that tell you whether the launch landed.
10 Chapters Inside
Anatomy of a Successful Product Launch
Understand the core elements every successful launch shares, and the common failure modes that sink even well-built features.
Pre-Launch: Discovery, Validation, and Go/No-Go
Learn how to validate that a feature is ready to launch, set go/no-go criteria, and avoid committing to dates before the product is ready.
Launch Tier Framework (Major, Minor, Maintenance)
Learn to categorize every release into one of three tiers, with clear guidelines for the effort, communication, and coordination each tier requires.
Cross-Functional Launch Planning
Learn how to coordinate launch activities across every team that touches the customer, with clear roles, deliverables, and timelines.
Who This Guide Is For
Product Managers
PMs who own feature launches end to end and want a structured system for planning, coordinating, and measuring releases.
Product Leaders
Directors, VPs, and Heads of Product who need to standardize launch quality across multiple teams and product lines.
Go-to-Market Teams
Product marketing, sales enablement, and customer success leads who collaborate with product on launch execution.
Tim Adair has led product launches at startups and growth-stage SaaS companies for over a decade. He has shipped major platform launches, incremental feature releases, and everything in between — learning what works (and what falls flat) through direct experience.