Aligning Change Management With Product Launch Goals

Most product teams celebrate the product launch. They shouldn't. Here’s what usually happens: A team ships a shiny new feature. They high-five. Then sprint straight into building the next one. But features don’t create value just by existing. That’s exactly what happened on a team I worked with years ago. We launched a brand new feature that we thought everyone would love — a huge engineering effort. But weeks later, sales didn’t pitch it. Support didn’t know how to explain it. And users? Confused, or unaware it even existed. We built it. But it never landed. And here's why: 🎯 Real impact happens after the launch. If you’re not enabling GTM teams to sell it… If you’re not helping support teams explain it… If you’re not learning what’s working and what’s not… You’re not done. You’re just getting started. The shift? From: "We shipped it—what’s next?" To: "We shipped it—how do we make it stick?" Here’s how: ✅ Empower internal teams -> Arm GTM with positioning, use cases, and objection handling -> Run enablement sessions with real customer scenarios- > Provide internal FAQs and demo scripts that evolve with feedback ✅ Track adoption and feedback -> Track the key metrics that matter -> Capture qualitative insights from sales calls and support tickets -> Segment feedback by persona to uncover hidden blockers ✅ Reinvest—or ruthlessly cut what’s not working -> Double down on features driving real outcomes -> Sunset or simplify features that confuse or underdeliver -> Use a “feature scorecard” to guide resource allocation Final thought: Launch is step 1. Stickiness is the real finish line. -- 👋 I’m Ron Yang, a product leader and advisor. Follow me for insights on product leadership + strategy.

Most PMs struggle aligning the company with their next feature launch. Launch tiers can help. There’s a strategy to launch tiers, and once you get it right, it changes everything. Here's a break down the 4-tier launch system that the best companies use to align PM with PMM and the rest of the GTM team: — First, let’s talk about what launch tiering really means. Not every product launch deserves a full-scale campaign with press releases and marketing blitzes. But most teams either overinvest in minor updates or underinvest in major ones. The solution? Launch tiers. — Tier 1: Major Launches These are the big ones: New product rollouts, major redesigns, or features that can redefine your category. They need: → Full company alignment (PMs, marketing, sales, PR, support) → A marketing campaign, press releases, and executive support. — Tier 2: Mid-Level Launches These are meaningful updates that improve the product or help expand market reach... But don’t require full-scale efforts. They involve: → Collaboration with marketing, but on a smaller scale → Blog posts, emails, and internal training for sales teams — Tier 3: Routine Updates These are your everyday product improvements. Small design tweaks, bug fixes, or iterative feature updates. Here’s what they need: → Simple announcements like release notes or in-app notifications → Minimal or no involvement from marketing and sales — Tier 4: Silent Releases These updates live behind the scenes... Things like backend optimizations, performance upgrades, or security patches. What they require: → Documentation for internal teams → No external communication or customer-facing announcements — But how do you decide which tier your launch belongs to? Ask these questions: → Business Impact: Will this update drive growth, retention, or revenue? → Customer Impact: Will it significantly change user workflows? The bigger the impact, the higher the tier. — Once you’ve categorized your launch, the next step is creating a playbook for each tier. For each tier, outline: → The key deliverables → Team roles and responsibilities → Lead times and budgets This way, there’s no confusion or last-minute scrambling. — If you treat every product launch the same, you’ll either burn out or miss key opportunities. Learn more about nailing launches here: https://lnkd.in/eB7s6umA And use this tier system to launch smarter, not harder.

Yesterday I highlighted Hexagon's Maestro product launch but having launched countless products that have redefined industries, I’ve learned one core truth: a product launch lives or dies by timing and alignment.   As Mary Sheehan says in "The Pocket Guide to Product Launches":   “The biggest challenge is actually getting the timing right… In order to get [product and marketing] humming together in perfect alignment, it's quite an undertaking.”   Especially in larger organizations where the product management team might be more used to a mature features/functions centric approach OR maybe not comfortable sharing with marketing until very very late in the process OR where there are too many product launches happening at similar timings.   To cut through the noise and dominate, you need to get these 5 things right:   1️⃣ Alignment & Timing -- and I cannot emphasize this more.   Misaligned timelines between product, marketing, and sales are the #1 killer of launch momentum. Marketing must be at the table early - before the roadmap becomes reality. In complex engineering products it is even more challenging since there could be an idea that "what does marketing know about products" - which needs to be shifted to "marketing can help us to be more customer-centric"   2️⃣ Positioning & Messaging   Start with the “why.” Why now? Why this product? Why does it matter to this segment? Strong positioning isn’t just for PR - it fuels every touchpoint that follows.   3️⃣ PR & Media Strategy   Plan to earn attention. That means embargoes, executive interviews, media partnerships, and a newsworthy angle that hijacks the news. Don’t just announce - take over the conversation.   4️⃣ GTM & Demand Generation   Launches are pipeline events. From campaigns to content to customer stories, your GTM motion should be orchestrated to activate both brand and demand - before, during, and after day one.   5️⃣ Sales Enablement   If your sales team isn’t ready, your market isn’t either. Train and equip them with demos, ppts, email material in SFSDC and tools that help them sell the story - not just the spec sheet.   So here’s the question:   Who owns what?   The NPI (New Product Introduction) process primarily lives in product management - but who owns building a story so good it could compete with a #Netflix series?   #ProductLaunch #GoToMarket #MarketingLeadership #ProductMarketing