Anna Casey, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Appcues + self-proclaimed template enthusiast, spends a lot of time on product launches. This year alone, she’s championed 20 feature launches! That’s a lot to keep track of, which is why she created her product launch Notion template.
But according to Anna, the template is really dual-purpose: it keeps her on track so she can ensure everything’s going according to plan, and it’s a great resource for her teammates, providing them with async project updates and guiding them to the necessary resources for the launch.
Anna gives us a deep dive into her template in this video, but she also explains the philosophies and frameworks she’s developed that power it. Here’s the TL;DR:
🤝 Successful product launches come from empowered teams
According to Anna, successful product launches have to be a team effort. There are a lot of moving pieces—and it’s crucial to empower your team members to come along on the journey with you and leverage their help for launch. Keeping everything organized and in one place empowers your team to self-serve resources whenever they need them—which is the only way to survive in small PM teams.
🚀 Tiered product launches = less confusion
Not all launches are created equal, and having a tiered product launch framework is a great way to align teams and allocate resources efficiently. For GTM teams, in particular, it’s really nice to know what’s going into a launch so there’s no question if a feature will get an email, an in-app banner, etc. With a tiered approach, you essentially have a repeatable playbook for every launch.
Getting buy-in on what tier a feature belongs to ahead of time is key to making this all work. (And there's a complete Google Slide deck template for product launch tiers within the Notion template, ready for you to customize and share with your organization to gain alignment, too.)
📝 Tips for a successful product launch
Start early. And don’t be afraid to share early drafts of your work, too. This was especially difficult when Anna was just starting out—she’d be hesitant to share plans unless they were super buttoned up. But that’s how you identify holes! So collaborating as early as possible and asking more questions upfront is how you ensure more success down the line.
