No BS CTO Checklist for Product Launches
Extended Edition: 20 Areas Every CTO Must Lock Down Before Launch Day
1. Align with Your CEO on Risks
Walk through potential failure scenarios early including downtime, customer impact, brand damage. Make sure leadership understands the stakes before greenlighting the launch.
2. Break Launch into Phases
Where possible, structure releases as incremental milestones. Smaller waves lower the blast radius and give you space to respond.
3. Build a Fast Rewind Button
Ensure there's a tested, fast rollback path ready to go. A clear exit strategy is what separates a launch from a gamble.
4. Create a Post-Launch Strike Team
Create a launch response unit with your top engineers and support leads. Empower them to act fast and decisively if issues arise.
5. Stress-Test Like You’re TikTok
Simulate peak usage scenarios well in advance. Prepare your infrastructure to handle unexpected spikes in demand.
6. Tell Every 3rd Party Vendor
Loop in 3rd party vendors ahead of time — APIs, CDNs, billing systems, etc. Confirm their readiness and escalation paths.
7. Draw the Line: Bug vs. Feature
Pre-align with Product and Support on what constitutes a defect vs. expected behavior. This prevents confusion during triage.
8. Backup Everything
Run a full backup of production systems, configs, and customer data. If something breaks, restoration should be fast and complete.
9. Run Tabletop Drills
Run tabletop exercises with technical and non-technical stakeholders. Focus on outages, usage anomalies, and customer confusion.
10. Instrument Everything
Set up robust alerts and dashboards for all critical systems. You need real-time visibility the moment things go live.
11. Run Shadow Mode First
Turn it on for internal users, beta testers, or a dummy audience before you go wide. Stealth mode = safety net.
12. Pre-Build a Kill Switch
Have the ability to instantly disable the new release if needed. Make sure it’s easy to find and safe to trigger.
13. Plan for Zombie Features
Unused functionality will linger, break, or be misunderstood. Have clear guidance for what’s deprecated and dead. Delete functionality fast.
14. Audit Security / Permissions
Verify access controls for new features and systems. Avoid unintended exposure or privilege escalations.
15. Lock in a Comms Plan
Who talks to whom when shit hits the fan? Set roles, channels, and escalation paths *before* launch day.
16. Freeze All Other Work
Lock the codebase and block new features at least a week prior. Eliminate last-minute instability.
17. Support Your Team During Launch Week
Plan for meals, coverage schedules, and recognition. A little operational care goes a long way under stress.
18. Test the Non-Happy Paths
Validate edge cases, unusual user behaviors, and legacy flows. Don’t let the rare case become your first post-launch bug.
19. Equip Support with Ready Responses
Prepare your support team with talking points, known issues, and escalation procedures. Everyone should feel confident going into launch.
20. Publicly Thank Your Team
After the smoke clears, shout them out. Slack, email, company-wide. People remember how you made them feel — especially under fire.