The Secret of Launching Things
Whether it's just a big new product announcement or a switchover to a
complete redesign, one of the trickiest things to pull off flawlessly
in the web world is a "launch." Launches happen real time, so there's
some pandemonium guaranteed. Yet above that pandemonium, you must play
dance director to oversee a complex choreography of events. If you
direct things well, you'll ensures that all elements on the site go
live when they're supposed to, and that visitors will enjoy a flawless
experience online.
Even in these days of automated publishing and checkbox go-live functionality, the sequencing and planning is important, and requires guidance from human hands.
The process reminds me a bit of NASA mission control launch experiences, and maybe they were onto something (hey, they got us to the Moon and Mars, right?).
Over the years at Sun we have built a pretty good bag of tricks for launching products, site sections, and site redesigns Here are some tips from us to you:
Do walkthroughs early and often. As I said in 10+ tips: Averting Bad Web Experiences posting a long while back, I'm a big believer in previewing experiences so you know what you're going to get. As soon as possible, and and least 3 weeks before launch, do a walkthrough with in-development pages and sections so you can get a feel for what the experience of the launch will be like. Do another one a few days ahead so you can judge if everything is coming together.
Drive these walkthroughs with scenarios that will be in play on launch day. For instance, if the launch is about a new product line, walk through the scenarios of things like (1) a customer seeing the new products on the home page and wanting to learn about them, and (2) journalist seeing a release on the new products and needing to find out more to write a story and (3) reader seeing a news article or press release on YAHOO! and following links to your site to find out more. If you're doing a bigger launch like switching the site design, have scenarios identified for all the major things that people do on the site, and walk through those with friends, colleagues, and customers. These early walkthroughs -- even if only 10% of your content is ready -- will give you a sense of how your visitors will experience the pages and interactive stuff you're putting on the screen.
Check the technical stuff. If you're doing something complicated, work with your technical team early to understand how the pushes and site flips will happen. For instance, if you're switching to a new design, will you stage it on a completely new set of server and just flip over... or do you just need to change a set of template definitions that will appear in real time when you ping your publishing system?
Set up a launch time concall conference call for every key person involved in the launch. Real-time communication is essential during a launch, and chances are everyone isn't physically in the same room at launch time. Rather than hoping you can reach key players on their cell phones if there's an emergency, why not set up a concall and require everyone to be there. Schedule the start of the call for least 45 minutes before the launch happens. For instance, if the launch is at 9 AM PDT, start the call at 8:15 AM PDT or even at 8 AM.
Push out all material possible ahead of time. If there anything that can be pushed out a day or several hours ahead of time, get it out there. That way you know it works; it's one less variable to deal with in the key minutes around go-live time. So, in cases where the content isn't secret or sensitive, consider posting key pages in "cloaked" mode ahead of the launch. (By "cloaked," I mean a state the end node pages are really live, there but no navigational links yet exist to that content -- that way you can test the content live, but casual users won't happen upon it by accident.)
Test before, during, and after. Obviously, you test a site in test mode or in staging before it launches. But be sure you have people ready to test any major changes as they go live, too. A live environment is different, particularly if you're dealing with multiple sites that cross-connect. Test when you go live, and then test some more as followup just to be sure.
Create a shared "launch sequence." Set up a very specific minute-by-minute timetable that shows you the detailed choreography of the launch. This is different from the project plan, which you may have been using for months; the launch sequence is a step-by-step chronicle of all of the events that happen during "go live." Everyone involved with creating, editing, publishing, and testing the site should be working from this document. Here's an example of the format we use (pretend your site name is foo.com):
Big tip: Figure out your dependencies: Obviously, a landing page needs to be live before your online advertising is, and product pages need to be visible before the product is launched on the home page!
Little tip: Notice how we added a color coding to help make the venues more obvious.
Monitor feedback. Keep an eye on comments coming in from customers. They'll tell you if anything is broken or confusing.
Monitor metrics, look for patterns. Keep an eye on live site metrics, so you can see where your visitors are going. You may be surprised at some of the things you learn. For instance, when we launched Solaris 10 last year, we discovered that more traffic went directly to the "Get Solaris" download page than went to the actual main Solaris page, indicating that a lot of bloggers and news articles where pointing to the download page directly. With this information in hand, we quickly checked that the "Get Solaris" covered (or linked to) everything a user would need to understand and get the download.
Have fun! Launches are a stressful time, so don't forget to mix in a little levity along the way, especially when the hard stuff is done.
Tunes: David Bowie: Space Oddity
Even in these days of automated publishing and checkbox go-live functionality, the sequencing and planning is important, and requires guidance from human hands.
The process reminds me a bit of NASA mission control launch experiences, and maybe they were onto something (hey, they got us to the Moon and Mars, right?).
Over the years at Sun we have built a pretty good bag of tricks for launching products, site sections, and site redesigns Here are some tips from us to you:
Do walkthroughs early and often. As I said in 10+ tips: Averting Bad Web Experiences posting a long while back, I'm a big believer in previewing experiences so you know what you're going to get. As soon as possible, and and least 3 weeks before launch, do a walkthrough with in-development pages and sections so you can get a feel for what the experience of the launch will be like. Do another one a few days ahead so you can judge if everything is coming together.
Drive these walkthroughs with scenarios that will be in play on launch day. For instance, if the launch is about a new product line, walk through the scenarios of things like (1) a customer seeing the new products on the home page and wanting to learn about them, and (2) journalist seeing a release on the new products and needing to find out more to write a story and (3) reader seeing a news article or press release on YAHOO! and following links to your site to find out more. If you're doing a bigger launch like switching the site design, have scenarios identified for all the major things that people do on the site, and walk through those with friends, colleagues, and customers. These early walkthroughs -- even if only 10% of your content is ready -- will give you a sense of how your visitors will experience the pages and interactive stuff you're putting on the screen.
Check the technical stuff. If you're doing something complicated, work with your technical team early to understand how the pushes and site flips will happen. For instance, if you're switching to a new design, will you stage it on a completely new set of server and just flip over... or do you just need to change a set of template definitions that will appear in real time when you ping your publishing system?
Set up a launch time concall conference call for every key person involved in the launch. Real-time communication is essential during a launch, and chances are everyone isn't physically in the same room at launch time. Rather than hoping you can reach key players on their cell phones if there's an emergency, why not set up a concall and require everyone to be there. Schedule the start of the call for least 45 minutes before the launch happens. For instance, if the launch is at 9 AM PDT, start the call at 8:15 AM PDT or even at 8 AM.
Push out all material possible ahead of time. If there anything that can be pushed out a day or several hours ahead of time, get it out there. That way you know it works; it's one less variable to deal with in the key minutes around go-live time. So, in cases where the content isn't secret or sensitive, consider posting key pages in "cloaked" mode ahead of the launch. (By "cloaked," I mean a state the end node pages are really live, there but no navigational links yet exist to that content -- that way you can test the content live, but casual users won't happen upon it by accident.)
Test before, during, and after. Obviously, you test a site in test mode or in staging before it launches. But be sure you have people ready to test any major changes as they go live, too. A live environment is different, particularly if you're dealing with multiple sites that cross-connect. Test when you go live, and then test some more as followup just to be sure.
Create a shared "launch sequence." Set up a very specific minute-by-minute timetable that shows you the detailed choreography of the launch. This is different from the project plan, which you may have been using for months; the launch sequence is a step-by-step chronicle of all of the events that happen during "go live." Everyone involved with creating, editing, publishing, and testing the site should be working from this document. Here's an example of the format we use (pretend your site name is foo.com):
| Date & Time (PST) |
Site/Venue | Action | Owner | Test/Live Link |
Status | Comments |
| Jan 2, 2007 5:00 PM |
foo.com |
Product pages live on foo.com | Elisabeth |
Test staged Live link |
Nothing will link to this yet.
Test when live. |
|
| Jan 3, 2007 8:00 AM |
call |
Start concall |
Analisa |
|||
| Jan 3, 2007 8:05 AM |
store.foo.com |
Activate commerce for products |
Lisa |
Test staged Live link |
Commerce site live and ready to
take orders |
|
| Jan 3, 2007 8:15 AM |
foo.com |
Final checks of staging content |
All |
Test staged Live link |
||
| Jan 3, 2007 8:30 AM |
foo.com |
Push landing page live (for ads) |
Gary |
Test staged Live link |
||
| Jan 3, 2007 8:30 AM |
video.foo.com |
Live video feed live for
anouncement |
Jan |
Test staged Live link |
Pre-show - just go live with
music and slide so visitors can access it for the 9 AM announcement |
|
| Jan 3, 2007 8:50 AM |
Wires/Release |
Press Release to wires |
Penny |
(Assuming this is a big deal of
some kind and there is a press release) |
||
| Jan 3, 2007 8:50 AM |
Wires/Release |
Confirm press release on wires |
Penny |
WAIT on all future steps until
press release is confirmed. |
||
| Jan 3, 2007 8:51 AM |
foo.com |
Press Release on foo.com | Gary |
Test staged Live link |
||
| Jan 3, 2007 8:55 AM |
foo.com |
Press Release updated in indexes |
Gary |
Test staged Live link |
||
| Jan 3, 2007 9:00 AM |
foo.com |
Flip new home page w/
announcement |
Gary |
Test staged Live link |
ISSUE |
Still need final headline
approve - this is late! |
| Jan 3, 2007 9:00 AM |
Online
ads |
Go live with ads |
José |
Test staged Live link |
Question |
Is the ad going live at 9 AM PDT
or 9 AM EDT? Make sure agency has the right time. |
| Jan 3, 2007 9:01 AM |
All |
Post-launch testing #1 |
All |
Report any issues immediately on
the concall line. |
||
| Jan 3, 2007 9:05 AM |
video.foo.com |
Video event starts live |
Jan |
Test staged Live link |
||
| Jan 3, 2007 9:05 AM |
All |
Post-launch testing #2 |
All |
Is video event working
correctly? Contact Jan immediately on concall if problems. |
||
| Jan 3, 2007 10:00 AM |
video.foo.com |
Video event ends |
Jan |
|||
| Jan 3, 2007 10:15 AM |
All |
Wrap |
All |
Note any followup action items
needed. |
Big tip: Figure out your dependencies: Obviously, a landing page needs to be live before your online advertising is, and product pages need to be visible before the product is launched on the home page!
Little tip: Notice how we added a color coding to help make the venues more obvious.
Monitor feedback. Keep an eye on comments coming in from customers. They'll tell you if anything is broken or confusing.
Monitor metrics, look for patterns. Keep an eye on live site metrics, so you can see where your visitors are going. You may be surprised at some of the things you learn. For instance, when we launched Solaris 10 last year, we discovered that more traffic went directly to the "Get Solaris" download page than went to the actual main Solaris page, indicating that a lot of bloggers and news articles where pointing to the download page directly. With this information in hand, we quickly checked that the "Get Solaris" covered (or linked to) everything a user would need to understand and get the download.
Have fun! Launches are a stressful time, so don't forget to mix in a little levity along the way, especially when the hard stuff is done.
Tunes: David Bowie: Space Oddity
