Product Release Checklist
Table of Contents
Marketing / Product Management
All new requirements for this release have been tracked
All prior defects needing resolution in this release have been tracked
All marketing documents have been updated
Marketing / Product Management is satisfied with this release
Development
All needed design work has been completed
All needed design work has been reviewed
All development work has been completed
All development work has been reviewed
All defects assigned to this release have been fixed
All development documentation has been updated
All unit test code has been updated
The development team is satisfied with this release
Quality Assurance
The QA plan and test cases have been updated
The QA plan has been completely carried out
All discovered defects have been tracked
All fixed defects have been verified as fixed
The QA team is satisfied with this release
Release Engineering / Configuration Management
All components have been properly tagged for release, and the release configuration is clearly defined
Change-control practices have been followed, meaning that the released product does not contain unapproved changes
The RelEng team is satisfied with this release
User Experience
Any new or changed functionality is deemed usable
On-line and printed user documentation has been updated
The UE team is satisfied with this release
Technical Support / Operations
Theory of operations document has been updated
Tech support / Operations has successfully installed, upgraded, and used this release
Any "Early access" or "Beta" program was conducted successfully and all resulting issues have been tracked
The impact of any changes on operations offerings has been identified and tracked
Troubleshooting guide has been updated
The tech support / operations teams are satisfied with this release
Services / Training
Services / Training has had access to this release
The impact of any changes on service offerings has been identified and tracked
Training materials have been updated
Services / Training is satisfied with this release
Legal
Legal risks associated with this release have been identified and tracked
We hold proper licenses for all reused components and intellectual property
We conform to all relevant laws and regulations (e
g., export, safety)
The legal team is satisfied with this release
Tips
Next release
If a stakeholder hits difficulties with this release after it goes out, add those issues to the checklist template so that everyone knows that they will be explicitly managed on the next release.
Postmortem
;Conduct a postmortem review to help expose difficulties rather than repeat them.
Download or Print this Product Release Checklist
Get a printable version of this checklist in your preferred format: PDF, Word, Excel, or print directly from your browser.
Presented by:
Jake R Brady
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Introduction
Details
The process of working through this checklist helps uncover any remaining concerns before the release, and reminds internal stakeholders of their upcoming responsibilities. Once this checklist has been satisfied, this release may be sent to manufacturing and sold to customers with the full support of the organization. Discuss each item with the relevant stakeholders and update its status. Add comments as needed to record important decisions or link to resulting documents. Add new items as needed for your particular project or process. Any uncovered problems or tasks should be tracked in the issue tracker.
Tips
You might consider some of the following additional stakeholders at your organization: Other engineering groups (i.e., hardware design), Manufacturing and Shipping, Software Process Improvement, Key customers and partners, External developers, Risk Management, Business Development, Upper Management.
Who it's for
This Product Release Checklist is for teams that want consistent execution, less rework, and clear ownership.
- Standardize quality - run the same Product Release steps every time, regardless of who executes
- Save time - reuse a proven Product Release workflow instead of rebuilding processes from scratch
- Improve accountability - assign owners and see what's done vs. what's pending
- Onboard faster - use the Product Release checklist as the SOP and training guide
- Coordinate across roles - handoffs are clear and everyone works from the same source of truth
How to use it
How to use this Product Release Checklist:
- Start by saving it - save as a Template if you'll reuse it, or as a Checklist if it's a one-off project.
- Customize it once for your workflow - remove what doesn't apply and add your team-specific steps.
- Assign ownership and execute - set owners/due dates where needed and track completion as work happens.
- Reuse without rebuilding - when Product Release comes up again, start from your saved version and run it with clear ownership.