launch-checklist

Readiness for shipping a whole feature to production — the level above the per-task Definition of Done. The DoD proves each PR is sound; this proves the feature is safe to turn on for users. Use it when a feature's last task is about to merge, or before flipping a feature flag on in prod.

The checklist

Rollout control

• Feature flag wired; verified on and off. Default state for launch decided (off → staged on).
• Staged rollout plan: internal → % → full, with who flips and the criteria to advance.
• Kill switch: turning the flag off cleanly disables the feature with no broken state.

Reversibility

• Rollback plan written: how to revert (flag off and/or redeploy previous version), and what data/migration state that leaves. Forward-only migrations noted.
• No destructive/irreversible migration ships in the same release as the risky code (decouple).

Version & release notes

• SemVer bump + release notes / CHANGELOG per the versioning standard; the deployed version is queryable (/version once it lands).

Monitoring

• The signals that say "this feature is healthy" are defined (error rate, the key funnel/usage metric, latency) and visible in the (vendor-neutral) observability stack.
• Post-deploy watch planned via watch-deploy; alert thresholds set with observability.

Acceptance & comms

• All P0 acceptance criteria from the PRD pass; PM sign-off (feature-level Design Doc §16).
• Success metrics named — how we'll know in a week if it worked (ties to the activation/observability product laws).
• Stakeholders informed (support/sales where user-facing); docs/changelog updated.

How to use

1. Pull the feature's PRD + Design Doc; pre-check what's already covered (acceptance, tests come from the DoD).
2. Walk the boxes; for each unmet item, name the owner (flag → backend/frontend; rollback/migration → database/devops-infra; metrics/alerts → observability; release notes → the versioning flow).
3. Output the checklist with status + owners; unchecked P0 items block the launch decision (a human decides — this skill informs, it doesn't auto-gate).

Boundaries

• Feature-level, not per-PR. Per-PR readiness is the DoD (process-guardian); this is the launch above it. No overlap-restating — it references the DoD for the per-task items.
• Informs, doesn't auto-ship. Produces the readiness picture; the launch/flag flip is a human decision. Deploy mechanics are devops-infra; the post-deploy watch is watch-deploy.