When you opt to "Plan a Launch" or click "New Launch", Ignition will start dynamically helping you build your launch plans. You can also create plans directly from Product releases in the Product Roadmap tab. Here's what's going to happen:
You enter the basic details about your launch requested on the modal.
👨🚀 The selections you make here will help dynamically adjust the launch plan Ignition recommends to you if you activate Copilot.
Ignition will recommend a planning template to you, based on your launch's Type, and Tier. You can also opt to build your own plan from scratch, or from a template you've created if you prefer.
👨🚀 Once you're in the plan, you'll also notice the option to "Build with Copilot". By selecting this, you can have Copilot automatically populate Channel, Asset, and Project plans, based on your launch type, tier, launch date, and more. If you'd like to adjust the default outputs, just email us!
You'll be dropped into your Launch Plan. Launches consist of a few key elements:
Mission control -- This is the main dashboard for your launch. It's a snapshot of launch readiness, important timelines, and critical next actions.
GTM plan -- This is where all your strategy and execution will be created and collaborated on.
KPIs & retros -- Here you can set up OKRs, track performance with analytics integrations, and conduct post-launch retrospectives.
GTM timeline -- This is your master calendar, where you can map out overall GTM milestones, channel activity supporting the launch, and task timelines. In the Product Status tab you can track connected product task progress.
Launch brief – This is where you document your strategy. You'll find specialized modules for every important piece of planning documentation.
Copy & assets – This is where you house, review, and approve assets. You can store copy, files, or links to documents here, and tag them to promotional channels so you know which are tied to what activity.
Tasks – This is where you track your pre-launch, launch day, and post-launch Go-to-Market tasks. Tasks are organized by custom tags by default, but you can group or sort them by assignee, status, and more.
Connections -- This is where all your connected items from other areas of Ignition will live. Context inherited from roadmap items, external release notes, etc.
Competitive Intel – View and manage any competitive battlecards and research associated with this launch plan.
Customers & Research – View and manage any personas, or customer research associated with this launch plan.
Product Management – This is where you can connect with Jira to package features from your Engineering team's roadmap into the launch, track their progress, and also store important Product docs like designs and PRDs. Ignition will even help predict whether the Product is on track.
Release Notes – View and publish release notes to communicate product change. You can publish to an internal-only feed viewable only to users in your Ignition instance, or a publicly-viewable branded page.
Double-check your plan structure and customize it. If you want to add, or rearrange modules in the Launch Brief -- you can do so in the left navigation bar by drag/dropping them, or clicking the plus sign to add section dividers.
Fill in your GTM plans as you normally would!
👨🚀 Pro tip: Try typing "/" or "@" in text editor fields, and it will pull up more advanced editing options, including an AI writing assistant powered by GPT-3.
Once your plans are completed (or at a shareable state), you can easily share modular status updates with the "Share Update" button. Or just publish your Mission Control page to the team.
You add key Launch Team members from the "Launch Team" menu -- these are collaborators who will get edit access to the whole plan, and special notifications when plans get updated.
We recommend focusing on "point" contacts here -- for example, the leads from Product, Marketing, Comms, Customer Success, and Design.
Launch Modules & Copilot
Launch plans in Ignition are broken into Modules. You might think of these similar to headered sections in a launch plan, if you were writing it in a simple Google Doc. However, each module is tailor-made to best house the type of information you're documenting -- for example, there's a rich timeline for mapping promotional channel plans. Modules are built independently for a few reasons:
Modular sharing – Using the "Share Update" button, you can share just the modules relevant to specific stakeholders. Or, publish public pages with certain module elements hidden.
👨🚀 Copilot – Copilot are Ignition's workflows to help you build stronger plans, faster. We've embedded best practice-based frameworks into the product, and are currently building AI to integrate them even more tightly into your workflow. For modules which have a Copilot flow (we're building more soon!), you can access them from "Copilot" button in the top-left when it's highlighted, or from the prompt at the bottom of the module.