Planning for Retirement (Your Product's, Not Yours)

The last thing anyone wants to think about during the excitement of a new product launch is how to retire it. Try bringing that up in a launch meeting and you'll get shouted down or just ignored.

But product managers are paid to manage the entire life of the product....even its death or retirement. So, here are a couple of things to think about once you recover from the launch party hangover:

• Market the retirement as positively as you would (or did) the launch
• Have a communication plan explaining why the retirement is good for the customer
• Have a solid transition or "crosswalk" plan -- Make sure to have a suitable alternative product ready for them prior to the cut over date and make the cut over as painless for the customer as possible.
• Make it easy for the customer to ask questions -- have a toll free number or a plan to contact key customers before, during, and after the retirement; keep the lines of communication open.
• Make sure all suppliers, value added resellers, and partners are aware of the retirement and you have a plan for each.
• Fully estimate all of the retirement costs before hand -- make sure leadership understands the one time and ongoing costs, if any, of retiring the product, not just the revenue that is foregone.

Do these early and the other retirement (yours) will be easier to plan!