TPM role includes announcement of products and services releases within the organization. Building software is different from constructing buildings or making cars. Software components are not always visible especially if they are back-end/services related. Project launch emails is the venue to let the wider organization know of the great accomplishments of your team!

Below are some of the guidelines in writing forceful and impressionable project launch emails:

  • Announcement Urgency

  • Announcement Audience

  • Announcement Content

  • Review with Partners

  • Email Timing

Announcement Urgency: The email needs to go out as close to the launch as possible. Do not wait for new systems to stabilize and everything to be perfect before you send out the announcement. It may be too late by then and news may have lost its zing.

Announcement Audience: The announcement audience should be as broad as possible. It should include all the team members from technical, product and business teams. Managers of all the Individual Contributors and well as their managers may be included as appropriate.

Announcement Content: This is the critical part of your email. It should cover multiple areas:

  • Business Functionality: This is the first and most important part and covers new features and functionality that has been enabled/enhanced for the customers and users. Technology is only a means towards business growth so most of the content should address this. Nothing is too small when it comes to any value addition for the customer/user experience.
  • Impact in Numbers: If your launch has resulted in any measurable improvements, then highlight them e.g. average time a user spends on the website has gone up by x%. This makes the value proposition of the launch clear to one and all. You may have a table comparing pre-launch metrics with post launch metrics.
  • Demo/Link to the Product:  Depending on the launch, add a link or demo of the product or service. Nothing is better than showing the real thing in action. You may also make a small video if its easier to tell the story.
  • IT Improvements: Technology enhancements, platform hardening, architectural, security and privacy improvements, logging and monitoring, all technology achievements should be highlighted.
  • Showcase New Processes and Tools: From the management perspective, how a project was delivered is equally important to what was delivered. Highlight any new process or tools used through the delivery cycle e.g. SCRUM based incremental delivery or new tools like JIRA Test plugin etc. and their benefits.
  • Credit all Contributors: Name all the people who have contributed to the project. Think thoroughly about this part, anyone associated with this launch in any capacity should be included. Team members, contingent staff, vendors, partners, content writes, UX, Security and Privacy champions etc. Many times, Engineers feel that they are working behind the scenes and do not get the visibility. Acknowledging individual contributions is a great morale booster and increases opportunities for sharing expertise.
  • Showcase Collaborations/Partnerships: Most of the projects require partnerships across multiple groups, functions and teams. Execution across the silos shows that you overcame cross group collaboration challenges and have leadership skills that can be leveraged for even bigger challenges in the future.
  • Thank Management/Leadership: Thank Management/Leadership of their guidance and support. Any unblocking or enabling done by them should be covered.
  • Email Tone: Email should have the tone of excitement, list sacrifices that the team has made (evenings/nights and weekends work) etc. It should capture the proud moment for the team and anticipation of the things to come.
  • Interesting Facts: I have seen launch emails which talked about the number of coffee cups and toilet rolls used by the team for the project duration. Any small trivia that makes it interesting for the readers!
  • Reusable Assets and Guidance: Every project has learnings from which wider organization can benefit. You may have created assets that other teams can use e.g. Sprint Review Survey or a Kanban board with custom lanes. You may have tried a new way of managing decisions, issues and risks e.g.  DAIR (Decisions, Actions, Issues and Risks) log. You may add in the launch email that a brownbag invite will be sent later on to share the learnings of your project journey!

Review w/ Engg & PdM Partner:  Review the email with engineering manager and product management counterpart. They can provide valuable input from technical and business perspectives. This makes sure that you are aligned on the launch messaging to the higher management, leadership and broader organization.

Email Timing: Generally, any significant announcement emails should be sent in the thick of working hours (10 am to 3 p.m.). I have seen important launch emails lost/ buried and not getting the attention that they deserved when sent out at non-earthly hours.

Thoughtfully written project launch emails not only get management/leadership attention but also cements TPM and engineering relationship.

As an additional bonus, these emails and associated leadership kudos come very handy at the time of performance reviews and assessments for everyone involved in the project.

Project release emails are your opportunity to recognize the team impact, celebrate the success and inspire others into action. Make the most use of it! Share in the comments section below of your experiences of what worked and what did not work!