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Deploy – Intro
Mark Pratt
391

The D of ABCDE – Deploy

You’re almost ready to launch, go live, switch things on and give birth to your change (more on babies later).

Whatever your ‘change’ is, it’s got to happen at some point. You didn’t do all this good stuff for the fun of it.

This is where all your efforts really start to pay off and you’ll finally see the fruits of your labour.

Just like everything else in ABCDE, we don’t just cross our fingers and hope for the best. Using the criteria you agreed in Comms means you’ll know when you’re ready. 

You’ll understand how to stay close to this crucial stage and measure the heck out of everything to make sure it’s landing right.

And being the responsible Project Manager that you are, you won’t just switch it on and run to the hills. You’ll wean the stakeholders off the project team and take the work out into the business.

Stage 1 – Implement

The switch on or ‘go live’ is an event in itself.

It’s a big deal and like any event, preparation is key. 

If you’ve met the criteria you agreed in Comms, you’ll know you’re ready and you’ll blissfully avoid endless debate. You’re ready to hit the send button on your marketing and communications with customers and users, to count down to the all-important launch date. 

You’ll need to be very particular and careful at this point. Whilst it’s not your job to make the big decision to switch on, it is your job to help the right people make that decision wisely.

We’ll explain why and how to manage this event. You might need some temporary roles and responsibilities to help ensure everything goes to plan. And we want you take this seriously. You’ll need a step-by-step breakdown of what will happen and when.

We’ll cover:

  • how to handle your project in this short period of time
  • avoiding risks and pitfalls
  • the checks you’ll need to know

All to make sure you go live successfully

Stage 2 – Measure

How do you know that you went live without any disruption or issues? 

You measure it.

We’ll describe the different types of measures you’ll need to keep an eye on.

Here we’re in an intense period of governance measuring:

  • how your comms landed
  • how it’s setting in
  • when you’ll start to realise the benefits of your investment and time

Your exit criteria means you’ve already determined what needs to be completed. This criteria will ensure on-going confidence from stakeholders during this crucial time.

Stage 3 – Warranty

The Project is still going.

In warranty your focus is on stability for the business.

Everyone should be working towards handover in the E of ABCDE, Embed. 

You’re still in a period of intensive care so here we’ll describe your responsibilities and how to ‘wean’ the business off the project so you’re not left holding the baby for good.

You’re a responsible person so you continue to own any issues and constantly checking:

  • Is the product working for the people as expected?
  • Are people working with and using the product? 

The ongoing governance, reporting and data remains key at this stage.

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