AI Release Plan Template: Ship AI Features Successfully

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗ ║ AI RELEASE PLAN ║ ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ RELEASE OVERVIEW ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Feature Name: [Name of AI feature] Release Version: [v1.0.0] Target Release Date: [YYYY-MM-DD] Release Owner: [PM Name] Tech Lead: [Engineering Lead Name] Release Type: [ ] New Feature [ ] Enhancement [ ] Model Update EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── One-Liner: [Single sentence describing what this release delivers] Business Impact: [Expected outcome: revenue, efficiency, user satisfaction] Key Risk: [Primary risk and mitigation approach] RELEASE SCOPE ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── In Scope: • [Feature/capability 1] • [Feature/capability 2] • [Feature/capability 3] Out of Scope: • [Explicitly excluded item 1] • [Explicitly excluded item 2] Dependencies: • [Upstream dependency 1] - Status: [Ready/Pending] • [Upstream dependency 2] - Status: [Ready/Pending] AI/ML SPECIFICS ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Model Details: Model Name/Version: [e.g., gpt-4-turbo / custom-v2.3] Provider: [OpenAI / Anthropic / Internal] Training Data Cutoff: [Date] Fine-tuning Applied: [ ] Yes [ ] No Performance Baselines: Accuracy/Quality: [Target: XX% | Current: XX%] Latency P50: [Target: XXms | Current: XXms] Latency P99: [Target: XXms | Current: XXms] Cost per Request: [Target: $X.XX | Current: $X.XX] Safety Validation: [ ] Prompt injection testing completed [ ] Harmful content filters validated [ ] PII handling reviewed [ ] Bias testing completed [ ] Edge case library tested ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ ║ ROLLOUT STRATEGY ║ ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ PHASE 1: INTERNAL DOGFOODING ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Duration: [X days] Audience: Internal employees only Traffic: 100% of internal users Goal: Catch obvious issues, gather initial feedback Entry Criteria: [ ] All unit tests passing [ ] Integration tests passing [ ] Security review approved [ ] Model performance meets baseline Exit Criteria: [ ] No P0/P1 bugs discovered [ ] Internal NPS > [X] [ ] No safety incidents [ ] Latency within targets PHASE 2: LIMITED BETA ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Duration: [X days] Audience: [Beta users / Power users / Specific segment] Traffic: [X%] of target audience Goal: Validate with real users, stress test at scale Entry Criteria: [ ] Phase 1 exit criteria met [ ] Monitoring dashboards live [ ] On-call rotation scheduled [ ] Rollback tested and verified Exit Criteria: [ ] Quality metrics stable for [X] days [ ] No degradation in guardrail metrics [ ] User feedback sentiment > [X]% [ ] Support ticket volume within [X]% of baseline PHASE 3: GRADUAL ROLLOUT ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Schedule: Day 1: [10%] traffic Day 3: [25%] traffic (if metrics stable) Day 7: [50%] traffic (if metrics stable) Day 10: [75%] traffic (if metrics stable) Day 14: [100%] traffic (if metrics stable) Rollout Segments: Priority 1: [Segment most likely to benefit] Priority 2: [General users] Priority 3: [Sensitive/high-value accounts - last] Entry Criteria: [ ] Phase 2 exit criteria met [ ] Stakeholder sign-off received [ ] Customer support trained [ ] Documentation published Exit Criteria: [ ] 100% traffic served [ ] All metrics within targets for [X] days [ ] No open P0/P1 issues [ ] Post-release review completed ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ ║ MONITORING & ALERTING ║ ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ REAL-TIME DASHBOARDS ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Dashboard Links: Main Dashboard: [URL] Model Metrics: [URL] Error Tracking: [URL] Cost Monitoring: [URL] KEY METRICS TO WATCH ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Quality Metrics: ┌─────────────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬───────────┐ │ Metric │ Baseline │ Target │ Alert At │ ├─────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼───────────┤ │ Task Success Rate │ XX% │ XX% │ < XX% │ │ User Rating (1-5) │ X.X │ X.X │ < X.X │ │ Regeneration Rate │ XX% │ XX% │ > XX% │ │ Completion Rate │ XX% │ XX% │ < XX% │ └─────────────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴───────────┘ Operational Metrics: ┌─────────────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬───────────┐ │ Metric │ Baseline │ Target │ Alert At │ ├─────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼───────────┤ │ Error Rate │ X.X% │ X.X% │ > X.X% │ │ Latency P50 │ XXXms │ XXXms │ > XXXms │ │ Latency P99 │ XXXms │ XXXms │ > XXXms │ │ Timeout Rate │ X.X% │ X.X% │ > X.X% │ └─────────────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴───────────┘ Safety Metrics: ┌─────────────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬───────────┐ │ Metric │ Baseline │ Target │ Alert At │ ├─────────────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼───────────┤ │ Content Filter Rate │ X.X% │ X.X% │ > X.X% │ │ User Reports │ X/day │ X/day │ > X/day │ │ Safety Incidents │ 0 │ 0 │ > 0 │ └─────────────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴───────────┘ ALERT ESCALATION ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Severity Levels: P0 (Critical): Service down, safety incident, data breach Response: Immediate page, rollback within 15 min Escalate: VP Engineering, Legal (if safety/data) P1 (High): Major quality degradation, >50% of users affected Response: Page on-call, investigate within 30 min Escalate: Engineering Manager, PM P2 (Medium): Noticeable quality drop, 10-50% users affected Response: Slack alert, investigate within 2 hours Escalate: Tech Lead P3 (Low): Minor issues, <10% users affected Response: Ticket created, next business day Escalate: N/A ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ ║ GO/NO-GO CRITERIA ║ ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ PRE-RELEASE CHECKLIST ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Technical Readiness: [ ] All tests passing (unit, integration, e2e) [ ] Performance benchmarks met [ ] Security review completed [ ] Load testing completed [ ] Rollback procedure tested AI/ML Readiness: [ ] Model evaluation metrics approved [ ] Safety testing completed [ ] Bias testing completed [ ] Prompt versioning in place [ ] Fallback behavior defined Operational Readiness: [ ] Monitoring dashboards live [ ] Alerts configured and tested [ ] On-call schedule confirmed [ ] Runbooks documented [ ] Incident response plan reviewed Business Readiness: [ ] Legal/compliance approval (if needed) [ ] Customer support trained [ ] User documentation published [ ] Marketing/comms aligned [ ] Pricing/billing verified (if applicable) GO/NO-GO DECISION ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Decision Date: [YYYY-MM-DD] Decision Time: [HH:MM timezone] Decision Forum: [Meeting name/Slack channel] Required Approvers: [ ] Product Manager: [Name] _______________ [ ] Engineering Lead: [Name] _______________ [ ] QA Lead: [Name] _______________ [ ] Security (if req): [Name] _______________ [ ] Legal (if req): [Name] _______________ Go Criteria (ALL must be true): [ ] Pre-release checklist 100% complete [ ] No open P0 or P1 issues [ ] All required approvers signed off [ ] Rollback procedure verified No-Go Triggers (ANY blocks release): [ ] Open P0 or P1 bug [ ] Safety testing failures [ ] Missing required approval [ ] Critical dependency not ready ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ ║ STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATION ║ ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ COMMUNICATION TIMELINE ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── T-14 days: Internal announcement to all-hands T-7 days: Customer support training T-3 days: Beta user preview email T-1 day: Final go/no-go decision T-0: Release announcement T+1 day: Metrics check-in (internal) T+3 days: Early feedback summary T+7 days: Week 1 retrospective T+14 days: Full release retrospective STAKEHOLDER NOTIFICATION ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Stakeholder Groups: ┌─────────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┐ │ Audience │ Channel │ Owner │ ├─────────────────────┼─────────────────┼─────────────────┤ │ Executive Team │ Email + Slack │ [PM] │ │ Engineering │ Slack + JIRA │ [Tech Lead] │ │ Customer Support │ Training + Docs │ [PM] │ │ Sales │ Email + Demo │ [PM] │ │ Marketing │ Brief + Assets │ [PM] │ │ External Users │ In-app + Email │ [Marketing] │ └─────────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┘ MESSAGING TEMPLATES ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Internal Announcement: "We're launching [Feature Name] on [Date]. This AI-powered feature will [key benefit]. During the rollout, please [action needed]. Report any issues to [channel]." Customer Announcement: "Introducing [Feature Name]: [One-line benefit]. Try it now in [location]. We'd love your feedback—[how to provide feedback]." Incident Communication: "We're aware of [issue description] affecting [Feature Name]. Our team is investigating. Current status: [status]. ETA for resolution: [time]. Updates: [channel]." ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ ║ ROLLBACK PLAN ║ ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ ROLLBACK TRIGGERS ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Automatic Rollback (system-triggered): • Error rate exceeds [X]% for [Y] minutes • Latency P99 exceeds [X]ms for [Y] minutes • Safety incident detected Manual Rollback (human decision): • Quality metrics below threshold for [X] hours • Customer escalations exceed [X] per hour • Executive decision ROLLBACK PROCEDURE ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Step 1: Confirm rollback decision Approver: [On-call engineer or PM] Step 2: Execute rollback Command: [rollback command or procedure] Expected Duration: [X minutes] Step 3: Verify rollback Check: [verification steps] Dashboard: [URL] Step 4: Communicate Internal: Slack message to [channel] External: [If needed, user-facing message] Step 5: Document Create incident ticket Schedule post-mortem ROLLBACK CONTACTS ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Primary On-Call: [Name] - [Phone] - [Slack] Secondary On-Call: [Name] - [Phone] - [Slack] Escalation: [Name] - [Phone] - [Slack] ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ ║ POST-RELEASE ║ ╠══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╣ SUCCESS METRICS (measured at T+30 days) ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Business Metrics: • [Metric 1]: Target [X], Actual [___] • [Metric 2]: Target [X], Actual [___] User Metrics: • Adoption Rate: Target [X%], Actual [___] • User Satisfaction: Target [X], Actual [___] Technical Metrics: • Uptime: Target [X%], Actual [___] • Cost per Request: Target [$X], Actual [___] RETROSPECTIVE ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Scheduled Date: [T+14 days] Attendees: [List of team members] Document: [Link to retro doc] Retro Topics: • What went well? • What could be improved? • Action items for next release ╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

CONSERVATIVE ROLLOUT (Recommended for New AI Features) ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Week 1: Internal Only • Day 1-2: Engineering team testing • Day 3-5: All internal employees • Day 5-7: Fix issues, iterate Week 2: Limited Beta • Day 8-10: 1% of users (opt-in beta) • Day 11-14: 5% of users • Monitor closely, gather feedback Week 3: Gradual Expansion • Day 15-17: 10% of users • Day 18-21: 25% of users Week 4: Majority Rollout • Day 22-24: 50% of users • Day 25-28: 75% of users Week 5: Full Launch • Day 29-30: 100% of users • Post-launch monitoring AGGRESSIVE ROLLOUT (For Low-Risk Model Updates) ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Day 1: Internal dogfooding Day 2: 10% of users Day 3: 25% of users Day 4: 50% of users Day 5: 100% of users

MONITORING CHECKPOINT SCHEDULE ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── T+1 HOUR: Initial Health Check ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── [ ] Service is responding (no 5xx errors) [ ] Latency within expected range [ ] No safety alerts triggered [ ] Basic functionality verified T+4 HOURS: Early Signal Check ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── [ ] Error rate compared to baseline [ ] User engagement metrics (if applicable) [ ] Any user-reported issues? [ ] Cost tracking on expected trajectory T+24 HOURS: Day 1 Review ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── [ ] Quality metrics (task success, ratings) [ ] Operational metrics (latency, errors) [ ] Safety metrics (filters, reports) [ ] User feedback sentiment [ ] Support ticket volume Decision: Continue rollout / Pause / Rollback T+72 HOURS: Day 3 Assessment ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── [ ] Trend analysis (improving/stable/declining) [ ] Edge cases discovered [ ] User adoption patterns [ ] Cost vs. projection Decision: Expand to next percentage / Hold / Rollback T+7 DAYS: Week 1 Retrospective ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── [ ] Full metrics review [ ] User feedback synthesis [ ] Technical issues summary [ ] Lessons learned Decision: Proceed to full rollout / Iterate / Pause