Post-launch support for small teams

This is one of those topics that looks small until it costs you something. Most advice about post-launch support assumes a team that does not exist at your size. Here is the version that does not.

Clear scope protects the client at least as much as it protects the agency. The failure mode is not doing it wrong, it is doing it once and assuming it stays done.

What to keep

Launch is the beginning of the maintenance period. That sounds obvious written down. It is still the thing most often skipped. It rarely shows up as a line item, which is exactly why it slips.

What to drop

Process that exists to coordinate ten people is overhead when there are two of you. This is the sort of thing that compounds, quietly, in both directions.

The practical version

Budget for it or it comes out of goodwill. That sounds obvious written down. It is still the thing most often skipped. Write the reasoning down alongside the decision, because the reasoning is what changes first.

What this looks like day to day

The projects that go badly are rarely the ones with the hardest technical problems. Three things worth confirming about post-launch support before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Budget for it or it comes out of goodwill — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

Worth checking on your own setup before it becomes someone else's problem to fix.