The discussion centered on identifying milestones and markers for determining when to sunset an underperforming product, with a focus on both objective and subjective measures.
The process for sunsetting a product was outlined, including internal and external communications, user transition strategies, and the significance of stakeholder management.
Special attention was given to managing engineering team relationships and morale during the sunset process, especially for recently built products.
Final tips emphasized the importance of explaining your thought process and holistic approach in product decisions.
Action Items
Matt: Ensure early and clear communication with all key internal stakeholders (engineering, sales, leadership, marketing, legal) when considering or initiating a product sunset.
Matt: Coordinate with engineering to plan and implement user transition features such as data export tools, ensuring technical readiness for product sunset.
Matt: Organize and lead a post-mortem session with the team following a product sunset, particularly if the product was recently launched or failed unexpectedly.
Identifying Sunset Milestones & Markers
Regularly assess the full product suite during planning to determine ongoing value and performance of each product.
Markers for considering sunsetting include the product being difficult to maintain due to technical shifts, becoming obsolete or redundant, causing significant issues (e.g., security/user experience), or strategic deprioritization.
Both reactive (urgent problems) and proactive (planning reviews) triggers are valid for initiating sunset discussions.
Sunset Process & Execution
Metrics, user sentiment, strategic importance, and stakeholder opinions inform the sunset decision.
The sunset process should consider:
Potential user value recovery (data export, product migration, final user experiences).
Clear, early, and ongoing communication—both externally to users (to support a smooth transition and preserve user goodwill) and internally to stakeholders (to manage expectations and roles).
Internal teams, such as engineering, sales, and legal, require tailored messaging and involvement in planning.
Sunsetting is a phased process involving roadmap updates, timelines for user notice, technical shutdown, and post-sunset codebase management.
Managing the Engineering Relationship
Involve engineering early in sunset discussions and maintain transparency to build trust and secure buy-in for subsequent steps.
Address both practical (prioritization, feature deprecation, technical work) and morale-related (acknowledging emotional attachment, fostering inclusivity in decision-making) aspects.
For newer products, conduct a thorough post-mortem to understand the root causes of sunset and incorporate lessons learned to prevent future missteps.
Decisions
Sunsetting a product involves both proactive planning and reactive decision-making — Decisions should be based on technical, user-centric, and strategic markers, and communicated clearly to minimize disruption and maximize learning.
Open Questions / Follow-Ups
None explicitly stated; further exploration into specific stakeholder conversations can be done if needed.