Release Impact Classifier
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Assessment

Score this release

Score each dimension from 0 (None) to 3 (High) based on the amount of organisational work it creates. If you're unsure, choose the higher score.

0 of 12 scored · Current estimate: Standard release · no critical dimensions flagged yet

Customer work

Customer workflow

Changes to how customers use the product: workflows, behaviour changes, relearning, deprecations, or potential confusion.

Customer trust risk

Risk that customers feel worse about the product or company because of this change, even if it is technically simple to build. For example, removing a well-used feature, changing something customers value, or reducing perceived quality. Score the customer reaction here, independent of implementation effort, migration risk, or communication and enablement work.

Customer awareness

Communication required to make customers aware of what is changing and why: advance notice, service interruption, workflow changes, action required, migration notifications, or implementation guidance.

Customer enablement

Information or training customers need to understand and use the release: documentation, knowledge base content, training, demos, webinars, onboarding, or education.

Customer success & adoption

Work required to support customer adoption and rollout: rollout planning, proactive outreach, adoption tracking, customer health monitoring, or playbooks.

Delivery work

Data & migrationCritical

Changes to customer data, data migration, restoring a customer's previous data state, downtime, data protection, or customer action required to complete the migration.

Implementation complexityCritical

Configuration, integrations, customer-specific setup, services work, or specialist involvement required to deliver the release.

Delivery riskCriticalInternal readiness

Technical or release risk if something goes wrong: rollback capability, business interruption, or the impact if the release cannot be safely reverted.

Commercial work

Commercial impact

Changes to pricing, packaging, licensing, billing, contracts, entitlements, revenue, sales process, or monetisation.

Market activation

Market-facing activity required to launch or promote the release: messaging, website, campaigns, content, webinars, social, PR, analyst, partner communications, sales campaigns, or demand generation.

Internal work

Support readinessInternal readiness

Work required to prepare Support teams for this release: troubleshooting new issues, expected ticket volume, escalation paths, and known-issue documentation.

Operational handoffsInternal readiness

How work moves internally for this release: team responsibilities, handoffs, governance, or internal process changes.

Additional dimensions for teams with partners, multiple regions, or heavy compliance obligations. These don't change the release classification but flag areas that may need attention.