--- title: "Launch date and go/no-go poll template for Slack" url: "https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/launch-date/" description: "Agree a launch date and run a go/no-go check in Slack. Copy-paste /poll templates that close themselves and remind people before the deadline." --- # Launch date poll for Slack When to use it: When a release or launch needs a date the whole team can commit to, or a clear go or no-go before you ship. How often: Every release Launch dates slip when nobody said out loud that a date was unrealistic. A short poll to everyone who has to deliver surfaces the conflicts early: the designer on holiday, the dependency that lands late, the support team that needs a week of notice. Use two polls. One to pick the date, weeks ahead. One go/no-go check, hours before you ship. ## Example polls Paste any of these into the message box in Slack. ```text /poll "Which launch date can your team hit?" "Tuesday next week" "Thursday next week" "Monday the week after" "None of these" close after 1 day remind 2 hours after posting ``` The date poll. Pick every date you can hit. Closes in a day with one reminder. *Premium: closing automatically, reminders.* ```text /poll "Go/no-go for the release this afternoon?" "Go" "Go with a known issue" "No-go" limit 1 close after 4 hours remind 1 hour before closing ``` The go/no-go check a few hours before launch. One vote each. *Premium: vote limits, closing automatically, reminders.* ```text /poll "Launch readiness" "One answer per team lead." close after 1 day --- "Is your part feature-complete?" "Yes" "Nearly" "No" limit 1 --- "Is it tested?" "Yes" "Partly" "No" limit 1 --- "Anything that could block the launch?" short text optional ``` A readiness survey for team leads the day before. *Premium: surveys (several questions), closing automatically.* ## Picking the date Ask "Which launch date can your team hit?", not "When should we launch?" The first asks about readiness, the second about preference. Offer two to four real candidate dates, each with the weekday, and let people pick every date they can hit. Then pick the earliest date that everyone can make. Add a "None of these" option so a blocked team can say so instead of skipping the poll. ## The go/no-go check Run it a few hours before launch, in the release channel, with one vote per person (`limit 1`, Premium) and a short close (`close after 4 hours`, Premium). Give a middle option, "Go with a known issue", so people can flag a risk without blocking. Keep it named, not anonymous. If someone votes no-go you need to know who to talk to. ## Reminders and deadlines A poll that closes with half the votes in is worse than no poll. Add a reminder before closing (`remind 1 hour before closing`, Premium) so the poll reposts at the bottom of the channel. For the date poll, a one-day close with a reminder a few hours in is usually enough. ## What to do with the results Post the decision in the thread with the date and the owner. If you are going against a no-go vote, say why. If the date poll shows one team blocked on every option, that is the real conversation, not the date. ## FAQ ### Can a poll close at a specific date and time? Not from the `/poll` text. `close after` takes a duration (for example 4 hours or 1 day) counted from when the poll posts. You can also close a poll by hand in Slack at any time. ### Should the date poll allow more than one pick? Yes. You want to know every date each team can hit, so leave the vote limit off. Use `limit 1` for the go/no-go, where one answer per person is the point. ### Can I post the go/no-go poll automatically before launch? Yes, on Premium. Add `schedule` with a time at the end of the poll text, for example `schedule tomorrow 9am`, and it posts then. ## Used by - [Slack polls for marketing teams](https://simplepoll.rocks/use-cases/marketing-teams/) - [Slack polls for product teams](https://simplepoll.rocks/use-cases/product-teams/) ## Related - [How to close a Slack poll automatically](https://simplepoll.rocks/guides/how-to-close-a-slack-poll-automatically/): A poll that never closes never quite decides anything: votes trickle in, the result shifts, and nobody knows when to act. An automatic close fixes the deadline up front. In Simple Poll you add close after and a duration, and the poll closes on its own. Automatic closing is a Premium feature; anyone can close their own poll by hand. - [How to limit votes in a Slack poll](https://simplepoll.rocks/guides/how-to-limit-votes-in-a-slack-poll/): By default, a Simple Poll lets each person pick as many options as they like. That's right for "which days can you make?" and wrong for "which date should we pick?". A vote limit caps how many options each person can choose: limit 1 for single choice, limit 2 or more for "pick your top two". Vote limits are a Premium feature. - [Meeting time poll for Slack](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/meeting-time/): When you need to find a slot that works for a group and calendars alone don't tell you who can really make it. - [Feature prioritization poll for Slack](https://simplepoll.rocks/templates/feature-prioritization/): When you have more candidate features than capacity and need the team, or your stakeholders, to put them in order. - [Slack polls for product teams](https://simplepoll.rocks/use-cases/product-teams/): Product managers spend a lot of time getting a room to agree. A well-built poll does part of that work in Slack: it shows where people actually stand before the meeting, so the meeting can be about the disagreement instead of discovering it. ## Sources - [How can I schedule a poll to be posted at a later time?](https://help.simplepoll.rocks/article/102-how-can-i-schedule-a-poll-to-be-posted-at-a-later-time) --- Simple Poll is the #1 polls and surveys app for Slack. Add it to Slack: https://simplepoll.rocks/. Pricing: https://simplepoll.rocks/pricing/.