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/eol-checklist

@d025768
by Dean Petersdeanpeters/product-manager-skills7.1k stars
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Build a phase-gated EOL checklist sized to the sunset, with a named owner on every item. Use when the decision to retire is made and you need the operational plan.

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Use this Skill: https://skilld.dev/gh/deanpeters/product-manager-skills/eol-checklist

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examplessample-industrial.md

≈2k tokens on demand. Your agent reads this file only when SKILL.md points to it.

EOL Checklist Example — Industrial

Product: NFA-200 series retrofit controller (Northfield Automation) Level: 3 — Heavy · Phases: NSC, EOS, EOE, EOR, EOM, EOSRV — EOL deliberately not scheduled Context: ~120 installations, 8 channel partners, service contracts running through 2028, UL 508A and CE certified, spare parts inventory in the field. NFA-500 is the successor but needs a different mounting bracket and a per-site retrofit.

Why Level 3: Four workstreams the lighter levels have no room for — inventory and spare parts, eight channel partners, regulatory certification, and service contracts with terms running past the sunset.

Why EOL is not scheduled: There is no drop-in migration path. Setting an EOL date would commit to a day when 120 controllers stop being supportable, without knowing how those sites get off the product. The checklist carries the precondition instead of a fictional date.

## EOL Checklist: NFA-200 Series Retrofit Controller

**Level**: 3 -- Heavy
**Phases in scope**: NSC, EOS, EOE, EOR, EOM, EOSRV
**Phases not in scope**: EOL -- not scheduled; see precondition below
**Target EOL date**: Not scheduled
**Precondition to schedule EOL**: Validated NFA-500 retrofit path with
per-site cost, plus installed base below 20 units

### Lifecycle Phase Definitions

- **NSC (Notice of Status Change)**: Decision communicated; planning begins
- **EOS (End of Sale)**: No new units can be ordered
- **EOE (End of Expansion)**: No new I/O expansion modules
- **EOR (End of Renewal)**: Service agreements will not be renewed
- **EOM (End of Maintenance)**: Non-safety firmware updates stop
- **EOSRV (End of Service)**: Service, parts, and support obligations end

---

### Phase: NSC -- Target Date: March 31, 2026

#### Product and Strategy
- [ ] Confirm NFA-500 functional parity -- Owner: Product
- [ ] Document mounting incompatibility clearly -- Owner: Product
- [ ] Scope per-site retrofit assessment -- Owner: Product

#### Regulatory and Compliance
- [ ] Confirm UL and CE remain valid -- Owner: Regulatory
- [ ] Prepare change-control documentation package -- Owner: Regulatory
- [ ] Identify validated-process customers -- Owner: Regulatory

#### Legal and Contractual
- [ ] Audit all service agreement end dates -- Owner: Legal
- [ ] Identify agreements extending past 2028 -- Owner: Legal
- [ ] Review channel reseller agreement terms -- Owner: Legal

#### Inventory and Supply Chain
- [ ] Calculate spare parts coverage through 2028 -- Owner: Supply Chain
- [ ] Place final component buy orders -- Owner: Supply Chain
- [ ] Model last-time-buy demand forecast -- Owner: Supply Chain

#### Channel and Partner Management
- [ ] Brief eight partners before public notice -- Owner: Channel
- [ ] Define last-time-buy ordering window -- Owner: Channel

#### Financial Planning
- [ ] Model revenue through service wind-down -- Owner: Finance
- [ ] Budget spare parts carrying cost -- Owner: Finance

#### Internal Organizational Alignment
- [ ] Confirm manufacturing line reallocation plan -- Owner: Operations
- [ ] Align service org on support commitment -- Owner: Service

#### Engineering and Technical
- [ ] Freeze NFA-200 feature development -- Owner: Engineering

#### Support
- [ ] Draft field service holding guidance -- Owner: Service

### Phase: EOS -- Target Date: March 31, 2027

#### Sales
- [ ] Close last-time-buy order window -- Owner: Sales
- [ ] Remove NFA-200 from price book -- Owner: Sales Ops

#### Channel and Partner Management
- [ ] Confirm partner final order quantities -- Owner: Channel
- [ ] Publish approved partner messaging -- Owner: Channel

#### Marketing
- [ ] Issue customer status-change notice -- Owner: Marketing
- [ ] Update product pages and literature -- Owner: Marketing

#### Inventory and Supply Chain
- [ ] Reconcile final build against orders -- Owner: Supply Chain
- [ ] Transfer spares to service inventory -- Owner: Supply Chain

#### Customer Success
- [ ] Offer free retrofit assessments -- Owner: Account Management

### Phase: EOE -- Target Date: March 31, 2027

#### Product and Strategy
- [ ] Stop I/O expansion module sales -- Owner: Product

#### Support
- [ ] Confirm existing configurations stay supported -- Owner: Service

### Phase: EOR -- Target Date: December 31, 2027

#### Legal and Contractual
- [ ] Issue non-renewal notices per terms -- Owner: Legal
- [ ] Confirm each customer end date writing -- Owner: Legal

#### Financial Planning
- [ ] Reforecast service revenue decline -- Owner: Finance

#### Customer Success
- [ ] Review retrofit plans with each account -- Owner: Account Management

### Phase: EOM -- Target Date: December 31, 2028

#### Engineering and Technical
- [ ] Stop non-safety firmware releases -- Owner: Engineering
- [ ] Continue safety patches to EOSRV -- Owner: Engineering

#### Documentation and Training
- [ ] Publish final firmware and manuals -- Owner: Docs

### Phase: EOSRV -- Target Date: December 31, 2028

#### Support
- [ ] Conclude field service obligations -- Owner: Service
- [ ] Publish self-service repair documentation -- Owner: Service

#### Inventory and Supply Chain
- [ ] Offer remaining spares to customers -- Owner: Supply Chain
- [ ] Dispose or archive residual inventory -- Owner: Supply Chain

#### Regulatory and Compliance
- [ ] Archive certification records per retention -- Owner: Regulatory

#### Financial Planning
- [ ] Close service revenue recognition -- Owner: Finance

#### Data Management
- [ ] Export and archive telemetry records -- Owner: Data

---

### Phase Gate Criteria

#### NSC to EOS
- [ ] Legal confirms all agreement end dates -- Approver: General Counsel
- [ ] Spare parts coverage verified through 2028 -- Approver: VP Operations
- [ ] All eight partners briefed and acknowledged -- Approver: VP Channel
- [ ] Regulatory confirms certification unaffected -- Approver: Director Regulatory

#### EOS to EOR
- [ ] Final build reconciled against orders -- Approver: VP Operations
- [ ] Retrofit assessment offered to all sites -- Approver: VP Sales

#### EOR to EOM
- [ ] Every customer end date confirmed writing -- Approver: General Counsel
- [ ] Safety patch process documented -- Approver: VP Engineering

#### EOM to EOSRV
- [ ] No open safety issues outstanding -- Approver: VP Engineering
- [ ] Remaining spares offered to customers -- Approver: VP Operations

---

### Post-EOL Actions

- [ ] Archive design and certification records -- Owner: Engineering
- [ ] Run lessons-learned review -- Owner: Product
- [ ] Report installed base final disposition -- Owner: Service
- [ ] Reassess EOL scheduling precondition -- Owner: Product

### Assumptions to Validate
- Assumes no service agreements extend past December 2028
- Assumes component supply supports build through March 2027
- Assumes NFA-500 retrofit path is funded separately
- Partner count (8) assumes no new resellers signed before EOS

What to notice

  • A phase can be legitimately absent. EOL is listed as not scheduled, with an explicit precondition — validated retrofit path plus installed base below 20 units. That is more useful than a date invented to fill the blank, and it gives the next planner a trigger to watch.
  • EOR appears because contracts demanded it. The default Level 3 set doesn't include End of Renewal; service agreements running past EOS pulled it in. Let the obligations shape the phases.
  • Partners are briefed before the public notice. "Brief eight partners before public notice" is an NSC item and a gate criterion. Resellers learning about your EOL from their own customers is how you lose a channel.
  • Safety patches outlive maintenance. EOM stops non-safety firmware while safety patches continue to EOSRV. Collapsing those two into one date is the kind of shortcut that ends up in a regulatory file.
  • Post-EOL includes re-checking the precondition. Since EOL was never scheduled, someone has to own asking again — otherwise "not scheduled" quietly becomes "forgotten."

Source: SKILL.md on GitHub

Third-party checks

No alerts1mo3 checks · Risk SAFE
  • Gen Agent Trust Hub1mo

    This skill helps product managers create structured End-of-Life (EOL) checklists by providing phase-gated templates and examples. It is a text-based guidance skill and contains no security risks or malicious code.

  • Socket1mo

    No alerts

  • Snyk1mo

    Risk: LOW · No issues

Provenance

Signed by skilld at d025768. This ties the file your Agent reads to that commit on GitHub. It does not review the instructions.

Last checked against GitHub last month.

Activeupdated 2 months ago

Capability

argument-hint
[product being sunset, and any hard dates]
type
component
theme
eol-transition
Other metadata
intent
Generate a phase-gated EOL checklist tailored to the complexity of the sunset. Covers up to 15 functional areas across the lifecycle gates, but right-sizes the output so a minor feature deprecation gets a short punch list while a flagship product retirement gets the full cross-functional playbook. Every item names a verb and an owner.
best_for
[
  "Turning a sunset decision into an operational plan with owners and dates",
  "Making sure a retirement doesn't strand data, contracts, or inventory",
  "Right-sizing process so a feature deprecation doesn't get a flagship playbook"
]
scenarios
[
  "We've decided to retire the legacy module in December — what actually has to happen between now and then?",
  "Hardware line with channel partners and service contracts; I need the full cross-functional checklist"
]
estimated_time
20-40 min

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