Launch Effort Curve — Where The Work Peaks (Infographic)
Best for: setting expectations about when a launch will consume the most team time Avoid when: you have real effort data per sprint (use a bar chart) Answers: the shape of effort across the phases, and which phase is the crunch
infographic sequence-mountain-underline-text
theme
colorPrimary #2b66c4
palette
- #2b66c4
- #2f9e44
- #f3a33c
- #d1242f
- #7048e8
- #0f9b9b
- #c16f8a
- #7c5a3d
data
title Effort Across The Launch
desc The build phase carries the peak
sequences
- label Scoping
desc Light — two people, one week
- label Build
desc Peak — full team, six weeks
- label Hardening
desc Medium — QA and docs, three weeks
- label Launch and hypercare
desc Light — on-call plus supportData Shape
sequences where position encodes height. Put the peak in the middle for the mountain silhouette to read
correctly; the effort words ("Light", "Peak") live in desc.
Key Options
| Option | Effect |
|---|---|
infographic sequence-mountain-underline-text |
Rises then falls; shape carries the message |
sequence-horizontal-zigzag-* |
Use when phases are equal effort and only order matters |
chart-bar-plain-text |
Use when the quantities are measured, not estimated |
Pitfalls
- ❌ Peak at the last item → ✅ mountains rise and fall; the last phase is hypercare, not the summit
- ❌ Precise numbers implied → ✅ qualitative bands are honest for planning conversations
- ❌ Using it to argue for more headcount → ✅ this is a shape, not a capacity model
Alternatives
| Variant | Use instead |
|---|---|
| Headcount ramp over waves | team-capacity-ramp.md |
| Ordered launch steps | launch-readiness-checklist.md |
| Delivery timeline with dates | platform-milestone-timeline.md |