Product Lifecycle Management

Skill for tracking CircleTel products through their lifecycle stages, generating transition checklists, and managing sunset plans.

When This Skill Activates

This skill automatically activates when you:

• •Want to see product lifecycle status
• •Need to move a product between stages
• •Plan a product sunset or retirement
• •Say /product-lifecycle or ask about product status

Keywords: product lifecycle, lifecycle status, product stage, sunset product, retire product, activate product, archive product

Lifecycle Stages

┌─────────┐     ┌─────────┐     ┌─────────┐     ┌──────────┐     ┌──────────┐
│  IDEA   │ ──▶ │  DRAFT  │ ──▶ │  ACTIVE │ ──▶ │ INACTIVE │ ──▶ │ ARCHIVED │
└─────────┘     └─────────┘     └─────────┘     └──────────┘     └──────────┘
     │               │               │               │                │
     ▼               ▼               ▼               ▼                ▼
 Concept         In Admin       Live in         Paused/           End of
 stage only      Products       catalogue       Hidden            life

Stage Definitions

Integration with Admin Products

Viewing Lifecycle Status

Portfolio Dashboard: /admin/products → Portfolio tab → Lifecycle

The existing portfolio dashboard shows:

• •Products by status (draft, active, inactive, archived)
• •Low margin products requiring attention
• •Duplicate products to clean up

Lifecycle Stepper Component

components/admin/products/ProductLifecycleStepper.tsx displays visual lifecycle progress on product detail pages.

Status Management

Change status via Admin:

1. •Go to /admin/products/[id]/edit
2. •Update status field
3. •Save changes

Change status via API:

PATCH /api/admin/products/[id]
Content-Type: application/json

{ "status": "active" }

Transition Checklists

IDEA → DRAFT

Prerequisites:

• • Market-fit analysis completed (/product-analyze)
• • GO or CONDITIONAL decision documented
• • Pricing approved by CFO
• • Technology capability confirmed

Actions:

• • Create product in /admin/products/new
• • Set status to draft
• • Fill required fields (name, SKU, category, pricing)
• • Attach to product line

DRAFT → ACTIVE

Prerequisites:

• • CPS documentation complete
• • BRD documentation complete (for complex products)
• • Pricing verified against costs
• • Support team briefed
• • Sales materials prepared

Actions:

• • Change status to active in admin
• • Verify appears in public catalogue
• • Test ordering flow
• • Announce to sales team
• • Update /products/README.md index

ACTIVE → INACTIVE

Reasons for Inactivation:

• •Temporary stock outage
• •Pricing review required
• •Competitive repositioning
• •Seasonal pause

Prerequisites:

• • Reason documented
• • Estimated reactivation date (if temporary)
• • Customer communication plan (if impactful)

Actions:

• • Change status to inactive in admin
• • Product hidden from public catalogue
• • Existing customers unaffected
• • Set calendar reminder for review

INACTIVE → ACTIVE

Prerequisites:

• • Original issue resolved
• • Pricing re-verified
• • Stock/capacity confirmed
• • Support team notified

Actions:

• • Change status to active
• • Verify appears in catalogue
• • Consider promotional announcement

ACTIVE/INACTIVE → ARCHIVED

This is a sunset decision. Use sunset planning workflow.

Sunset Planning

When to Sunset

Consider archiving when:

• •Product has zero active customers
• •Technology is end-of-life
• •Margin is unsustainable (<15%)
• •Better alternative exists
• •Regulatory/compliance issue

Sunset Checklist

## Product Sunset Plan: [Product Name]

**Date**: [YYYY-MM-DD]
**Reason**: [Why sunsetting]
**Target Archive Date**: [YYYY-MM-DD]

### Customer Impact
- Current active customers: [X]
- MRR at risk: R[Y]
- Recommended migration path: [Product Z]

### Migration Plan
- [ ] Identify all affected customers
- [ ] Draft migration communication
- [ ] Set migration incentive (if applicable)
- [ ] Establish migration deadline

### Execution Timeline
| Date | Action | Owner |
|------|--------|-------|
| [D-60] | Notify customers of sunset | Support |
| [D-30] | Follow-up migration offer | Sales |
| [D-7] | Final reminder | Support |
| [D-0] | Archive product | Product |

### Post-Sunset
- [ ] Change status to `archived`
- [ ] Update documentation (mark superseded)
- [ ] Remove from marketing materials
- [ ] Brief support team on legacy inquiries

Dashboard View

Lifecycle Status Summary

## Product Lifecycle Dashboard

**As of**: [YYYY-MM-DD]

| Stage | Count | Products |
|-------|-------|----------|
| Draft | [X] | [List or "None"] |
| Active | [X] | [Summary] |
| Inactive | [X] | [List with reasons] |
| Archived | [X] | [Summary] |

### Attention Required

**Low Margin (<25%)**: [X] products
**Duplicates**: [X] products
**Inactive >30 days**: [X] products
**Draft >90 days**: [X] products

### Recent Transitions
| Date | Product | From | To | By |
|------|---------|------|----|----|
| ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |

Reporting Queries

Products by Status

SELECT status, COUNT(*) as count
FROM products
GROUP BY status
ORDER BY
  CASE status
    WHEN 'active' THEN 1
    WHEN 'draft' THEN 2
    WHEN 'inactive' THEN 3
    WHEN 'archived' THEN 4
  END;

Stale Drafts (>90 days)

SELECT id, name, created_at
FROM products
WHERE status = 'draft'
  AND created_at < NOW() - INTERVAL '90 days';

Inactive Products Needing Review

SELECT id, name, updated_at
FROM products
WHERE status = 'inactive'
  AND updated_at < NOW() - INTERVAL '30 days';

Related Skills

• •/product-browse — Find new product candidates
• •/product-analyze — Market-fit before adding to draft
• •/product-docs — Documentation for draft → active transition

Admin Pages Reference

Version: 1.0.0 Last Updated: 2026-03-08 Maintained By: CircleTel Product Strategy