Write a go-live cutover plan with rollback steps
An hour-by-hour cutover runbook with owners, checkpoints, go/no-go points, and a tested rollback path.
The prompt
Help me write a cutover plan for a go-live.
What is going live: [SYSTEM, process, or site - and what it replaces]
Cutover window: [DATES and times, time zones, any blackout periods]
Key steps I know about: [e.g. freeze old system, migrate data, switch DNS, enable users]
Teams and people involved: [ROLES and on-call contacts]
Dependencies: [vendors, other systems, approvals]
How we know it worked: [smoke tests, reconciliation checks, business sign-off]
Rollback option: [what reverting looks like and the latest point it is still possible]
Build the plan with:
- Pre-cutover checklist (T-14 to T-1 days): rehearsals, backups, communications, access, freeze.
- Runbook table: step # | start time | duration | task | owner | backup owner | verification | status.
- Go/no-go checkpoints at key points, each with explicit criteria and who decides.
- Point of no return - clearly marked, with what must be true before passing it.
- Rollback plan - trigger conditions, steps, owner, and time needed.
- Communication plan - who is told what, when, and through which channel during the window.
- Hypercare - support coverage for the first 1-2 weeks and how issues are triaged.
Rules: do not invent times or system details; use [CONFIRM] placeholders. Flag any step with no owner or no verification.
Return the plan, then the 5 most likely things to go wrong and how the plan handles each.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Projects & Operations prompts
What to fill in
- SYSTEM, process, or site - and what it replaces
- DATES and times, time zones, any blackout periods
- ROLES and on-call contacts
- vendors, other systems, approvals
- smoke tests, reconciliation checks, business sign-off
- CONFIRM
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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