/eol-process

name: eol-process
argument-hint: "[product being retired, and where you are in the process]"
description: "Run a product sunset end to end — decide, align, plan, prepare, announce, close. Use when you need the whole EOL process, not just one artifact."
intent: >-
  Orchestrate a complete product end-of-life from the go/no-go decision through post-retirement
  review, sequencing the decision, stakeholder alignment, operational plan, internal enablement,
  customer announcement, and closure. Right-sized so a feature deprecation runs in a week and a
  regulated hardware retirement runs across quarters. Use this to lose the product without losing
  the customer.
type: workflow
theme: eol-transition
best_for:
  - "Running a full product sunset from decision through post-EOL review"
  - "Knowing what has to happen before you can announce — and in what order"
  - "Rescuing a sunset already in motion by finding which phase got skipped"
scenarios:
  - "We've decided to retire a product and I own the whole thing — walk me through it end to end"
  - "We announced an EOL and it's going badly; what did we skip and what do we do now?"
estimated_time: "30-60 min to plan; weeks to quarters to execute"

EOL Process

Purpose

Run a product retirement end to end: decide whether to do it, align the people who can stop it, build the operational plan, ready the teams who will face customers, announce it, and close it out properly. Six phases with decision points between them.

The governing goal, and the sentence worth keeping in your head the whole way through: **lose the product without losing the customer.** Most of what follows exists to protect the second half of that sentence.

This is an orchestration skill. It doesn't replace the artifact skills — it tells you which one to reach for, when, and what has to be true before you move on.

Input

**Works best with:** The product being retired and where you currently are — considering it, decided, mid-plan, or already announced and struggling.

**Also useful:** Scale (customers, revenue, contracts), whether a replacement exists, and who already knows.

Anything supplied with the invocation itself — text after the skill name, a pasted context dump, or an appended `ARGUMENTS:` line — counts as answers already given. Use it and skip whatever it covers; don't re-ask.

**Arriving empty-handed? That works too.** The process opens by establishing what's being retired and where you are in it, then routes you to the right phase. If you're mid-sunset and something is going wrong, say so — the diagnostic in "Entering Mid-Stream" finds the skipped phase.

**Example invocations:**

• `Run the full EOL process for our legacy reporting module — decision made, nothing else started.`
• `We announced a sunset three weeks ago and Support is drowning. What did we skip?`

---

Key Concepts

The Six Phases

| # | Phase | Question it answers | Primary artifact | |---|---|---|---| | 1 | **Decide** | Should we retire this, and how big is this? | Readiness assessment + intensity level | | 2 | **Align** | Who can stop this, and what do they know that we don't? | Stakeholder sequence | | 3 | **Plan** | What has to happen, when, and who owns it? | Phase-gated checklist | | 4 | **Prepare** | Are our people ready before our customers hear? | Internal enablement pack | | 5 | **Announce** | What do customers hear, and when? | Customer EOL message | | 6 | **Close** | Did we finish, and what did we learn? | Post-EOL review |

**Phase 6 is the one everyone skips.** It's also the phase that makes your next sunset cheaper. Budget for it up front, because nobody volunteers for it afterward.

This Is a Route, Not a Pipeline

Every skill in this suite stands alone. None requires another to have run first. This process is a **recommended route through independent stops**, not a conveyor belt — which means:

• **You can enter at any phase.** Decision already made and defensible? Start at Phase 2.
• **You can skip phases** when the level justifies it. A Level 1 sunset often collapses 2 through 4

into a single afternoon.

• **You can go backwards, and sometimes must.** Phase 2 routinely sends you back to Phase 1 — a

Legal finding or a Sales commitment can invalidate the decision. That's the process working, not failing.

• **Nothing hands off a format.** Carrying context between phases means telling the next skill

"Level 2" and pasting what you have. There's no schema to preserve.

The order earns its keep because each phase surfaces what the next one needs. Deviate deliberately, not accidentally.

Right-Size the Whole Process

**Not all EOLs play out the same.** The process compresses or expands with the sunset:

| | **Level 1 — Light** | **Level 2 — Standard** | **Level 3 — Heavy** | |---|---|---|---| | Typical scope | Feature, internal tool, API | Commercial product, active customers | Revenue-critical, hardware, regulated | | Elapsed time | Days to weeks | 6-12 months | 12-24 months | | Phase 2 stops | 3-4 | 7-8 | 10+ | | Phase 3 gates | 2-3 phases, no gate criteria | 4-5 phases with gates | All 6 phases, gates with approvers | | Phase 4 output | Support FAQ | + Sales points, objections, escalation | + Channel brief, training | | Phase 5 message | Brief notice | Standard with phase table | Full, phased, with compliance | | Phases 2-4 | Often collapse into one sitting | Distinct, sequential | Distinct, with their own workstreams |

**Level 2 is the default.** Set the level in Phase 1, and let it size everything downstream. **Never default to Level 3** — process theater on a small sunset teaches everyone to ignore the process on a big one.

Entering Mid-Stream

Most people find this skill in the middle of a sunset, often a troubled one. Symptoms map to the phase that got skipped:

| Symptom | Phase skipped | What to do now | |---|---|---| | "Legal just found a contract problem" | 2 (Align) | Stop. Return to Phase 1 — the decision may not survive | | "Sales says