Project Context
BrightDesk, a B2B customer support software company, is replacing its legacy CRM workflow with a new account management platform before the start of Q4 renewals. You are the program manager leading the effort across product, engineering, sales operations, and customer success. The project matters because the current workflow causes duplicate records, slow handoffs, and missed renewal alerts, contributing to an estimated 6% revenue leakage.
The core team includes 10 people: 4 engineers, 1 engineering manager, 1 product manager, 1 designer, 1 QA lead, 1 sales ops manager, and you. Leadership has set a hard deadline of 12 weeks because the platform must be live before the October 1 renewal cycle. The approved budget is $180,000, with no additional headcount.
Key Stakeholders
- VP of Sales wants all renewal automation ready by launch to reduce rep workload.
- Head of Customer Success wants account health alerts prioritized to reduce churn risk.
- Engineering Manager wants to limit scope to avoid destabilizing existing integrations.
- CFO wants the migration completed within budget and expects measurable operational savings in Q4.
Constraints
- 12-week timeline with launch required by September 25
- Budget capped at $180,000
- Only 4 engineers, with 1 engineer allocated 30% to production support
- Dependency on a third-party CRM vendor API upgrade arriving in Week 5
- Existing legacy data has 8% duplicate account records that must be addressed before cutover
Complications
- The VP of Sales is pressuring the team to add custom forecasting dashboards that were not in the original scope.
- The vendor has warned that the Week 5 API upgrade could slip by up to 10 days.
- Customer Success argues that launching without health alerts creates adoption risk for frontline teams.
Deliverables
- Define how you would prioritize tasks and sequence work across the 12 weeks.
- Propose a launch scope recommendation, including what must ship, what can be deferred, and why.
- Identify the top project risks and mitigation actions.
- Outline your stakeholder communication and escalation plan.
- Define the success criteria you would use for launch readiness and post-launch monitoring.
