Use Data to Reprioritize Launch

Project Background

Duolingo's Growth team is preparing a 10-week launch for a redesigned onboarding flow intended to improve 7-day learner retention for new mobile users. The project involves 11 people across product, engineering, design, data science, and marketing, and the VP of Product wants the launch completed before the back-to-school acquisition push.

Two weeks before code freeze, new analysis shows that Android users in Brazil and Mexico are dropping off at a much higher rate in the current onboarding funnel, while a planned social-sharing feature has little measurable impact on activation. You are the program manager responsible for using this data to influence the roadmap, align stakeholders, and decide whether to change scope without missing the launch window.

Key Stakeholders

The Growth PM wants to prioritize the highest-retention opportunity. The Marketing Director wants the social-sharing feature kept because it is already included in campaign creative. The Engineering Manager is concerned that any scope change will create rework and threaten code freeze. The Data Science lead believes the funnel data is strong enough to justify a pivot, but only for Android and only in the top two LATAM markets.

Constraints

• Launch deadline: 10 weeks total, with 2 weeks remaining before code freeze
• Budget remaining: $120,000
• Team: 4 engineers, 1 designer, 1 data scientist, 1 QA lead, 1 PM, 1 marketer, 1 localization specialist, you as PgM
• Engineering capacity: 24 story points left before code freeze
• Localization dependency: Portuguese and Spanish assets require 7 business days
• Marketing campaign assets lock in 12 calendar days

Complications

1. The social-sharing feature is already 60% built, but the retention-focused onboarding changes are only 20% designed.
2. The VP of Product has asked for a single global launch, while the data only supports a targeted Android LATAM rollout.
3. QA has flagged that supporting both features in the same release increases regression testing by 40%.

Your Task

1. Recommend whether to keep the current roadmap or reprioritize based on the data.
2. Build an execution plan through launch, including milestones and dependencies.
3. Define how you would align stakeholders with competing priorities.
4. Identify the top risks, trade-offs, and fallback options.
5. Specify launch success criteria and a post-launch monitoring plan.