How Clear Communication Turned a Multi-Vendor App Launch Into a Smooth Delivery
This project demonstrated how structured communication is one of the most powerful tools in project management - especially in complex, multi-vendor environments. By clarifying ownership, maintaining alignment during transitions, and ensuring everyone had the right information at the right time, a potentially fragmented rollout became a coordinated, successful launch.
Situation
A national quick-service franchise was preparing to launch a new mobile app to improve customer engagement and elevate the guest experience. The project involved three external vendors: one DSP (Digital Service Provider), a second vendor who replaced them mid-project, and a third building the app’s frontend (as well as two internal departments supporting marketing, product, and engineering).
With overlapping responsibilities, shifting ownership, and inconsistent communication between parties, the project was at high risk of delays and misaligned deliverables.
Task
Our role was to ensure that the app launch stayed on track by creating clarity, structure, and alignment across all teams. Specifically, we needed to:
Establish clear communication channels between all vendors and internal departments
Define roles, deliverables, and approval workflows
Create a single source of truth for decisions, updates, and risks
Maintain launch readiness despite scope changes and shifting dependencies
Action
1. Capture (Clarify Ownership & Dependencies)
We mapped every stakeholder’s responsibilities, integrations, data handoffs, and milestone ownership. This provided a documented, shared understanding of who was accountable for what — critical during the mid-project DSP transition.
2. Connect (Build Communication Rhythms)
With roles defined, our team created structured communication cadences:
Facilitated syncs between the incoming DSP vendor
Coordinated updates with the app development team
Kept internal marketing, product, and engineering aligned on dependencies and risks
3. Clarify (Translate Information Across Teams)
Throughout the build, we distilled technical updates into clear, actionable summaries for non-technical stakeholders. This ensured leadership always knew:
Current status
Blockers
Decisions required to stay on schedule
4. Control (Establish Launch Processes)
Leading up to launch, we formalized workflows for final assets, updates, and release notes to reduce last-minute surprises. Post-launch, our team implemented a feedback triage system to collect issues, route them to the right owners, and prioritize fixes quickly.
Result
All vendors successfully delivered their components on time
Internal marketing and engineering teams gained clear visibility into progress and blockers
The app launched smoothly with all core functionality operational on day one
A structured post-launch issue-triage process improved user experience and leadership confidence