Due Diligence - Product Development

Description

This template provides a structured checklist of key questions and document requests around the product development lifecycle. It captures insights into the software development process, challenges in previous releases, team practices, retrospectives, current initiatives, and tracking metrics like burndown charts and bug trends.

Each item is assigned a priority (High, Medium, Low) and completion status. Notes fields and document upload areas are included for each line item, while a real-time completion badge tracks overall progress.

Key Data Stored

• Development Lifecycle Documentation – Overview of SDLC from product roadmap to deployment
• Challenges and Risk Areas – Documentation of past issues such as bugs, delays, and architecture problems
• Tracking Metrics – Retrospectives, test coverage, progress reports, bug status, and fix trends
• Current Initiatives – Ongoing efforts like agile transitions, automation, or hiring plans
• Post-Mortem Reports – Examples of retrospectives for previous releases
• Priority and Status Fields – Allows sorting by importance and progress tracking
• Document Uploads and Notes – Support attachments and reviewer commentary

Business Use Cases

• M&A Technology Due Diligence – Offers a window into how products are built and what challenges exist
• VC or Investor Readiness – Demonstrates product development discipline and transparency
• Engineering Team Audits – Enables internal or third-party evaluation of engineering workflows
• Agile Process Reviews – Tracks the organization’s level of agile practice maturity
• Operational Risk Identification – Highlights technical debt, churn issues, or process inefficiencies

Why This Template is Powerful

• Process-Oriented Evaluation – Focused specifically on how software development is executed
• Visibility into Engineering Health – Surfaces quality and predictability of product delivery
• Collaborative Structure – Built for use by product managers, engineering leads, and executive stakeholders
• Progress Monitoring – A visual badge keeps stakeholders informed of completion status
• Audit-Ready Organization – Ensures all required documentation and commentary are centralized for review

This template transforms technical diligence into a structured and transparent process—making it easier for investors, acquirers, or internal leaders to understand how well a company builds its products.