A simple, safe, sane operations guide for boring releases
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Don't release on Monday or Friday
Never release on day where you or your clients may have to work out of standard hours. Patch Tuesday exists for a reason, As an additional - "Monday" means the first day of the work week, and "Friday" means the last day of the work week. So a public holiday on Monday means no release before Wednesday.
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All code is reviewed by at least one person
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If its not done by 2pm its not going out today: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-your-2-oclock-rule-james-shin-9xhlc/
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Releases should be reviewed by zero people or at least two people.
One person is prone to mistakes
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Point-and-call all commands as part of a release
Say the following out loud - "I am about to delete our production servers". That should fill you with dread, or worry any eavesdropping co-workers around you. Pointing-and-calling actions before taking them is shown to reduce errors by 85%, because your hand, eyes, mouth and ears are all in action. Having those commands heard by another operator even further reduces the risk that mistakes are made.