Guides
10 guides on release management. Practical writing from the team building Atlas, useful whether or not you buy anything.
The DORA measures describe the speed and stability of software delivery. They are useful when they are defined carefully and harmful when they become individual targets.
Change management controls how modifications reach live systems, so that the benefit of a change is not outweighed by the incident it causes. This guide covers the types, the approvals and the record.
A hotfix is an urgent release that cannot wait for the normal schedule. Because it is rushed, it is also the release most likely to cause a second problem. A short, fixed process lowers that risk.
A version number is a promise about what changed. Semantic versioning promises something about compatibility. Calendar versioning promises something about time. Choose the promise your readers need.
Sign-off is the point at which a release stops being one person's opinion and becomes a shared, recorded decision. A good process is short, explicit and impossible to fake.
A rollback plan is the answer to the question "what do we do if this goes wrong?" asked while everyone is calm. This guide explains what the plan must contain and how to test it.
A change freeze is a period in which changes are restricted so that nothing new can fail at the worst possible time. It works only when its rules are specific and enforced where decisions are made.
Release notes are read by customers who want to know what changed, by support staff who need to answer questions, and by colleagues who need a history. One document can serve all three if it is structured with care.
A readiness checklist replaces the question "do we feel ready?" with a list of things that are either done or not done. This guide gives a starting list and shows how to keep it honest.
Release management is the discipline of deciding what ships together, proving that it is ready, and recording where it went. This guide covers the whole cycle, from scope to rollback.
Ready when you are
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