Engineering checklist

Every rule in the engineering playbook, by chapter, required rules first. Each links to its own page with how we built it and how to check it.

Rules as code

• Required Check every rule in code
• Required Run one check of everything before every deploy
• Required Fail the build on broken rules
• Recommended Enforce the writing style in code

Build, test and deploy

• Required Unit test the tricky parts
• Required Stamp every build with its version
• Required Deploy in one step and roll back by itself
• Required Give the server a health check
• Recommended Run the tests inside the container build
• Recommended Release to a small share first

Version control and review

• Required Keep every change in version control
• Required Make small changes on short-lived branches
• Required Protect the main branch
• Required Run the checks on every change
• Required Fix a broken main branch first
• Recommended Update dependencies in small automatic steps

Running in production

• Required Make builds repeatable
• Required Keep settings outside the code
• Required Log, track errors and alert
• Required Watch the service from outside
• Required Keep secrets in a secrets store
• Recommended Separate deploying from releasing

Documentation

• Required Get a new person running with one command
• Required Change the docs in the same pull request
• Required Test the docs in the build
• Required State each value in one document and link to it
• Recommended Keep decision records with a status
• Recommended Keep runbooks next to the code they run
• Recommended Generate reference docs from the code
• Recommended Keep a changelog written for users
• Recommended Draw diagrams as code
• Recommended Give every doc an owner and a review date