Chapter 06 / 08
Release with authority
Connect readiness, explicit authorization, and the exact change that reaches the live system.
Make the requested action concrete
“Ready” describes the state of the work. Approval authorizes an action. Velocity keeps these separate so a successful test, an urgent issue, or an enthusiastic review cannot silently become permission for a live mutation.
The project overlay defines its promotion path and the exact approval language it recognizes, including whether “ship it” qualifies. The Operator owns production mutation approval unless that authority has been explicitly delegated.
Bind approval to the reviewed change
A review pack records the target live lane, requested mutation, exact approval sentence, approver, timestamp, commit or ref, and promotion mechanism. Missing required fields leave the proposed mutation unapproved.
A useful review request
Identify the reviewed revision, the passing and missing evidence, the exact target, the action to perform, and the recovery path. The owner should be able to evaluate the consequence without reconstructing the work from a long conversation.
If the artifact changes after review, reconcile it with the authorization before acting. An approval attached to one revision is not evidence that a different revision was reviewed.
Urgency sets priority
Words such as “critical,” “urgent,” and “production fix” call for attention. They do not grant mutation authority. Incident work can proceed within its already authorized scope, including fact gathering and bounded diagnosis, while the required live action is prepared for its owner.
Close with observed state
After promotion, record what actually ran, where, and what post-change evidence was collected. Keep the deployment result separate from behavior acceptance. A healthy service establishes a different fact from a successful user scenario.
Leave the branch and next disposition clear. If promotion failed or recovery is still pending, that is the current state. If verification is incomplete, name the remaining obligation and its owner.
Established Velocity guidance: Role Authority, Review Pack, and Project Adoption Guide.