by Damon Poole

I think of this practice as a major guiding principle of software development. If every practice is done as though it is part of the final act of releasing the product, then you will automatically have fewer practices. Fewer practices means less chance of problems falling through the cracks until the last minute and a higher level of maturity for things that have been done multiple times.

For instance, instead of having one process for developers to build during development and another build process for release, use exactly the same one. That way, when it comes time to release, the path is well worn and the chances are better that you will be able to completely reproduce the release if and when the time comes.