2 min read
What a production handoff should include
The access, release instructions and operating context a team needs to keep a product running after launch.
A repository is part of a handoff. The people responsible for the product also need to know how to release it, recognize a problem and recover from a change that goes wrong.
Agree on the handoff while planning the work. It is harder to reconstruct operating knowledge when the people who built the system have already moved on.
Make ownership explicit
List the services the product depends on: hosting, domains, email, payments, analytics and any external APIs. Record who owns each account and who should receive billing or operational notices.
Check that the right people have access. Keep secrets in the appropriate secret-management system rather than copying them into a general handoff document.
Write down the release path
Someone who did not build the deployment pipeline should be able to follow the release instructions. Document the checks that must pass, how a change reaches production and how the team verifies that the release worked.
Explain how database changes fit into that process. A code rollback alone may not reverse a data migration, so the recovery plan needs to account for both.
Explain how to recognize trouble
Name the signals the team should watch and the person responsible for responding. A dashboard is useful only if someone understands what requires attention.
Include the location of logs, the important alerts and the dependencies that can affect customer journeys. Record known limits so the next team does not have to rediscover them during an incident.
Cover recovery before it is needed
Document what is backed up, where it is stored and how restoration is expected to work. If restoration has been tested, record the procedure and the result. If it has not, make that unfinished work visible.
The same principle applies to rollback instructions. Distinguish a procedure someone has verified from an assumption that still needs testing.
Leave the product context with the code
Explain the decisions that would otherwise look arbitrary: why a service was chosen, which tradeoffs were accepted and which features have known constraints. Keep this concise enough for the next engineer to use.
A short walkthrough helps connect the documentation to the working system. Give the receiving team time to ask questions and complete a release or another agreed operating task themselves.
The handoff is complete when the next team can take responsibility with a clear view of the system and the work still ahead.