A log you can read

Build, migrate, release, watch. Each step should fail in a way a person can name. If only one person can explain the pipeline, the pipeline is already late.

The deploy log is not a souvenir. It is the place you look when the release is wrong and the room is quiet.

Name the failure

A red line that says 'error' is not a name. A red line that says which step stopped, and what it was trying to do, is a name.

Keep the steps few enough that the log fits on a screen. A novel of timestamps is how a pipeline hides.

Dull on Friday

Novelty belongs in the product. The path that ships it should be dull enough to trust on a Friday.

When the log is boring and complete, people ship. That is what the log is for.