D.10 Release Readiness

Can I trust this release?

A release is ready when every obligation assigned blocking authority has current supporting evidence and every blocking gate passes. The checklist gathers those obligations at release time; it does not create new ones.

The specific checks depend on the system. A model-based obligation requires current correspondence only when the release relies on that model; a locally enforced property may require no system model. The general rule is obligation → evidence → authority.

The preflight

Instantiate the checklist for each release. List the obligations carrying blocking authority, confirm that each has current evidence, and confirm that every blocking gate passes.

  RELEASE READINESS  ·  PREFLIGHT              "Can I trust this release?"
  ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  [ ]  Blocking obligations identified and current
  [ ]  Required evidence present and fresh
  [ ]  Trusted representations satisfy their correspondence contracts
       — where this release relies on them
  [ ]  Validators / assurance checks exercised and green
  [ ]  Admission / deployment gates green
  [ ]  Overrides and accepted residual risks reviewed
  ═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
  All blocking obligations discharged  →  ship.
  Otherwise  →  wait, record an explicit override, or revise the governing policy.

The override note

Treat an override as an engineering event. Record who accepted it, the available evidence, the bypassed obligation, and whether the exception reveals a recurring class that warrants later review. Do not carry the exception into future releases implicitly.