Release Tracking

The 47-tab Release Tracking Spreadsheet provides complete transparency into every release, every approval, and every individual!

The Commodore maintains this manually curated workbook in real-time during all Convoy ceremonies, ensuring that no decision, no change, and no responsible party goes unrecorded. It serves as the single source of truth for the DevOps Release Convoy, with each of its 47 tabs tracking a specific dimension of the release process – from code changes to ceremony attendance to approval signatures.

The 47 tabs are organized into five sections. The first section, Change Manifest (tabs 1-12), records every code change included in the release, the Code Engineer who made the change, the Feature Captain who authorized it, the Conflict Arbitration outcome, the Code Inspection result, and the testing certification from the Quality Authority. The second section, Approval Chain (tabs 13-22), documents every approval signature from the CRAP, the DIAT, the EARB, and the Review Board Review Board. The third section, Risk Registry (tabs 23-31), catalogs every identified risk, its assessed severity, and the mitigation action taken. The fourth section, Personnel Accountability (tabs 32-41), maps every deliverable to the individual responsible, enabling the Tribunal to trace any post-release defect back to a named person. The fifth section, Metrics Dashboard (tabs 42-47), aggregates data from the other tabs into charts that the Chief Signals Officer presents to the Admiral’s Transformation Office.

The Release Tracking Spreadsheet is intentionally maintained by hand rather than generated from automated tooling. Automated tools can be configured incorrectly, can have bugs, and can be manipulated by engineers who understand the underlying code. A spreadsheet maintained by a human being – specifically, the Commodore – is transparent in a way that automated systems can never be. Every cell is visible. Every formula can be audited. Every entry was typed by a person who made a conscious decision to type it. This manual process also ensures that the Commodore maintains intimate familiarity with every aspect of the release, which is essential for making informed decisions during the Convoy Steering Committee. Automated dashboards create the illusion of awareness; the Release Tracking Spreadsheet creates the reality of it.

The spreadsheet also serves as the primary evidence artifact for compliance audits, regulatory reviews, and post-incident investigations. When a production defect is discovered, the Personnel Accountability tabs enable investigators to identify the responsible Code Engineer, the Feature Captain who approved the work, the Quality Authority tester who certified it, and the CRAP members who voted to accept it. This complete chain of accountability ensures that Everyone is Responsible is not merely a principle but a traceable fact. The spreadsheet has grown organically over multiple Convoys, and each new tab was added in response to a specific gap identified during a previous release, demonstrating the organization’s commitment to Continuous Learning.

Version control of the spreadsheet itself is managed through a naming convention: each version is saved as Release_Tracking_CONVOY-[number]_v[version]_[date]_[initials].xlsx. Previous versions are archived in a shared drive folder organized by quarter. The Commodore emails the current version to all stakeholders every Monday morning and every Friday afternoon, and any stakeholder who needs the spreadsheet between those distributions must request it via the official Spreadsheet Access Request Form. This controlled distribution ensures that no one is working from a stale version and that the Commodore always knows who has seen which data. The Release Tracking Spreadsheet is, in every sense, the heartbeat of Limit WIP and the backbone of the Amplify Feedback cycle.

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