Before implementation, bring the engineering team, technical lead, and relevant architecture or cross-functional reviewers together to examine a proposed solution. An engineering manager helps the discussion uncover blind spots, risks, and dependencies rather than leaving those concerns for the team to discover during delivery. section 10.1.3
Keep the discussion focused on both delivery and the service’s future:
- Check maintainability and extensibility, not only whether the immediate project can be built. section 10.1.3
- Consider operational stability for the people who will eventually be on call. section 10.1.3
- Seek review and signoff from senior engineers or an architecture board where applicable. section 10.1.3
Table 10.1 A sample template for a working-backward plan
|
Timeline
|
Tasks and description
|
Owners
|
Status
|
|---|---|---|---|
|
T-3 months
|
Perform technical spikes.
Create a technical-design document.
Signoff by senior engineer/architect.
|
Engineering team
|
|
|
T-2 months
|
Coding is implemented.
QA testing is initiated.
|
Engineering team
QA
|
|
|
T-1 month
|
When implementation finishes, end-to-end testing is performed.
Security testing is performed.
User acceptance testing (UAT) is complete.
Bug fixes are done.
Code freeze occurs.
Launch readiness is achieved.
|
Engineering team
Security engineer
|
|
|
T
|
Launch
Postlaunch production support
|
.
|
|
|
T+1 month
|
Project retrospective
Measurement against success metrics
|
.
|
The sample working-backward plan places technical spikes, a design document, and senior engineer or architect signoff before coding. section 10.1.3
