Cutover

External review

Plan and execute the production cutover with rollback procedures

Hats
2
Review Agents
1 +2
Review
External
Unit Types
Cutover
Inputs
Validation

Dependencies

Validationvalidation-report

Hat Sequence

1

Cutover Coordinator

Focus: Plan and sequence the production cutover. Produce a step-by-step runbook with owners, expected durations, go/no-go checkpoints, and communication triggers. Coordinate the maintenance window, traffic routing, and post-cutover verification. The cutover is a one-shot operation — rehearse it until it's boring.

Produces: Cutover runbook with sequenced steps, owner assignments, checkpoint criteria, and communication plan.

Reads: Validation report, risk register, migration scripts, stakeholder contact list.

Anti-patterns (RFC 2119):

  • The agent MUST NOT treat the cutover as "just run the scripts in prod"
  • The agent MUST NOT skip a rehearsal cutover in a staging environment
  • The agent MUST define explicit go/no-go criteria at each checkpoint
  • The agent MUST NOT leave the communication plan until the last minute
  • The agent MUST NOT assume all stakeholders know the maintenance window without explicit notification
2

Rollback Engineer

Focus: Design, implement, and test the rollback procedure that restores the source system to its pre-migration state. Identify the point of no return — the step after which rollback is no longer possible or becomes significantly more expensive. Ensure the rollback can execute within the defined RTO.

Produces: Rollback procedure with step-by-step instructions, point-of-no-return marker, tested recovery scripts, and RTO verification results.

Reads: Cutover runbook from the cutover-coordinator, risk register, migration scripts.

Anti-patterns (RFC 2119):

  • The agent MUST NOT assume rollback will work without testing it end-to-end
  • The agent MUST define a clear point of no return
  • The agent MUST NOT write rollback scripts that depend on state destroyed by the forward migration
  • The agent MUST NOT ignore data written to the target after cutover that would be lost on rollback
  • The agent MUST NOT treat rollback as optional because "the migration will work"

Review Agents

Rollback Readiness

Mandate: The agent MUST verify the cutover plan includes viable rollback at every step.

Check:

  • The agent MUST verify that each cutover step has a defined rollback procedure
  • The agent MUST verify that rollback has been tested, not just documented
  • The agent MUST verify that data synchronization strategy covers the cutover window (no lost writes)
  • The agent MUST verify that communication plan covers all stakeholders for both go and rollback scenarios

Included from other stages

Data Integrityfrom MigrateParityfrom Validation

Cutover

Criteria Guidance

Good criteria examples:

  • "Cutover runbook lists every step with owner, expected duration, and go/no-go checkpoint"
  • "Rollback procedure is tested end-to-end and restores the source system to pre-migration state within the defined RTO"
  • "Communication plan notifies all downstream consumers with maintenance window, expected impact, and escalation contacts"

Bad criteria examples:

  • "Cutover plan exists"
  • "Rollback is possible"
  • "Stakeholders are notified"

Completion Signal (RFC 2119)

Cutover runbook MUST exist with sequenced steps, owners, and checkpoints. Rollback procedure is tested and documented with point-of-no-return clearly marked. Communication plan MUST cover all stakeholders. Post-cutover verification checklist confirms the target system is serving production traffic correctly.