Briefing
Quality gates that prevent late surprises
Design lightweight quality gates that catch the right failures early—without turning delivery into bureaucracy.
Execution Systems 6 min
Why surprises happen
Late surprises are usually predictable. They come from unclear acceptance criteria, missing non-functional requirements, or integration risk pushed to the end.
The gates that matter
Pick the few checks that prevent real harm.
- Definition of Done that includes test evidence and rollout plan.
- Non-functional checklist (performance, security, observability).
- Release readiness: can we deploy, roll back, and measure impact?
Implications
A good gate speeds delivery because it prevents rework. A bad gate slows delivery because it audits instead of reducing risk.