Checklist · Ci Cd
Ci Cd Launch Checklist for 2026
Ship your CI/CD initiative with confidence. This phased checklist breaks the effort into critical, high-impact, and medium-priority tasks. Start with foundation work, move into execution with clear owners, then measure and iterate. [See launch guides](/resources/launch-guides) for more detail.
Phase 01
Foundation
- c1critical1 day
Define goals and KPIs (Ci Cd)
Establish success metrics: deployment frequency, mean time to recovery, change failure rate, and cycle time. Document how you'll track each.
- c2medium1 week
Identify target audience (Ci Cd)
Identify which teams, products, or repos will adopt CI/CD first. Prioritize high-traffic or high-risk services to show ROI early.
- c3high2-3 days
Audit current state (Ci Cd)
Map your current build, test, and deployment workflow. Document blockers, manual steps, and integration pain points that CI/CD will solve.
Phase 02
Execution
- c4medium1 week
Prioritize high-impact tasks (Ci Cd)
Rank tasks by impact vs. effort. Priority order: automate tests, set up artifact storage, configure deployment gates, add monitoring.
- c5medium1 week
Assign owners and deadlines (Ci Cd)
Assign a lead for each major component (pipelines, artifact repo, secrets management). Set hard deadlines and escalation paths.
- c6high2-3 days
Set up tracking (Ci Cd)
Set up dashboards, build alerts for failed pipelines, and establish a log retention policy. Make pipeline health visible to the whole team.
Phase 03
Launch & Review
- c7critical1 day
Ship and verify (Ci Cd)
Verify the first automated deployment end-to-end. Test rollback, monitor alert accuracy, and document any surprises for future runs.
- c8medium1 week
Measure against KPIs (Ci Cd)
Compare deployment metrics from before and after. Track lead time reduction, manual effort saved, and defect escape rate changes.
- c9critical1 day
Iterate on results (Ci Cd)
Gather team feedback on the CI/CD workflow. Smooth rough edges in the pipeline, improve documentation, and add missing safeguards.
Pro tips
- Tackle critical items first
- Review the checklist weekly
- Adapt phases to your ci cd context