By the end of this chapter you can

• Run a go/no-go review against a written checklist with pass or fail criteria.
• Choose a cutover strategy and explain why a pilot with a parallel week is the safe default.
• Plan the pilot week by week, with the evidence that allows each next step.
• Treat go-live as a managed change, with a way back to paper.

Google's site reliability engineers run every launch against a checklist, because launches fail on the items nobody thought to check, not on the clever parts ^[1]. A plant has the same habit for equipment: a new machine is commissioned against a list before production runs on it. Your platform deserves the same.

The checklist

Eight points come from the certification practical: they prove the platform. Four more prove the floor is ready. Every item is pass or fail; "nearly" is fail.

The go/no-go meeting

• Who: the plant manager (decides), the pilot line's supervisor, the platform owner, quality, and IT if any item touches the network or accounts.
• How long: 30 minutes. The checklist is sent the day before with evidence linked for each item.
• How: read each item, look at its evidence, mark it green or red. Any red is "not yet", with an owner and a new date.
• Record: the decision, the date, who decided, and the checklist as it stood, saved in the repository next to the runbook.

Cutting over

The default for a plant platform is the third: a pilot on one line and one shift, with paper kept for the first week. Double entry for a week is a real cost to the pilot crew, so keep that week short, thank them, and use what they find.

What "match" means

Each day of the parallel week, the supervisor compares the platform's numbers with the paper's: entries per shift, total downtime minutes, scrap counts, quality checks done. Agree the tolerance in advance (for example, the same number of entries and downtime totals within five minutes). A difference is not a failure; an unexplained difference is. Find out why before moving on.

The way back

Write down in advance what makes you go back to paper on the pilot line (for example, the platform unavailable for more than 30 minutes, or entries lost) and who decides. Going back is not a defeat; it is the paper fallback doing its job while the runbook is followed.

Exercise · Prepare and hold the go-live review60 minutes, including the meeting

You need: The checklist above, your repository, the runbook, the people listed

You will run the review that decides your go-live.

1. 1. Copy the twelve-point checklist into docs/go-live.md and link the evidence for each item (a CI run, a drill log entry, a tag, a screenshot).
2. 2. Choose the pilot line and shift with its supervisor, and write the five-week pilot plan with dates.
3. 3. Agree the parallel-week comparison and its tolerance, and the conditions for going back to paper.
4. 4. Send the checklist to the attendees the day before.
5. 5. Hold the 30-minute meeting; mark every item green or red; record the decision and who made it.
6. 6. If any item is red, give it an owner and a date, and book the next review.

Outcome: A recorded go or not-yet decision, with the evidence behind it and a pilot plan ready.

References

1. Google SRE book: Reliable product launches at scale. https://sre.google/sre-book/reliable-product-launches/
2. ISO 9001:2015 Quality management systems: Requirements. https://www.iso.org/standard/62085.html
3. OSHA 29 CFR 1910.119: Process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals. https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/regulations/standardnumber/1910/1910.119

By the end of this chapter you can

• Teach each screen at the line with the four-step TWI Job Instruction method.
• Run two weeks of close support with a floor walker, line champions and a daily review.
• Set up the support path from the floor to the platform owner and IT.
• Agree who is responsible and accountable for the platform in normal running.

Why people adopt, or do not

Change practitioners often describe what a person needs in order to change in five steps: awareness of why, desire to take part, knowledge of how, the ability to do it, and reinforcement so it sticks (Prosci's ADKAR model) ^[1]. The platform's design already helps with ability: big targets, few fields, works offline. The rest is up to you: explain why at the start-up meeting, train on shift, and show the floor that what they report gets fixed.

Training at the line

Training Within Industry (TWI) was developed in the United States during the Second World War to train new workers fast, and its Job Instruction method is still used in plants today ^[2]. It fits a new screen well: short, at the workstation, on shift.

1. Before: break each screen into its important steps and key points ("tap the line, then the reason; the timer starts on its own"). Print one card per station.
2. Prepare: at the tablet, say what is changing and why: "no more typing these up at the end of the shift; your supervisor sees it straight away."
3. Present: do it once, slowly, saying each step and key point.
4. Try out: they do it and tell you each step; correct gently at once; repeat until they can do it and explain it.
5. Follow up: come back during the shift, then the next day; tell them who the line champion is.

Hypercare: the first two weeks

• Week 1: a floor walker on every pilot shift, usually the platform owner or a champion, standing near the tablets for the first hour and checking back after breaks.
• A feedback channel the floor can reach in seconds: a whiteboard by the line, or a "something's wrong" button on the operator screen that records the screen, the time and a sentence.
• A ten-minute daily review with the supervisor: yesterday's comparison with paper, the questions raised, what was fixed. Small fixes go through the pipeline the same day and are announced at the next start-up meeting.
• Week 2: champions answer, the owner is on call. Hypercare ends when questions are down to one or two a day and the comparison matches.

Who to ask

Print the support path on the station card with names and phone numbers for each shift. The supervisor's question is always the same: can the floor carry on, on the platform or on paper? The platform owner's tool is the runbook from Session 18.

Ownership after go-live

When the project ends, the platform becomes part of how the plant runs. Write down who does what, with exactly one person accountable for each activity. A RACI chart does this on one page: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed.

Exercise · Train the pilot crew and set up support2 hours across a shift

You need: The pilot line's tablets, printed station cards, the support path with names, the runbook

You will train the pilot shift and put the support around it.

1. 1. Write one station card per screen: the important steps, the key points, and the support path with names and numbers.
2. 2. Choose and train a line champion for the pilot shift first.
3. 3. Train every operator and the supervisor on the pilot shift with the four steps, about five minutes each per screen; tick them off on a list.
4. 4. Put up the feedback whiteboard or switch on the feedback button, and tell the shift how to use it.
5. 5. Book the ten-minute daily review with the supervisor for the first two weeks.
6. 6. Write the RACI chart for normal running, agree it with the plant manager and save it next to the runbook.

Outcome: A trained pilot crew, a champion, a working feedback channel and a written split of ownership.

References

1. Prosci: The ADKAR model. https://www.prosci.com/methodology/adkar
2. TWI Institute: Training Within Industry. https://www.twi-institute.com/

By the end of this chapter you can

• Prepare the evidence for each of the practical's eight points.
• Hand in the practical and know what the reviewer will check.
• Know what the Foundation certificate needs: unit checks, homework, exam and practical.
• Plan the first 90 days after go-live.

The eight points and their evidence

Handing it in

1. On the course page, open the practical ("your deployed spine, checked against 8 points").
2. Hand in the deployed address, the repository link and two or three times that suit you for a live review. Give the reviewer read access to the repository through GitHub; never send passwords or keys.
3. Prepare demo logins for each role on the staging data, and share them through your company's password manager or a one-time link, not in the hand-in notes.
4. In the review, go point by point. If a point fails, the reviewer says what is missing; fix it and book another review.

The Foundation certificate

Homework 5, due at the end of this week, collects the last pieces: the OWASP suite results (Session 17), the runbook (Session 18), the IT approval package (Session 19) and the cost comparison (Session 20).

After go-live: 30, 60, 90 days

The next intent page starts the cycle again for the next problem, on the same spine: same accounts, same matrix, same pipeline, same runbook. That is what the spine was for.

Exercise · Book and pass the practical60 minutes to prepare, plus the review

You need: Your platform, repository, phone, drill log, IT package tag and the course page

You will gather the evidence for every point and book the live review.

1. 1. Copy the eight points into docs/practical.md and link the evidence for each.
2. 2. Run CI on main, the phone audit and the access tests; fix anything red.
3. 3. Do a fresh restore drill if the last one is more than a month old, and log it.
4. 4. Prepare demo logins per role on staging and test the end-to-end record yourself.
5. 5. Hand in the practical on the course page with your address, repository and times, and give the reviewer read access on GitHub.
6. 6. After the review, put the 30, 60 and 90-day reviews in the plant calendar.

Outcome: The practical handed in with evidence for every point, and the first 90 days planned.

References

1. OWASP Top 10. https://owasp.org/Top10/2025/
2. W3C: Understanding WCAG 2.2 success criterion 2.5.5, Target Size (Enhanced). https://www.w3.org/WAI/WCAG22/Understanding/target-size-enhanced.html
3. Google SRE book: Reliable product launches at scale. https://sre.google/sre-book/reliable-product-launches/

Choose one answer for each question, then submit. You will see the right answer and why for every question.

1. Who makes the go/no-go decision in the course's review?

AThe plant manager, against the written checklistBThe coding agentCWhoever finishes the buildDThe IT helpdesk

2. An item on the checklist is 'nearly' done. How is it marked?

AGreenBGreen with a noteCRedDSkipped

3. Which cutover strategy does the course recommend by default?

ABig bang on a MondayBA pilot on one line and shift, with paper kept for the first weekCGo live on all lines at nightDNo cutover: keep paper forever

4. In the parallel week, what counts as a failure?

AAny difference from paperBSlow typingCA question from an operatorDA difference nobody can explain

5. Your platform records data a process covered by OSHA's process safety management standard relies on. What else applies?

ANothingBYour plant's management-of-change procedureCA new IT package every weekDA big-bang cutover

6. What are the four steps of TWI Job Instruction?

APrepare, present, try out, follow upBPlan, do, check, actCRead, sign, file, forgetDExplain, test, grade, certify

7. What is a line champion?

AThe fastest operatorBAn IT technicianCA respected operator on each shift, trained first, who helps colleaguesDThe plant manager

8. When does hypercare end?

AAfter exactly one dayBWhen questions are down to one or two a day and the comparison matchesCWhen the owner is tiredDNever

9. In ADKAR, what comes before knowledge of how to change?

AReinforcementBAbilityCThe examDAwareness of why, and desire to take part

10. How many people are accountable for each activity in a RACI chart?

AExactly oneBTwoCEveryoneDNone

11. Which is acceptable evidence for 'deployed by someone other than you'?

AYour own mergeBA merged pull request by a second person and its deploymentCA screenshot of the Vercel logoDA promise

12. What does the Foundation certificate need besides the practical?

AOnly the practicalBA videoCEvery unit check passed, all homework accepted and the exam passedDAttendance only

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