CI/CD · Ship safely, repeatedly
How should production approvals work?
Short answer
Production approval should be a scoped time-bound decision by someone with context, recorded in an audit trail. It complements automated checks and should not become a rubber stamp or a substitute for testing.
An approval is a control, so it needs a purpose. It might enforce separation of duties, require product sign-off for a customer-facing change, or ensure someone is available to watch a high-risk rollout.
- Define who can approve and what they are accountable for
- Keep approvals scoped to a specific artifact, environment and time window
- Show the approver the evidence: test results, diff, canary metrics and rollback plan
- Record approvals and bypasses for audit
- Avoid requiring approval for every low-risk change because it trains people to click through
- Use automated gates for what can be checked mechanically
environment:
name: production
approval:
required: true
reviewers: [release-owner]
timeout_minutes: 60Follow-ups you should expect
Interviewers use these to check whether the first answer was understanding or memorisation.
- 1When is a manual approval justified?
- 2How do you prevent approval fatigue?
- 3What should an approver see before approving?
- 4How do you audit who approved a deployment?
Say it in the interview
I use production approval only where a human decision adds real value, such as separation of duties or a high-risk launch. The approval is scoped to the artifact and environment, shows the evidence, and is recorded for audit. I automate everything that can be checked mechanically so people do not become rubber stamps. If reviewers cannot see the context, the approval is just blame transfer.
Use this as a model, not a script. Saying it in your own words is what makes it survive follow-up pressure.
Related questions
Reading is step one
Now say it out loud.
Understanding an answer and delivering it under pressure are different skills. Rehearse this topic in a live CI/CD mock interview and get scored feedback on depth, clarity and confidence.