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System Stabilization Playbook
A 4-phase playbook for stabilizing a fragile production system without a full rewrite.
steps
1
Phase 1: Safety net
Add monitoring, write characterization tests for critical paths, set up rollbacks. Never change a system you can't observe or undo.
2
Phase 2: Stop the bleeding
Fix the top 3 pain points — not the most interesting problems, the ones waking people up at 3am.
3
Phase 3: Targeted modernization
Small, reversible, independently deployable changes only. Avoid big-bang refactors.
4
Phase 4: Knowledge transfer
Updated architecture diagram, ADRs, runbook for top 5 operational scenarios. Goal: any senior dev handles incidents without the specialist.
Checklist
- Monitoring in place
- Characterization tests written
- Rollback confirmed
- Top 3 issues fixed
- Changes are small and reversible
- Changes independently deployable
- Architecture updated
- ADRs written
- Runbook created