2025-07-30

Schema expand/contract retros that actually stick

Ethan Roy · migrations · reliability

Expand phases should land behind feature flags whenever application code must dual-write. We capture screenshots of deployment logs beside DDL pull requests for auditability.

Contract phases only ship after two successful pay cycles in staging with synthetic load. That sounds heavy, but it prevents the “works on my laptop” trap during busy release windows.

Schema Migration Flightdeck alumni get a printable checklist they can laminate for war rooms—physical props oddly improve compliance more than wiki pages alone.