Back out plan

[Tpcboston]

If a change is not completed by the time you get to the back out time, but you expect that it will finish before the end of the change window, do you back it out or let it run

[Diarmid]

Here are a few answers any one of which you could make your policy:

1. do a quick risk assessment just before your back-out deadline.

2. describe the (technical) risk to the customer(s) and ask them to decide on the basis of the business risk just before your back-out deadline.

3. always back-out.

4. never back-out.

5. toss a coin.

I do not recommend either of the last two and number three is unlikely to be best on average, unless your risk understanding is poor. Most of the information for risk assessment should already be at hand because your change management process will have required it in order to manage the change.
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"Method goes far to prevent trouble in business: for it makes the task easy, hinders confusion, saves abundance of time, and instructs those that have business depending, both what to do and what to hope."
William Penn 1644-1718