The Two Things I Checked Before Every Release That Saved Me

I used to release and hope. Then I had a bad week where three things broke in production that I could have caught.

I added two checks. First, I use the product as a brand new user before anything ships. Fresh account, no context.

Second, I look at every change and ask what else uses this.

The checks take twenty minutes. They have caught something almost every time. Not everything. Just enough.

The bad week was the cost of learning this. I could have learned it from someone else telling me. But I did not listen until it happened to me.

What is the check you added after something broke? And how long did you skip it before it happened?