Canary release of Checkout service

1) Why do I need transaction documentation?

• turns oral knowledge into repeatable procedures;
• Defines responsibility boundaries and escalation points
• serves as a source of evidence for compliance and safety;
• accelerates onboarding and reduces the risks of "narrow necks."

2) Document taxonomy (what's what)

Policy: intentions and framework ("what and why"). Example: Incident Management Policy.
Standard: mandatory minimum requirements ("how much"). Example: TLS certificate renewal dates.
SOP/Procedure: sequential steps ("as"). Example: Release with canary roll.

Runbook: step-by-step instructions for typical events (alerts/operations). Example: "API 5xx has grown - algorithm of actions."

Playbook: a set of scenario solutions with options and forks. Example: "Problems with a payment provider."

KB (Knowledge Base): answers, FAQs, tool help.
Checklist - a short list of required items before actions.
Record/Evidence: log of completed steps, screenshots/logs/signatures.

3) Principles of good documentation

Single Source of Truth (SSOT). Documents are not duplicated; to spray is to become obsolete.
Docs-as-Code. We store in Git, pass code-review, versions and diffuses are visible.
Actionable-first. At the beginning - a short card: when to start, who is the owner, what to do, completion criteria.
Atomicity and addressability. One document - one task/process.
Updatability. Clear owner and SLA updates (e.g. quarterly).
Observability. Links to dashboards/alerts/metrics are embedded.
Security-by-design. Sensitivity classification, secret masking, access control.

4) Document life cycle (Governance)

1. Initiation: application/ticket → document type → owner.
2. Draft: template, minimum examples, references to standards and SLO.
3. Review: technical (SRE/platform/safety), procedural (process manager).
4. Publication: in the master branch, marking the version/date, assigning the status (active/experimental/deprecated).
5. Training/Communication: announcement of changes, short training/demo.
6. Retrospective: based on the results of incidents/exercises, make changes.
7. Audit and archive: immutable trace (who/when changed), outdated versions in the archive.

5) SOP/Runbook structure (minimum)

1. Card: Name, ID, Version/Date, Owner, Responsible Roles, Related Policies/Standards.
2. When to apply: start conditions (alert/event/work window).
3. Preparation: rights/tools/data, risk assessment, communications.
4. Steps: numbered, with commands/screenshots/expected results.
5. Success/rollback criteria: clear SLI/SLO thresholds.
6. Escalation: who, when and how (channel, phone, provider).
7. Security/compliance: sensitive data, prohibitions, records of actions.
8. Post-actions: closing tickets, updating status, collecting evidence.
9. History of changes (changelog).

6) Style and design rules

Clear and short: 1 step - 1 action - 1 result.

Imperative: "Execute...," "Check...," "Roll back...."

Screenshots/commands: next to the step; commands - copied blocks; note the expected output.

Variability: branches "If A → step X, if B → step Y."

Cohort: where relevant - specify regions/providers/tenants.
Localization: key documents - at least 2 languages; Specify the status of translations.
Tags and search: service, component, provider, incident type, SLO, version.

7) Docs-as-Code and Tools

Storage: Git (main/feat/bugfix), PR review, required checks.
Format: Markdown/AsciiDoc; Charts in PlantUML/Mermaid JSON/YAML schemes.
Publication: static site (Docusaurus/MkDocs) + search.
Verification: CI-lint, link test, spelling, code block validators.
Integrations: ChatOps commands '/runbook open X ', displaying the latest version in alerts.
Links: CMDB/service catalog ↔ documentation ↔ dashboards.

8) Access control and classification

Классы: Public / Internal / Confidential / Restricted.
Separation: public instructions (general statuses) vs private (keys, commands, network diagrams).
Secrets: forbidden in the text; use secret storage and placeholders.
Audit - Read/change log for sensitive SOPs.

9) Communication with incidents and releases

In each alert - a link to the relevant runbook.
In each incident, a reference to the SOP used and a check of marks.
After RCA - update documents as CAPA action.
Before release - checklist: rollback readiness, degradation flags, provider contacts.

10) Minimum Required Set (MVP Dock Pack)

Incident Management and Escalation Policy (SEV/P levels, timings).
Monitoring standard and alert policy (burn rate, quorum).
SOP: release/rollback (canary/blue-green), database migrations (expand/contract).

Runbook: "High error-rate," "p99 growth," "Payment success drop," "TLS/DNS problem."

Playbook of external providers (payments/KYC/CDN): contacts, limits, folbacks.
Secret and access management policy.
RCA and Post-mortem templates.
Service Ownership Table (RACI) and dashboard map.

11) Documentation Quality Metrics (Document SLO)

Coverage:% of critical paths with SOP/Runbook.
Freshness: the share of documents is more recent than N days (for example, 90).
Usability:% of incidents closed according to runbook without escalation.
Findability: median search time for the desired document (by polls/logs).
Defect rate: number of comments per review/100 documents.
Adoption: percentage of alerts with correct runbook reference.
Compliance evidence rate:% of tasks with evidence attached.

12) Checklists

SOP Creation Checklist

• Owner and target audience defined.
• There are start conditions and stop criteria.
• Steps are reproducible, checked by another engineer.
• Built-in links to dashboards/alerts/tools.
• No secrets; there are placeholders and a vault link.
• Describes rollback and escalation.
• Added "after action" checklist.
• Version, date, changelog.

Review checklist

• Document corresponds to taxonomy (does not mix policies and steps).
• The language is simple, imperative, without ambiguity.
• Teams tested in "dry run "/stage.
• Risks and control points are indicated.
• Internal/Restricted is correct.
• Linters/validators passed in CI.

13) Localization, version and availability

Version: 'MAJOR. MINOR. PATCH ', where MAJOR breaks process compatibility.
Languages: Mark "source" language and translation status (up-to-date/needs review).
Form factor: mobile/night display for on-call, printed IC cards.

14) Dock automation (from practice)

Generating SOP frameworks from CLI templates ('doc new sop --service = payments').
Auto-insert links to the latest dashboards by service tags.
Overdue documents reminder bots (freshness SLA).
Export the Evidence package for the period (PDF/ZIP) for audit.
Associate incident tickets with the version of documents used in the solution.

15) Safety and compliance

Mandatory sections "Risks" and "Control measures."

Storing evidence in an unchanging archive with signatures/hashes.
Binding to regulations (e.g. notification/retention periods), explicit compliance owners.

16) Anti-patterns

"Wiki Maze" without owners and update dates.
Politicians mixed with teams - no one will find what to do.
Documents without context (no SLO, dashboards, escalations).
Screenshots with secrets or "click here" instructions without CLI alternatives.
"One guru knows how" - tribal knowledge without fixation.
Archived PDFs as the only version are not edited, not searched.

17) Templates (fragments)

SOP cap (example)

SOP-ID: OPS-REL-001

18) Embedding in daily work

Weekly doc-circles: analysis of 1-2 documents, updating, exchange of experience.
Game-days: SOP/Runbook reality check in simulations.
Onboarding: beginner's route through a set of mandatory documents + short quizzes.
Dock debt: backlog of improvements with prioritization (impact × effort).

19) The bottom line

Transaction documentation is not an archive, but a working tool. When it is managed as code, has owners, freshness metrics and is embedded in incidents, releases and training, the organization becomes predictable: fewer mistakes, faster reactions, understandable responsibility and readiness for audit. Write briefly, update regularly, automate the routine - and the documentation will start saving time and money.