Overview
Architecture approval confirms that a proposed solution aligns with agreed architecture principles and technical standards. Production readiness goes further. It checks whether the implemented solution can operate reliably, securely and with clear ownership.
An approved design is a milestone, not a go live decision.
What needs to happen before production?
1. Implementation and testing
Confirm that the solution meets functional and non-functional requirements, including performance, resilience and integration behaviour.
2. Security and controls
Verify access permissions, data protection, audit logging and required security controls in the target environment.
3. Monitoring and recovery
Ensure that failures can be detected, investigated and recovered from. Validate deployment and rollback procedures where appropriate.
4. Operational readiness
Confirm support arrangements, escalation paths, runbooks, business readiness and ownership after go live.
5. Release decision
Review outstanding risks, readiness evidence and any architecture conditions. The authorised stakeholders must make the go or no go decision.
The delivery perspective
The solution architect helps maintain design integrity and address architecture conditions. The delivery lead coordinates dependencies, readiness activities, risks and evidence across engineering, testing, security, business and operations.
Production readiness should be planned from the beginning, not left until the final days before release.
The bigger lesson
Architecture approval confirms that the design is acceptable. Production readiness establishes whether the solution is prepared for live operation.