Value Statement

Branching day is a critical but complex process that spans 14 teams and more than 73 repositories across the ACM/MCE ecosystem. While we already have a fair amount of automation in place, it isn’t always obvious what is fully automated, what still requires human intervention, and where the biggest pain points are.

This spike is about stepping back and answering three simple questions:

1. What parts of branching day are already automated?

1. Where are the gaps or weak spots?

1. What should we prioritize next to make branching day faster, safer, and less stressful?

By clearly documenting this, we make the process more reliable, shorten branching day overall, and give teams more confidence going into each release.

Definition of Done for Engineering Story Owner (Checklist)

• Current automation is documented and validated.

• Manual vs automated work is clearly identified.

• Gaps are prioritized with clear next steps.
• Recommendations are actionable and phased.