Automation readiness gates

Readiness gates are the go/no-go mechanism that determines whether automation is being introduced into a controlled, understood environment versus one where issues only become visible when something breaks in production. Any service/system that enters the automation intake process should be evaluated against a defined, consistent set of criteria before a single automated renewal runs in production.

This means defining, in advance, the specific evidence required to pass each gate. The evidence should consist of documented, verifiable artifacts: a named owner with a tested escalation path, confirmed and reachable install locations, a deployment method that’s been executed successfully and repeatably, appropriate post-deployment validation methods, a tested rollback path for higher-criticality services. Monitoring should be established and active before the first automation runs.

This also means defining, in advance, what happens when a gate isn’t satisfied. Each type of gate failure requires a specific remediation path, which may include actions such as inventory cleanup, deployment engineering, profile redesign, connector preparation, monitoring configuration, or exception review. The default disposition for a gate failure is remediation, not a workaround or verbal commitment to fix it later, and not an exception that becomes permanent. Services that are unable to meet the gates aren’t ready for automation. Discipline is required in enforcing that conclusion consistently, even when there's schedule pressure to move faster.

The intake process that results from this work should feel rigorous, because it is. The upside of that rigor is an automation program where failures are rare, recoverable, and understood.

Some issues should be considered absolute blockers to automation where no compensating control makes automation safe until the underlying condition is resolved.