Chapter 10. MSF Stabilize Track: Stabilizing a Solution

In this chapter:
Goal	249
Team Focus	250
Key Deliverables	250
Key Checkpoints	251
Getting to "Done"	256
Assessing Solution Stability	258
Testing Under Live Conditions	260
Success Criteria for a Stabilize Track	262

Stabilizing a solution is a holistic look beyond specified behavior. As solution elements are built according to what was specified, stabilization provides another level of assessment and refinement needed not only to ensure the integrated solution meets release criteria and will deploy and operate successfully in its target environment(s), but also to ensure a solution is highly usable according to users and meets the needs and expectations of the stakeholders. As such, it is the beginning of soliciting solution feedback beyond the extended project team. A Stabilize Track culminates with broad concurrence that a solution is ready for full deployment to the live production environment(s).

With such a diverse set of goals, many unique challenges are associated with a Stabilize Track. These challenges are around a team needing to perform structured testing (e.g., system testing) and subjective testing (e.g., usability testing) while continually assessing whether a solution meets release criteria. Compounding these challenges is the need to be able to predict accurately at every step when a solution will satisfy the various quality criteria.

As with a Build Track, a team can approach stabilization in numerous ways. Accordingly, this chapter discusses common activities and checkpoints associated with stabilizing a solution and its supporting collateral and services.