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11 - Checklists and Runbooks (Operate Like an SME)

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Project startup checklist

  • Create project from standard template.
  • Create and activate .venv.
  • Install dependencies.
  • Configure pyproject.toml.
  • Add initial tests.
  • Add logging setup.
  • Add README run instructions.
  • Commit baseline.

Pre-run checklist

  • Confirm input path and format.
  • Confirm output path does not overwrite critical data.
  • Confirm credentials are loaded from secure source.
  • Confirm DB/API connectivity tests pass.
  • Confirm dry-run or small-sample run completed.

Post-run validation checklist

  • Logs contain start/end timestamps.
  • Row/file counts match expectations.
  • Reject file generated and reviewed.
  • Output artifacts versioned and discoverable.
  • Data freshness timestamps updated.

Incident triage checklist

  • Capture exact error message and stack trace.
  • Classify impact (none, degraded, outage).
  • Pause unsafe writes if integrity is at risk.
  • Identify blast radius (files/tables/users).
  • Roll forward or rollback with documented action.
  • Add permanent prevention check after incident.

Release and handoff checklist

  • ruff check . passes.
  • black . applied.
  • pytest passes.
  • End-to-end sample run documented.
  • Versioned artifact prepared.
  • Runbook updated.
  • Support owner and escalation path assigned.

Dashboard UX checklist (non-technical users)

  • Filters are obvious and labeled in plain language.
  • Refresh timestamp is visible.
  • Empty-state messages are actionable.
  • Export path is obvious.
  • Performance is acceptable on common queries.

SME conversation prep checklist

Use before architecture reviews with experienced engineers: - [ ] Can explain your data flow in under 2 minutes. - [ ] Can justify staging vs reporting schema design. - [ ] Can explain idempotency strategy. - [ ] Can explain API data cache strategy. - [ ] Can explain security posture for credentials and access. - [ ] Can explain dashboard fallback behavior during outages.

Screenshot and checkpoint checklist

  • Capture one setup screenshot per major milestone.
  • Capture one failure screenshot and one fix screenshot per week.
  • Write 3 checkpoint reflections after each study session:
  • what I changed,
  • what broke,
  • what I fixed.
  • Keep screenshots and notes organized by phase and date.
  • Use 12_SCREENSHOT_CHECKPOINTS.md as the standard template.

Primary Sources

Optional Resources

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