Engineering Fundamentals Checklist

This checklist is excerpted from Microsoft and is very useful for reference.

Source Control

• The default target branch is locked.
• Merges are done through PRs.
• PRs reference related work items.
• Commit history is consistent and commit messages are informative (what, why).
• Consistent branch naming conventions.
• Clear documentation of repository structure.
• Secrets are not part of the commit history or made public. (see Credential scanning)
• Public repositories follow the OSS guidelines, see Required files in default branch for public repositories.

Work Item Tracking

• All items are tracked in AzDevOps (or similar).
• The board is organized (swim lanes, feature tags, technology tags).

Testing

• Unit tests cover the majority of all components (>90% if possible).
• Integration tests run to test the solution e2e.

CI/CD

• Project runs CI with automated build and test on each PR.
• Project uses CD to manage deployments to a replica environment before PRs are merged.
• Main branch is always shippable.

Security

• Access is only granted on an as-needed basis
• Secrets are stored in secured locations and not checked in to code
• Data is encrypted in transit (and if necessary at rest) and passwords are hashed
• Is the system split into logical segments with separation of concerns? This helps limiting security vulnerabilities.

Observability

• Significant business and functional events are tracked and related metrics collected.
• Application faults and errors are logged.
• Health of the system is monitored.
• The client and server side observability data can be differentiated.
• Logging configuration can be modified without code changes (eg: verbose mode).
• Incoming tracing context is propagated to allow for production issue debugging purposes.
• GDPR compliance is ensured regarding PII (Personally Identifiable Information).

Agile/Scrum

• Process Lead (fixed/rotating) runs the daily standup
• The agile process is clearly defined within team.
• The Dev Lead (+ PO/Others) are responsible for backlog management and refinement.
• A working agreement is established between team members and customer.

Design Reviews

• Process for conducting design reviews is included in the Working Agreement.
• Design reviews for each major component of the solution are carried out and documented, including alternatives.
• Stories and/or PRs link to the design document.
• Each user story includes a task for design review by default, which is assigned or removed during sprint planning.
• Project advisors are invited to design reviews or asked to give feedback to the design decisions captured in documentation.
• Discover all the reviews that the customer's processes require and plan for them.
• Clear non-functional requirements captured (see Non-Functional Requirements Guidance)

Code Reviews

• There is a clear agreement in the team as to function of code reviews.
• The team has a code review checklist or established process.
• A minimum number of reviewers (usually 2) for a PR merge is enforced by policy.
• Linters/Code Analyzers, unit tests and successful builds for PR merges are set up.
• There is a process to enforce a quick review turnaround.

Retrospectives

• Retrospectives are conducted each week/at the end of each sprint.
• The team identifies 1-3 proposed experiments to try each week/sprint to improve the process.
• Experiments have owners and are added to project backlog.
• The team conducts longer retrospective for Milestones and project completion.

Engineering Feedback

• The team submits feedback on business and technical blockers that prevent project success
• Suggestions for improvements are incorporated in the solution
• Feedback is detailed and repeatable

Developer Experience (DevEx)

Developers on the team can:

• Build/Compile source to verify it is free of syntax errors and compiles.
• Execute all automated tests (unit, e2e, etc).
• Start/Launch end-to-end to simulate execution in a deployed environment.
• Attach a debugger to started solution or running automated tests, set breakpoints, step through code, and inspect variables.
• Automatically install dependencies by pressing F5 (or equivalent) in their IDE.
• Use local dev configuration values (i.e. .env, appsettings.development.json).