Release management for documents, not code
Forms borrow the vocabulary of software releases and then break the parts that make them work. Here is what a release has to record.
A release is a manifest, not a copy
Copying a folder to production is not a release, because it cannot be reproduced and cannot be reversed precisely. A release names exact revision digests for every asset it contains, plus the renderer, the validation policy and the approvals.
The gate belongs to validation, not to a person
If shipping depends on someone remembering to check, it will ship unchecked eventually. Critical findings should hold the gate shut, with waivers as the explicit, recorded exception.
Rollback has to be cheaper than fixing forward
During a renewal run or a statutory deadline, the right move is almost always to go back. If rollback means a restore, a redeploy and a phone call, your team will try to fix forward under pressure instead.
Environments are for proving, not for staging copies
Promote the same manifest through environments rather than rebuilding per environment. If staging and production build separately, staging has proved nothing.