What is one role of release gates in managing deployments?

Release gates play a crucial role in managing deployments by serving as checkpoints that determine whether specific conditions are met before a deployment proceeds to the next stage. These gates are particularly valuable in ensuring that the environment is adequately prepared, and that essential criteria such as compliance, quality, or even external approval are satisfied before allowing the deployment to continue.

This mechanism helps organizations maintain a high level of control over their deployment processes, reducing the risk of issues arising from premature releases. By enforcing conditions, such as successful tests, monitoring data, or manual approvals, release gates contribute to the reliability and stability of the deployed software, ultimately leading to better outcomes in production environments. Thus, the essence of release gates is to facilitate a more systematic and risk-aware deployment strategy, ensuring that only thoroughly vetted changes are pushed to users.