> why shouldn't they be able to celebrate it being "over"? Because it's not nearly over. In my experience, going into production is the most worrisome phase. F

> why shouldn't they be able to celebrate it being "over"? Because it's not nearly over. In my experience, going into production is the most worrisome phase. For one thing, no matter how much you test and prepare, you just never know what's going to happen. For another, there are the initial bugs and user confusion that come with any new deployment, and the rush to respond to them effectively and quickly in order to maintain user confidence in the new system. And in the bank's situation we're not talking about an update, but an entirely new thing made from whole cloth (or code), if I understand correctly. The outcome of the project, the goal, isn't to press the big red 'release' button, it's a stable, functioning system that meets the project specifications. When you have that, then you are done and it's time to celebrate. And exhale.