“We don’t deploy on Fridays.”

You’ll hear this in many (seriously, many) IT departments like it’s written in stone.

As if, come Friday afternoon, the code turns evil, the tests rebel, and the servers decide they’ve worked enough for the week.

But let’s be honest: if you avoid Friday deploys out of fear, the problem isn’t the day… it’s your process.

Sure, “no deploy on Friday” makes sense if your setup is a house of cards that collapses whenever you touch it. But in that case, maybe it’s time to ask why you’re so scared of production instead of blaming the calendar.

What we should really avoid is not Friday deploys — it’s working in environments so fragile that hitting “deploy” feels like defusing a bomb while keeping Slack open “just in case.”

Deploy without anxiety. That’s the goal. And if we’re not there yet, at least let’s not use catchphrases as an excuse to stay broken.

😱 Why you should stop treating this phrase like gospel

🚧 It fuels a culture of fear

Saying “no deploy on Friday” is like installing a fire alarm because you’re pretty sure something’s going to burn.

If your team won’t push changes on a Friday, maybe that’s because… they don’t trust their own work.

And that’s not healthy — not for the code, the team, or the poor soul going into the weekend with Slack notifications on “just in case.”

🧪 It blocks continuous improvement

If you’re only deploying when the planets align, you’re just accumulating a ton of changes every time you hit “deploy.”

And that’s exactly the opposite of what continuous deployment should be: small, frequent, and uneventful.

Deploy one thing and it breaks production? Ouch. Deploy 20 things and don’t know what broke it? That’s trauma.

🕳️ It’s an excuse not to fix the real problems

“No deploy on Friday” sounds responsible. But often, it’s just a polite way to say:

“Our version control is chaos, there’s zero monitoring, no testing, and the last person who touched production now lives in another country.”

The problem isn’t Friday. It’s that if something breaks, you won’t notice in time, and even if you do… you won’t know how to fix it without prayer.

✅ Want to forget about the Friday curse? Here’s what you actually need

Because this isn’t about being brave. It’s about being ready.

If you want to deploy on a Friday (or at 3 AM on a Sunday, if you’re that kind of soul), you’d better have your house in order:

🧪 Tests you actually trust

Automated if possible, of course. But don’t get obsessed from day one.

If you’re a small team, setting up a full test suite may feel like climbing Everest.

But at least build a simple protocol to cover your critical paths — the stuff that sells the most, breaks the most, or hurts the most if it fails.

Add a few tests (manual or automated) for the thing you’re deploying, and boom: you’ve got something decent.

🚀 A CI/CD pipeline that’s reliable (and boring)

The best deploy is the one you don’t even notice. No rituals, no SSH, no “now log in and pray” steps.

If your pipeline hangs every now and then — fix that before worrying about which day of the week you hit deploy.

📦 Small, frequent, and controlled deployments

Been three weeks without deploying? Planning to push 87 commits, 5 database migrations, and a “harmless” refactor?

Then it’s not about Friday. You just shouldn’t be deploying. Period.

Do frequent, one-at-a-time deploys. No change buffets.

Got a huge new feature? Split it. Deploy parts that aren’t live yet. Validate in stages.

Remember this golden rule: If something breaks and you only deployed one thing — you know where to look. If you deployed fifty — good luck.

🤔 When it does make sense not to deploy on a Friday

Let’s be clear: we’re not reckless. Sometimes saying “let’s wait until Monday” is just smart, not cowardly.

🧩 Big, risky, or critical changes

Changing payment systems? Launching a big database migration?

Make sure that if something goes wrong, you can reach whoever you need — internal or external.
Because often the problem isn’t your code — it’s that the provider’s support closes at 2 PM.

That goes for Fridays. And for any other day.

📅 When business context says “better wait”

Got a massive campaign kicking off Saturday? Your peak traffic is over the weekend?

Then sure — waiting makes sense.

But let that be a strategic, thoughtful decision. Not just “because Friday gives us the creeps.”

🎬 Conclusion: Friday isn’t the problem

“No deploy on Friday” shouldn’t be a sacred rule. It should be a signal that something in your process needs attention.

If Friday deploys make you nervous, don’t check the calendar. Check your pipeline, your tests, your backups, your rollback strategy.

Because the real goal isn’t avoiding Friday problems. It’s being confident in production any day of the week.

Yes, there will be exceptions. But the important thing is that the decision comes from logic, not superstition.

So, now you know:

Deploy whenever you want. Just don’t let your hand shake.

And if it does… fix that first. Because Friday will come back. Every week. 🫠