Holiday Code Freezes

In light of the holiday season, we are notifying our clients of upcoming office closures and code freezes.

Office Closures:

  • Thursday, November 23rd and Friday, November 24th, 2023 
  • Monday, December 25th and Tuesday, December 26th, 2023
  • Monday, January 1st, 2024

Code Freezes:

  • Monday, November 21 - Friday, November 25
  • Monday, December 21 - Monday, January 1

What is a code freeze?

A code freeze means we will not deploy production code during the identified period, to avoid unexpected incidents with our clients’ websites. It is designed to prevent the addition of bugs and new features before a busy period where we are operating on a minimal crew. We value spending time with our loved ones during the holidays and this allows us to still serve our clients but mitigate any unforeseen issues. 

What should I do?

While our code freezes do not require any effort on our clients’ part, we ask for your help by working with your Strategic Account Manager to plan any significant website improvements, content changes, or promotions before the holidays.

What if there's an emergency?

Please note, if an emergency occurs on our observed holidays or after hours, we can be contacted via August Ash After Hours Support. Any billable work performed by August Ash after hours will be invoiced at the increased holiday support rate.

A few helpful things to consider before our code freeze periods hit are:

  • Double-check that hosting is paid for and you have a plan for handling increased holiday web traffic
  • Verify any domains or SSL certificates are not going to expire during the holidays
  • Consider applying any outstanding security fixes
  • Plan for any sales or promotions that require our team’s help to implement
  • Review your content and product catalog (if applicable) to make sure it is still relevant
  • Plan for any last-minute SEO improvements
  • Review how well your website runs on mobile devices
  • Consider working with our team to implement a plan for handling a DDoS attack so your website service isn’t interrupted during the holidays

If you are looking to find success this holiday season, consider working with our team and embracing this best practice. Connect with your Strategic Account Manager to learn more or to ask questions about how we can help your business ahead of the upcoming holiday season.

Happy Holidays!