How we roll out a major WordPress update without breaking your site
WordPress ships two kinds of update, and they deserve different treatment.
Minor versus major
Minor releases contain security and bug fixes. By default WordPress installs these automatically, and we recommend leaving that switched on. The risk of a fix breaking something is far smaller than the risk of leaving a known flaw open.
Major releases add features and change how parts of the editor and admin work. These are the ones where a plugin or a piece of custom code can stop behaving, so they should not be applied blindly.
Our rollout process
1. Read before touching anything
Each major release is published alongside developer notes that explain what has changed. We read these first and flag anything that touches code we have written for clients.
2. Wait a short while
We do not update client sites on release day. Giving a new version a little time lets plugin authors ship compatibility fixes and lets any early problems surface elsewhere.
3. Staging first
Every site is copied to a staging environment and updated there. We update plugins and the theme at the same time, because that is the combination that will exist in production.
4. Test what matters
Not every page, but every important journey: contact forms, checkout, member logins, search, and anything custom. We also check the error log, since some problems do not show on screen.
5. Backup, then update live
A fresh backup is taken immediately before the live update, so there is always a known-good point to return to.
6. Watch afterwards
We keep a close eye on error logs and uptime for the following days. Some issues only show up under real traffic.
Why not just turn on auto-updates for everything?
For a simple site with a handful of well-maintained plugins, full auto-updates can be perfectly reasonable. For a site that takes payments, holds member data or runs custom functionality, an unattended major update is a gamble with your revenue.
The right answer depends on the site. That judgement, applied site by site, is most of what maintenance actually is.