@Kevinjohn Gallagher -

Wait, are you saying that we shouldn’t test software updates to mission critical systems now?

If you wait until a "release" before you begin testing, then of course you're going to have problems. Realistically, you should be under a continuous cycle of testing and development at the same time.

For example, why is your "dev" site not running trunk? You'd get at least a month or two head start on any testing and new development for upcoming changes, and by the time release rolled around, you'd be already tested and up and running. All it would take would be a push to the test system, a final check, and you're ready to roll it out within a day of release.

It's not that testing is bad, it's that you're starting to test it too late. IMO, of course.