A release used to be scheduled, which meant it was batched, which meant it was large, which meant it was risky, which is why it was scheduled. Every part of that sentence causes the next one.
Breaking it needed one thing: rollback in a single command, reliably, without thinking. Reproducible builds and signed artifacts are not the point in themselves — they are what makes the undo trustworthy, and the trustworthy undo is what lets a release stop being an event.
The tell that it worked is that nobody announces releases internally any more. They just happen, and the changelog is written the same day, by the agent whose whole job is to write it down before it gets re-litigated in six months.
releasesprocess