A Complete Guide to Agile Release Planning

1. What is The Agile Release Planning

The agile release planning is the product management approach which considers the incomprehensible and workable nature of software development. It is planning to generate or make a plan for the product increment. This process has to do after 2-3 months. Instead of developing the whole project again, Agile software makes a change in the development plan.

The agile release planning breaks down the cycle of the developmental process into different phases that are called release. However, the release can set apart with the period to work on the limited phase or stage. The agile release plan helps make a plan about when to release the new features and how to deliver them to them.

1.1 What is Agile Release Planning

The agile release planning consists of initial release plan and continuous plan.

Initial Release Plan

Every party and stakeholder rarely satisfies the preliminary release plan due to insufficient time or functionality. However, if you start working on an agile release plan, then take has to bear the hard truths and develop software according to the lacking.

However, according to agile, the variable that responds to the adjustment is scope and deadline. Furthermore, large teams tend to produce a low-quality system, and a small team delivers a high-quality system according to the research. Don't speed up the process reach at every level step by step to get success?

Continuous Release Plan

It is quite understood that the first release plan could be rough. However, it tells us about the payment we get in return for the investment. In case if the initial release plan comes up with the lowest ROI, then it is good to cancel the project right away instead of wasting money and time on it.

In agile projects, one has to make the plan continuously and correct the course to move forward. Make sure to correct according to the maximum feedbacks. Furthermore, it takes Velocity and time by the team to settle down according to the project requirements.

During the whole process, the staff could get replaces, features changed, and the release plan could be revising. During the continuous release plan, new things added or subtracted according to the market requirements.

Components of Product Release Chart

The release map will be different for every organization and product. However, the general elements that include in it are as follows:

• The suggested release for the project;
• The strategy included in each release;
• Repetition later for release;
• Plans for each repetition;
• The development of features in the iterations;
• The individual work required to deliver a feature.

Who is Included in the Agile Releasing Plan Team?

The agile releasing plan team must include:

• Scrum Master is the facilitator for the group;
• A product owner who represents the product backlog general ideas or views;
• The agile team that delivers the insights for technical possibility;
• Stakeholders, including customers, managers, and experts, are related to the subject that helps make decisions before release.

Source:Mpug

1.2 The Process of Agile Release Planning

Following are the data that must be included in the planning:

What is Planning Data

The release map will be different for every organization and product. However, the general elements that include in it are as follows:

• Previous release planning results;
• Comment of stakeholders about the plan, product, or deadlines;
• An action plan that the company follows in the previous plan;
• The defects that one has to consider;
• Features of the product;
• Velocity calculated by the previous releases;
• Personal calendars;
• Organizational calenders;
• Other team inputs.

Planning Conditions

Following are the requirements of planning:

• The product backlog directed by the owner. Mostly it includes 4-10 features that the owner thinks should be considered in planning;
• Incredible vision;
• The objective of the market and business;
• The defects that one has to consider;
• Accept the backlog required in the new product;
• The team input about any technical challenges or capabilities.

Materials Need For Release Planning

Following are the items required for it:

• Purpose or vision;
• Agenda;
• Whiteboards and markers;
• Flip charts;
• Tools for the meeting;
• Projector;
• Planning data.

Release Planning Output

Here is the output you'll get in return for release planning:

• Commitments;
• Release plan;
• Issues;
• Concerns;
• Appreciation;
• Assumptions and dependencies;
• The suggestion must be considered to improve the next release plan.

Source:Visual Paradigm

2. How to Make The Agile Release Planning

The general steps for creating a perfect agile release planning is given as below. There is an easier way to make agile release planning in EdrawMax, only 3 steps for creating a perfect one.

2.1 How to Create Agile Release Planning in General

Here are the necessary steps that you need to follow to make the agile release plan.

• Step 1

First of all, you need to explain your vision and point of view, wihch is the most crucial step in the planning process. One has to give their perspective about products that will help decide where to put effort and which feature should be prioritized.

Before determining the vision don't forget to contact the shareholders to confirm if the vision is according to the market and the organization's objective.

• Step 2

The second step is to check the lacking of the product and review the backlog. Use the product vision and stakeholder input to find the product priorities and make the stories for customers. However, the user stories mainly depend on the features of the product.

In this step, the manager must create an outline for the agile release plan, which includes the goals for releasing a product, target date, and user story ranks.

• Step 3

Once you outlined the product vision and the map according to which you'll move step by step, then move forward to gather the stakeholder for sacrum release planning meeting in which they review the constructed plan and add or remove the thing required. Furthermore, they'll look towards the product deliverables and align them all.

• Step 4

Final the details and send the product for the last adjustments. Stakeholders must check the shared calendar for the product. However, the sacrum release plan will help the team to stick to the goal. Agile release plans have a high impact on the success of a project or product. That's why it is vital to probed timeline and how the process flows detail to all the stakeholders.

2.2 How to Create Agile Release Planning in EdrawMax

EdrawMax is an advanced all-in-one diagramming tool, which is helpful for creating multiple diagrams, including agile release planning diagram. It is really simple to create one in 3 steps.

• Step 1

Open EdrawMax and select a template from Flowchart or Management;


Source:EdrawMax
• Step 2

Choose a template from templates galley, then keep editing until you are satisfied.


Source:EdrawMax
• Step 3

Once finished your agile release planning, you can export it in multiple formats.


Source:EdrawMax

3. Tips for Agile Release Planning

What Does A Basic Agenda Include in The Meeting

The planning agenda contains the following actions:

• Review the vision and product roadmap. Make sure that everyone understands the goal of the product and the target to achieve;
• Stakeholders must review the technical details required for the product release. Furthermore, they should check the architecture as well. However, discuss any latest information that has a negative or positive impact on the release;
• Check the estimated speed according to the previous experience along with the iteration schedule. Make points of every user's story to check how long it takes to complete iteration by the team;
• Mention the acceptance criteria based on the user's stories.

Schedule

The agenda of the agile releasing plan includes:

• Welcome ceremony;
• Show the picture of the product to get the vision and make a roadmap;
• Discuss the previous release pros and cons;
• Select the theme and name for the release;
• Make a schedule for release;
• Check the concerns and mention them.

Check the definition of done and review it properly.

• Make changes in it according to the technology and skills;
• Show the product backlog features and user stories that should be considered in the current release;
• Enlist the new concern and the issues of the product;
• Move to the next level of the plan when the whole team includes stakeholders, the delivery team and product owner review it as the best;
• Schedule the action items and thing feature that needs to be resolved;
• Divide the action items among the person who is responsible for it.

4. Key Takeaways

In this article, we've discussed the agile release planning in detail. What is agile release planning, how it helps us in project management. It is highly recommended to use EdrawMax to create your agile release planning with ease!