Release Plan for Agile Projects
A Release Plan supports Product Development while aiding in the launch of a successful Product. The plan consists of a high-level timetable for releasing a set of Product Requirement, and the plan also helps to provide a focus for the Development Team. The plan should also include a minimum set of features that will be released to the market (also referred to as the Minimum Viable Product) and is fully owned by the Product Owner.
Developing a Release Plan
The the following steps can be for creating a Product Release Plan:
- Develop a release goal and set a release date
- Select highest priority requirements
- Refine requirement estimates and identify team velocity
- Plan release sprints
- Finalise release scope
Releases may be planned for varying time periods within an Agile project, however, the development team may find planning and organization easier to achieve if the release schedule was for fixed time periods. Releasing the Product on a scheduled basis such as at the end of each quarter, or maybe on a more regular basis such as monthly, weekly or even daily, achieves a quick to market benefit for new advances within the software. Releasing the product should follow achieving the Minimum Viable Product, therefore ensuring adding to the business value of the product.
Product Roadmap Planning
Another responsibility of the Product Owner is Forming the Product Roadmap, where the roadmap should support the Product Vision Statement. Breaking down product requirements then enables a high-level timetable of features to be established. This high-level timetable is the Release Plan and this should, therefore, include the highest priority requirements for the product release. The Release Plan then facilitates dialogue between the Scrum Team and the Product Stakeholders because of the visibility and frankness it creates.
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