Conduct Release Planning

Now that the epics have been defined and prioritized, the Release Plan schedule can be drawn up. The Scrum Master convenes the Release Planning Meeting and ensures that the (draft) Schedule is produced. They also assist in determining the length in a number of days of a sprint for this project. At the start of the project, the Release Plan will be vague, with a low confidence level, because the requirements are not clearly understood by the team or the stakeholders themselves at this stage. With each iteration, the Plan gets updated and more precise. Where the project is large, there will need to be coordination of releases and inter-team communication to keep product progress synchronized.

The History of Agile For Scrum Masters

Prior to the 1990’s software development was very slow, often taking years to complete development and release the product to market. The industry was following a very formal approach for products and software development, with a lot of documentation, procedures, and approvals. There was no space for changes throughout the way, there was no time for it, which means no time to adapt when needed. Although the development was very slow, the business needs were not. The business was changing really fast but the development couldn’t follow its velocity, which resulted in many projects being canceled, products coming to market with outdated technology. Within this scenario, some people started thinking in a different way of developing products to be faster and in accordance with the business needs: that’s when Agile was conceived.

Why Agile?

While Agile is sometimes thought of as a software development project management approach, it isn’t just for these types of technology-centric companies. Instead, most business organizations can benefit from using Agile as well. Scrum Masters working in non-technology sectors of business can still benefit from getting companies to switch to Agile.

Agile is great for companies that want to respond quickly and efficiently to opportunities, threats, and events that affect their company. With the landscape of business ever-changing, remaining flexible and responding efficiently to events can keep a company competitive.  Since teams work collaboratively and make decisions quickly, utilizing an agile approach to business can be very effective in staying ahead of the competition.

59 Seconds Training Video

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Our Book Recommendations

We found these books great for finding out more information on Agile Scrum:

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