Release Planning

Agile projects depend on the development of a refined feature backlog to support the prioritization of features that have the greatest value to stakeholders and end users. Agile principles centre on delivering a minimally viable product (MVP) that aligns with the business vision of a product. The Product Owner is the leader in the development of a refined backlog, aligning the feature delivery to the stakeholder and focusing the team on results.

Release planning serves as a road-map for delivery and monitoring progress. Release planning is used to line up the delivery of features for the next three to twelve sprints. Inputs to the release planning process include:

 Feature backlog
 Dependencies and Risks
 Planning Metrics and
 Estimates of Scrum team velocity.

Releases can be planned by feature prioritization, driven by dates or a combination including milestones. The product owner has responsibility for establishing the goals of a release and the delivery date. It is important to remember that the team is focused on delivering the minimally viable product. The features included are only those that are needed to successfully deliver a usable product to the market.

Recommended Further Reading

The following materials may assist you in order to get the most out of this course: