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Define a Release Management Process to Deliver Lasting Value

Use your releases to drive business value and enhance the benefits delivered by your move to Agile.

Client Challenge

  • Your software platforms are a key enabler of your brand. When there are issues releasing, this brand suffers. Client confidence and satisfaction erode.
  • Your organization has invested significant capital in creating a culture product ownership, Agile, and DevOps. Yet the benefits from these investments are not yet fully realized.
  • Customers have more choices than ever when it comes to products and services. They require features and capabilities delivered quickly, consistently, and of sufficient quality otherwise they will look elsewhere.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

  • Eliminate the need for dedicating time for off-hour or weekend release activities. Use a release management framework for optimizing release-related tasks, making them predictable and of high quality.

Impact and Result

  • Develop a release management framework that efficiently and effectively orchestrates the different functions supporting a software’s release.
  • Use the release management framework and turn release-related activities into non-events.
  • Use principles of continuous delivery for converting your release processes from an overarching concern to a feature of a high-performing software practice.

Research & Tools

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1. Define a Release Management Process to Deliver Lasting Value Deck – A step-by-step document that walks you through how to develop and implement a release management framework that takes advantage of continuous delivery.

This presentation documents the Info-Tech approach to defining your application release management framework.

It includes the guidance from our research along with exercises that are specifically defined to help the user build a release management framework.

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Define a Release Management Process to Deliver Lasting Value – Phases 1-4

2. Define a Release Management Process to Deliver Lasting Value Template – Use this template to help you define, detail, and make a reality your strategy in support of your application release management framework.

The template gives the user a guide to the development of their application release management framework.

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Define a Release Management Process to Deliver Lasting Value Template

3. Define a Release Management Process to Deliver Lasting Value Workbook – This workbook documents the results of the exercises contained in the blueprint and offers the user a guide to development of their release management framework.

This workbook is designed to capture the results of your exercises from the Define a Release Management Process to Deliver Lasting Value blueprint.

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Define a Release Management Process to Deliver Lasting Value Workbook

Onsite Workshop: Define a Release Management Process to Deliver Lasting Value

Onsite workshops offer an easy way to accelerate your project. If you are unable to do the project yourself, and a Guided Implementation isn't enough, we offer low-cost onsite delivery of our project workshops. We take you through every phase of your project and ensure that you have a roadmap in place to complete your project successfully.

Do-It-Yourself Implementation

The slides in this Best Practice Blueprint will walk you step-by-step through every phase of your project with supporting tools and templates ready for you to use.

Project Accelerator Workshop

You can also use this Best Practice Blueprint to facilitate your own project accelerator workshop within your organization using the workshop slides and facilitation instructions provided in the Appendix.

Module 1: Define the Current Situation

The Purpose

  • Document the existing release management process and current pain points and use this to define the future-state framework.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Gain an understanding of the current process to confirm potential areas of opportunity.
  • Understand current pain points so that we can build resolution into the new process.

Activities Outputs
1.1 Identify current pain points with your release management process. If appropriate, rank them in order of most to least disruptive.
  • Understanding of pain points, their root causes, and ranking.
1.2 Use the statement of quality and current pain points (in addition to other considerations) and outline the guiding principles for your application release management framework.
  • Built guiding principles for application release management framework.
1.3 Brainstorm a set of metrics that will be used to assess the success of your aspired-to application release management framework.
  • Created set of metrics to measure the effectiveness of the application release management framework.

Module 2: Define Standard Release Criteria

The Purpose

  • Build sample release criteria, release contents, and standards for how it will be integrated in production.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Define a map to what success will look like once a new process is defined.
  • Develop standards that the new process must meet to ensure benefits are realized.

Activities Outputs
2.1 Using an example of a product known to the team, list its criteria for release.
  • Completed Workbook example highlighting releasability.
2.2 Using an example of a product known to the team, develop a list of features and tasks that are directly and indirectly important for either a real or hypothetical upcoming release.
  • Completed Workbook example defining and detailing feature and task selection.
2.3 Using an example of product known to the team, map out the process for its integration into the release-approved code in production. For each step in the process, think about how it satisfies guiding principles, releasability and principles of continuous anything.
  • Completed Workbook example defining and detailing the integration step.

Module 3: Define Acceptance and Deployment Standards

The Purpose

  • Define criteria for the critical acceptance and deployment phases of the release.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Ensure that releases will meet or exceed expectations and meet user quality standards.
  • Ensure release standards for no / low risk deployments are recognized and implemented.

Activities Outputs
3.1 Using an example of product known to the team, map out the process for its acceptance. For each step in the process, think about how it satisfies guiding principles, releasability and principles of continuous anything.
  • Completed Workbook example defining and detailing the acceptance step.
3.2 Using an example of product known to the team, map out the process for its deployment. For each step in the process, think about how it satisfies guiding principles, releasability and principles of continuous anything.
  • Completed Workbook example defining and detailing the deployment step.

Module 4: Implement the Strategy

The Purpose

  • Define your future application release management process and the plan to make the required changes to implement.

Key Benefits Achieved

  • Build a repeatable process that meets the standards defined in phases 2 and 3.
  • Ensure the pain points defined in Phase 1 are resolved.
  • Show how the new process will be implemented.

Activities Outputs
4.1 Develop a plan and roadmap to enhance the integration, acceptance, and deployment processes.
  • List of initiatives to reach the target state
  • Application release management implementation roadmap

Testimonials

Suneel is extremely knowledgeable and helped us shape a new process that will make a significant impact in making our delivery process more structured and easier for our staff. His suggestions were extremely actionable and relevant and showed his depth ...

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