Agile Strategy for Release Management

In general, an Agile strategy makes it possible for better release planning by incorporating planning discipline, which assists to concentrate on the highest possible value job, and additionally, design discipline, which helps to recognize and fix troubles early, giving extra predictability.

Moreover, in larger development groups which have formerly been working making use of more standard, waterfall approaches, information silos are frequently experienced. Agile working is essential to breaking down these silos, but it doesn't happen overnight. One group doesn't constantly recognize what the additional groups are doing; one group's processes might be incredibly beneficial to another, but there is lack of communication. If expertise and processes are not documented thoroughly, it can lead to complications as well as inadequacy.

infographic for Agile Strategy for Release Management, Development design requirements maintenance debugging testing software

You may be familiar with the suggestion of a list for some operations. As Atul Gawande's Checklist Statement of belief states, a formal launch process (like several other tasks in the software program advancement world) provides programmers with a possibility to execute this method. A release procedure list should be kept in a shared place, ideally in the form of a collaborative wiki such as Confluence.

By teaming up on this important document, every member has access to the officially defined release process. This should bring openness and allow the entire team to have real-time access to what is going on during the launch, what actions have been completed, and by whom.

By considering this, stakeholders can choose 'GO' vs. 'NOGO,' based upon the result of the actions. For example, if a stress test fails in an examination atmosphere, based on the occasion the project manager may decide to call off the manufacturing launch.

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Release on the most appropriate day

It is common practice to avoid launching applications during the busiest times that end-users use the applications or before a weekend. A common release time is on Thursdays and in between noon to the close of the organization.

If the workweek is Monday to Friday, it is not a great concept to launch on a Friday. If something breaks down after the release, there will not be enough time to repair it until Monday (unless people want to work during the weekend break). That's why it is more convenient to do releases on Thursday; This way, one would have Friday to check the brand-new release after being deployed, to deal with any kind of issues or to do a rollback if necessary.

One more important thing to know is the time zone of where most of your customers are in. One should release during a low website traffic period to minimize the potential damages if something fails. In some cases, this can be complicated when your user-base is spread out throughout the whole world, however, it's always best to do some research and choose the most effective time.

Back-up your data source before a brand-new release

It is beneficial to perform periodical backups of your database. It is highly suggested to include a step into the release procedure to execute a backup before starting the release.

Staged Rollouts

When a publisher introduces a brand-new feature, it could take days or perhaps weeks, for that attribute to be available to all end-users. That's because numerous companies make use of staged rollouts.

Facebook has been doing this for a very long time. It examines a new attribute on five or 10 percent of its users, slowly boosting it until they reach 100 percent of the user base. Throughout the staged rollout phase, they look very closely at customer comments and crash records. With this information, they can then hold off the launch or take care of mistakes before they influence customers.

Continuous Integration

Continuous Integration (CI) is a technique worth accepting for lots of reasons. Firstly, it allows one to find errors early, raising the rate of effective releases. Secondly, it is the first sensible step before implementing Continuous Delivery and full automation.

This is a huge topic and there are lots of books as well as blog posts concerning continuous integration. Some of the many advantages of using Continuous Integration are lowered danger, boosted visibility of what is functioning (as well as what is not), earlier detection of bugs, and frequency of implementations.

Agile Practices for Release Management urge effective as well as comprehensive preparation. It allows you to identify as well as prioritize the attributes in your stockpile by creating what is more crucial and of high worth. Release management has been a core process of software development and monitoring the health of the release can improve release quality immensely. Agile methods allow for requirements to evolve over time through small iteration cycles. Learn more about how to use Agile Scrum for the development medical devices.

 

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Roxana Greenman, PhD

Roxana is VP of Programs & Communication at Promenade Software, Inc. She has over 30 years of experience leading integrated teams from concept through delivery of complex projects, proactively anticipating roadblocks, and paving a path for client success. Having worked for NASA Ames Research Center, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Hyundai AutoEver Telematics America, and small business organizations in the technology sector, she has gained an extensive knowledge in product development and technical and operational management. Roxana is passionate about helping customers in their quest for innovation and reaching their goals.

Roxana holds a Ph.D. in Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering from Stanford University.

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