RELEASE PLANNING

July 13, 2015

AGENDAWhy is this important?When should the team release plan?What does release planning look like?Closing your release plan and what comes next?

RELEASE PLANNING An event, not a meeting Will seem chaotic at times May seem slow at other times There is a “method to the madness”

WHY Helps the Product Owner and whole team to determine

how much MUST be developed, and how long that will take before they have a releasable product.

Serves as a guide to which the team can progress Shows how iterations fit into the “whole”

Extends visibility past a single sprint to help make informed decisions

Gives the scrum team(s) a chance to understand the complete set of functionality in the product

OUTCOMECreate a Release Plan that provides the following: Initial agreement, update current commitments Allows external teams/sources to understand goals and

objectives Risks and Dependencies to be identified To allow the organization to make informed decisions and

support the plan

Where you are

Where you want to be

Lots and lots of work

OUTCOME CONT’D Backlog readiness Team has a better understanding of the whole picture Understanding of what it takes to release Baseline that has the stakeholder confidence because

they were invited into the process Collective ownership of a plan

Outlines the impact of incoming work

SO WHEN DO WE DO RELEASE PLANNING? Whenever you need greater than 1 sprint’s worth of

visibility into the plan Multiple teams are potentially involved After you have established the team(s) velocity

THINGS TO CONSIDER

Will take 1-2 days of planning and at least a few weeks of preperation Story mapping can happen

before or during, but it will stretch the planning session if done together

3-4 times a year based on average

PO, Team, SH(s) Product backlog

Prioritized backlog by PO

Estimated backlog What is the purpose you hope to

accomplish Release theme Current state of team Velocity? DoD Will everyone be in attendance

(contingency plans) Key members

WHAT DOES A RELEASE PLAN SESSION LOOK LIKE?

All necessary members to complete the project in attendance

Opening the session PO will go over the Product Vision

Essential for teams to be able to see the whole picture PO will represent the Product Roadmap

Organizes themes of features Updated 3-4 times per year

Event Purpose Acceptance criteria for session

Agenda and Schedule Working agreements

THE FUN BEGINS… The team(s) breakout to:

Organize the backlog(s) Line up stories in priority order Clarify AC Identify potential sprint boundaries (velocity, current

estimations, key dates)

What starts to happen… Reality vs. Plan starts to emerge Stories will emerge that do not fit into the plan – fail fast Tradeoffs start to happen

Photos from Story Mapping session in Lincoln for the IDR team (7/9/15)

Image courtesy of SolutionsIQ

MORE FUN After the team(s) breakout a “Walk the Walls” activity

happens An opportunity for the teams to walk the room and talk to

other teams. Identifies potential dependencies Identifies duplicated efforts Helps to align work between teams

After a “Walk the Walls” happens or if only 1 team, now it is an opportunity for the PO to “Walk the Wall” with the SH(s).

Once complete, feedback and information comes back to the teams for another breakout session to work on changes and/or “solidify” current plan

CLOSING THE PARTY!! Team(s) come back together to share plans Go over any decisions made Go over any action items and set boundaries around

them Team Commitment Step through session criteria to verify all AC’s have been

met Quick closing retro Thank everyone for the participation Head into Sprint Planning which should be much easier

“Plans are worthless but planning is everything.” Dwight D. Eisenhower

Image courtesy of SolutionsIQ

THANK YOU FOR ATTENDING!