Agile Release Planning Checklist
Use this framework to easily perform release planning. The release planning meeting is an optional yet highly encouraged session where themes, functional priorities and delivery dates are initially defined.
How often should this be used?
On the 1st day of each release.
Library
Categories
Agile Release Planning
Attendees
Product Owner
Product and/or Project Managers
Team Members
Key Stakeholders
Preparation / Inputs
Vision and strategy
High-level goals and plans
Prioritized backlog
Key milestone dates
Agenda
Review meeting agenda and guidlelines
Purpose:
The release planning meeting is an optional yet highly encouraged session where themes, functional priorities and delivery dates are initially defined.
In this meeting the release backlog is identified and estimated at a high level. Based on an initial estimate and/or velocity, a preliminary delivery plan is agreed upon.
This plan will be revised over time.
Common obstacles:
- Inability to negotiate time, scope and budget constraints
- Lack of acceptance of team-based estimation and planning
- Lack of understanding that the plan is not frozen and will change
Product Owner reviews product vision, strategy and goals
Product Owner reviews key dates and milestones
Product Owner presents first cut of the prioritized product backlog
Team asks questions to understand user stories
Team estimates user stories at a high level (ie story points, ideal days, etc)
Team estimates its initial capacity and/or velocity per iteration
Team finalizes its delivery objectives in the form of a release plan
Meeting facilitator records any key decisions, assumptions, risk and/or issues
Stakeholder consensus is achieved and a commitment to proceed is given
Confirmed Outputs
Release plan and backlog
Key assumptions and issues
Delivery Dates
