This episode of the Productworker podcast is all about the challenges and best practices associated with release planning, especially when implementing large releases. Dominik Winter and Oliver Winter highlight how important it is for product owners to create a release plan consciously and with foresight.
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Especially in agile teams working according to Scrum, there is often a misunderstanding that a release must occur at the end of each Sprint, even if this only means that the Increment is potentially deliverable (according to the Scrum Guide, it meets the definition of Done). It is therefore possible to separate the end of the Sprint and the release time. After all, not every potentially deliverable function has to go live immediately.
Planning continues – but makes sense!
A central theme in this episode is the question of when a release makes sense. Product Owners must identify clear added value for users before taking the final step. A release is more than just delivering new features. Maximizing real benefits and value requires detailed planning. Keeping track of dependencies between different teams and systems is crucial.
Another important point that the podcasters address in this episode is communication during release planning. Internally and externally, everyone involved – from developers to support teams to stakeholders – should be brought to the same level of knowledge. There is often a downtime during the release that users should be informed about in advance. You should choose the time for the release so that a minimum number of users are affected, for example in the middle of the night.
Product engineers also discuss how to deal with problems that may arise during the release. It is important to define a clear decision-making process before the release in case unforeseen difficulties arise. For large releases, the concept of feature toggles is also recommended, with which specific functions can be specifically activated or deactivated to quickly identify potential problems.
The current version of the podcast is also available on the ProductWorker blog: “Planning and implementation of major releases,
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