Top 7 release management best practices

Effective release management is a crucial process designed to guarantee the smooth deployment of new or upgraded software, hardware, or services to end-users. This involves meticulous planning, thorough testing, strategic scheduling, and the implementation of changes in a coordinated and controlled manner.

What is release management?

Release management involves overseeing, strategizing, scheduling, and maintaining control over software, hardware, or service deployment in the production environment. Its primary objective is to provide customers with top-notch products or services while mitigating the risks and disruptions linked to these changes.

Integral to IT service management (ITSM), release management adheres to the ITIL framework.

Phases of release management

Managing all the releases can be troublesome, but defining and adhering to the phases can help streamline the process. Embracing the ITIL framework, release management unfolds through five key phases:

1. Planning

At the onset, this phase meticulously defines the release's scope, objectives, and release schedule. It identifies stakeholders, resources, and risks while crafting a detailed release plan outlining tasks, roles, and responsibilities for each stage.

2. Build

The development, testing, and integration of release components take center stage in this phase. It ensures adherence to quality standards, culminating in the creation of a comprehensive release package containing components, documentation, and deployment instructions.

3. Testing

This phase validates the readiness of the release package, ensuring alignment with acceptance criteria and performance expectations. Various testing types are conducted, including unit, integration, system, user acceptance, and security testing.

4. Deployment

The focus shifts to deploying the release package into the production environment. Simultaneously, this phase involves monitoring and supporting the deployment process, coupled with transparent communication to stakeholders and users regarding release status, benefits, and impacts.

5. Review

A critical evaluation of the release's outcomes and effectiveness takes place in this concluding phase. Lessons learned and best practices are identified, feedback from stakeholders and users is collected, and key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics are measured, setting the stage for future releases.

What is a typical release management process?

In the intricate realm of release management, a structured process unfolds through distinct stages, ensuring a seamless deployment of changes. The journey commences with the initiation phase, where the release manager identifies the need for change and meticulously crafts a release request, detailing the description, scope, objectives, benefits, risks, and impacts of the changes.

This request undergoes scrutiny by the Change Advisory Board (CAB) for approval, marking the green light for the release process. Moving forward, the planning phase takes center stage as the release manager meticulously defines the release strategy, schedule, and budget. Stakeholders, resources, and dependencies are identified, culminating in the creation of a comprehensive release plan outlining tasks, roles, and responsibilities.

Approval from both the CAB and stakeholders solidifies the roadmap. The subsequent phases, including build, test, deploy, and review, are orchestrated precisely. This encompasses tasks such as coordinating release components, testing in pre-production environments, executing deployment, and conducting thorough reviews, feedback collection, and documentation.

The final touch involves closing the release loop by updating the configuration management database (CMDB) with pertinent release information. This methodical approach ensures not just deployment but an effective evaluation and learning process for continual enhancement in subsequent releases.

Tips for improving your release management process

Release mishaps can be colossal to the right plan and processes if considering all the negative issues that might come up during the release. Improve your release management process with these tips:

1. Clearly define success criteria

Before planning your release, define measurable objectives, scope, benefits, risks, and impacts. Establish acceptance criteria based on quality standards and stakeholder expectations for effective planning, execution, and evaluation.

2. Consider a dark launch

Test new features or services in a real-world scenario with a subset of users before a public announcement. This reduces risks, improves user experience, and gathers valuable feedback.

3. Automate processes

Streamline and accelerate your release management by automating development, testing, integration, deployment, and monitoring tasks. Automation enhances quality, reduces human errors, and increases development team productivity.

4. Track metrics

Define and monitor relevant metrics like release frequency, duration, success and failure rates, defect rate, availability, reliability, usability, and customer satisfaction. Metrics provide insights into your release's strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement.

5. Review launches

Conduct a post-release review to analyze results and feedback, identify lessons learned, and establish best practices for future releases. Share findings with the CAB and stakeholders, updating your release plan and process accordingly.

Key concepts in release management

Understanding the essential elements of release management is crucial for successfully deploying and maintaining software, hardware, or services. Familiarizing yourself with these key concepts ensures a strategic and well-coordinated approach to managing changes in a production environment.

• Release: A consolidated set of changes, including new software, hardware, or services, bug fixes, patches, or enhancements, deployed as a single unit to the production environment.

• Package: Essential for deployment. It includes release components, documentation, and instructions. Before deployment, the package undergoes verification and validation, ensuring a smooth process.

• Strategy: Outlining the approach for deployment; it covers type, frequency, schedule, scope, objectives, benefits, risks, and impacts, ensuring alignment with business goals and stakeholder expectations.

• Plan: This comprehensive document delineates tasks, roles, responsibilities, resources, dependencies, and contingencies for each release stage, covering strategy, schedule, budget, scope, objectives, benefits, risks, impacts, release package, testing, deployment, and review.

Manager: Overseeing the end-to-end process, the release manager ensures effective communication, upholds release quality and requires proficiency in project management, change management, configuration management, and IT service management.

The cycle of release management

The release management cycle encompasses a series of stages guiding a release from initiation to closure, including:

1. Initiation: Marks the outset of the release process, involving the identification of change needs and the creation of a release request.

2. Planning: Involves strategic release planning, encompassing the definition of release strategy, schedule, and budget.

3. Build: Entails the actual construction of the release, involving the development, testing, and integration of release components, leading to the creation of the release package.

4. Test: Focuses on comprehensive testing, ensuring the release package aligns with acceptance criteria and performance expectations through various unit testing methodologies.

5. Deploy: Encompasses the deployment of the release by installing and configuring the release package in the production environment, with simultaneous monitoring and support throughout the deployment process.

Review: Concludes the cycle with a thorough review, evaluating the overall outcome and effectiveness of the software release. This stage identifies lessons learned and extracts best practices to enhance new versions or future releases.

Key terms in release management

Understanding the fundamental terminology in release management is essential for navigating the intricacies of the process. Here are some of the key terms in release management that you should know:

• Change: An adjustment impacting the functionality, performance, or quality of a software product, hardware, or service component, initiated by factors like customer requests, business needs, or regulatory requirements.

• Change management: The controlled and coordinated process of managing, planning, assessing, and implementing changes, aiming to minimize risks and disruptions while maximizing benefits. Aligned with the ITIL framework, it's a crucial aspect of IT service management.

• Change Advisory Board (CAB): A group responsible for reviewing, evaluating, and approving changes, offering guidance and advice. Comprising representatives from various departments, including IT operations, business, and security.

• Configuration Item (CI): An identifiable and manageable element of a product or service, encompassing software, hardware, documents, policies, or procedures, with attributes such as name, description, version, and relationships.

• Configuration management: The process of identifying, tracking, and controlling configuration items, ensuring accuracy, consistency, integrity, and security. Integral to IT service management, it adheres to the ITIL framework.

• Configuration Management Database (CMDB): A repository storing information and relationships of configuration items, aiding activities like change management, release management, incident management, and problem management. Provides a holistic view and a single source of truth for the product or service.

With Freshservice’s release management platform, you can plan, document, and execute test plans from beginning to end. Learn more.

Release management vs. change management

Release management and change management, integral components of IT service management following the ITIL framework, exhibit nuanced differences in their focus and objectives. Release management, a subset of change management, centers on deploying changes to the production environment, emphasizing the quality and reliability of the delivered products or services. In contrast, change management encompasses the entire lifecycle of changes, from initiation to closure, aiming to minimize risks and disruptions while focusing on the impact and value of the change.

The output of release management is a comprehensive release package containing components, documentation, and deployment instructions, whereas change management generates a detailed change record specifying the change's details and status. Executed by a release manager for release management and a change manager for change management, these roles collaborate closely, ensuring effective communication and coordination throughout both processes.

Top 7 release management best practices

Here are some of the best practices that you should follow to improve your release management process and achieve better results:

1. Carefully define your criteria

Before you begin planning your release, make sure to set clear goals for success, including the objectives, scope, benefits, risks, and impacts of the changes. Also, define acceptance criteria, covering quality standards, requirements, and expectations of stakeholders and users. Having clear and measurable criteria will make your release planning, execution, and evaluation more effective and efficient.

2. Consider a dark launch

A dark launch is a strategy where you quietly introduce a new feature to a limited audience, testing it in a real-world setting before a public release. This minimizes risks, gathers valuable feedback, and improves user experience.

3. Automate processes

Automating tasks in your release management process speeds up workflows, minimizes errors, and enhances consistency. Utilizing tools for development, testing, integration, deployment, and monitoring improves the overall quality and reliability of your releases, boosting software development team productivity and efficiency.

3. Track metrics

Metrics are crucial for gauging your release's performance and progress. Track real-time and relevant metrics like release cycle frequency, duration, success and failure rates, defect rate, availability, reliability, usability, and customer satisfaction. These metrics provide insights into your release's strengths and weaknesses, guiding improvements and optimizations for future success in quality assurance for the overall development process.

5. Review launches

Reviewing your launches is crucial for continuous improvement in your release management process. Conduct a post-release review to analyze results, gather feedback, and identify lessons learned and best practices for future releases. Document and share your findings with the CAB and stakeholders, updating the release plan and process to enhance future outcomes.

6. Reduce user impact

One key challenge in a release management system is minimizing user impact. Strive to minimize downtime, errors, and performance issues during and after the release. Keep users informed about release and upgrade status, benefits, and impacts, offering the necessary support. Actively seek user feedback and promptly address concerns and issues for a smoother transition.

7. Imitate production environments

To ensure release success, thorough testing in an environment mirroring production is crucial. This aids in identifying and resolving issues caused by environmental differences. Employ the same tools and processes used in the production environment, including automation and configuration management. This ensures consistency and compatibility and minimizes risks and disruptions associated with the change.

Why is release management important?

Release management holds significance for various reasons. Firstly, it aids in elevating the quality and dependability of your products or services, ensuring they meet the standards and requirements of stakeholders and users. This process also safeguards the accuracy and consistency of release components, maintaining the integrity and security of the overall product or service.

Additionally, release management plays a vital role in enhancing the value and benefits of your offerings, aligning them with business goals and needs. It facilitates the rapid and frequent delivery of high-quality products or services, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty.

The process contributes to risk reduction by addressing potential disruptions associated with changes, mitigating user inconvenience, and preventing or swiftly resolving issues or defects that may arise during or after the release. Beyond these benefits, release management optimizes resource utilization, saving time, money, and personnel by streamlining processes and boosting team members' productivity and efficiency. This, in turn, minimizes costs and resources by avoiding or reducing rework, waste, or errors resulting from changes.

Getting started with release management

Effectively managing releases, especially in release management, becomes challenging without a well-defined process. Leveraging a robust ITSM tool like Freshservice's release management tool allows you to monitor releases, assess their current status, and provide comments to communicate the desired state of features or products.

The tool facilitates planning for future enhancements and evaluating the outcomes of feature releases by collecting user feedback and giving detail analytics of the feature release process. Additionally, it enables collaboration among release stakeholders to define features, guiding the relevant teams in creating essential help documents to assist users in utilizing the product.

In acknowledging the diversity in project management approaches, it's crucial to recognize that there's no one-size-fits-all solution. Every project team member operates uniquely. New-gen IT project management of Freshservice introduces various modern views, allowing team members to visualize, slice, and dice the same set of tasks into a timeline (Gantt), kanban, task list, or group views. This flexibility enhances adaptability and efficiency in managing projects with diverse teams and working styles.