How does SAFe Handle Release Planning and Execution?

In SAFe, when we talk about Release Planning and Execution, we are referring to a calculated document that is used to capture and track the features that are planned for an upcoming release. So in essence, it is an internal working document for product and development teams whereby a number of solutions such as roadmapping software or a business model canvas are used. Agile release planning in particular is therefore where teams build and release products in iterations or incremental stages. And instead of releasing all at once, they are released into distinct major releases. 

 

So in such a scenario, the tested software will be sitting in a staging environment, and once that software is approved by the business owners and project managers, it is deployed to the production system.

 

So releasing is a question of: 

 

🚀 Making a decision that we want to make the software. 

🚀 Ensuring that the software/product is working.

🚀 Implementing visibility of our production system to a group of customers. 

🚀 Executing the organisation’s release strategy. 

🚀 Establishing a release strategy and releasing incrementally. 

So, how do we execute on the release?

The way I interpret that question is to ask “how do we get software or our solution ready to be released?” SAFe utilises an interactive and incremental approach, and so within every iteration, we have a software that is tested and aligned with our customers. We achieve this in every iteration by having a system demo that is incremented. This means that not only one team is working on the whole system but rather there are multiple teams within the Agile Release Train that have contributed to that solution. 

So that’s how teams interactively and incrementally execute releases whilst using all the good practices of fair working, programming, as well as test and behaviour driven development. 

Why Strategic Release Planning and Execution is Important

Regardless of which approach you take, in any business the top priority should always be quality rather than quantity. A valuable Agile release should therefore bring real value to customers such as new features, bug fixes, or product efficiency.

Strategic and meaningful release planning and execution is therefore important because it: 

 

🚀 Supports the overall product vision and roadmap.

🚀 Helps plan and divide product roadmap into manageable iterations.

🚀 Ensures that products align with customer expectations and needs.

🚀 Encourages teams to self-organise and collaborate.

Interested to learn more about how you could use SAFe to effectively handle release planning and execution? 

 

At Value Glide, through the application of  SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework), we are able to offer agile consulting, agile coaching, and agile training specialists who work with organisations to align business objectives with customer needs and wants.

As deeply experienced agile coaches and practitioners, our team is invested in continuous learning through each client engagement and uses the data and evidence we gather from each implementation to inform our training, coaching, and consulting services.

In a nutshell, empirical process control or empiricism. 

If you are thinking of adopting agile within your organisation and have identified SAFe as a great agile framework to adopt, implement and improve your business agility, visit our SAFe Quickstart ART Launch program page or view our SAFe Consulting Services page.

If you have identified a need for an agile coach and SAFe coach to help your organisation adopt and implement SAFe, visit our SAFe Coaching Services page. We are committed to equipping organisations with the tools and knowledge to thrive in this ever-changing digital age, and achieve business agility through the Scaled Agile Framework. 

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If you want to know more about SAFe and how to lead SAFe, visit our SAFE Training page for a host of options, from Leading SAFe to a SAFe Release Train Engineer course.

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