Release Plan › How to Do the Release Planning

How to Do the Release Planning

The release planning involves building the release backlog. The product owner identifies the high ranking product backlog items to build the release backlog. The product owner then discusses the release backlog items with the team.

The following diagram describes how a product owner performs the release planning.

Perform these steps to plan a release:

1. Review the prerequisites.
2. Build the release backlog.
   • Select the user stories and issues for the release.
   • Define the owners for the user stories and issues.
3. Filter the product backlog by release.
4. Size the release backlog items.

Review the Prerequisites

To do the release planning, verify that the following items are set up in CA Clarity™ Agile:

• The product backlog.
• The release.

Select the User Stories and Issues for the Release

The product owner identifies the high ranking product backlog items for the release and discusses the items with the team. For example, in the Parking Pass Management System, the product backlog includes the following items:

• Purchase parking pass online
• Pay parking pass by credit card
• Pay parking pass by PayPal
• Add photo identity to parking pass

The product owner can identify the first three items in the ranking order and can associate them to the release.

Follow these steps:

1. Click Agile, and from Planning, click Backlog.
2. Select the product name from the Product drop-down list.
3. Choose one of the following options:
   • Select a user story or issue, and choose one of the following actions:
     • Click Details, and select the release name.
     • Click in the Release column, and select the release name.
   • Select multiple user stories or issues, and choose one of the following actions:
     • Right-click the selected items, click Bulk Update, and select the release name from the drop-down list.
     • Click Bulk Update, and select the release name from the drop-down list.
4. Save your changes.

Define the Owners for the User Stories and Issues

The owner of a user story or issue is responsible for completing the work that is associated with the story. You can assign a user story or issue to more than one owner.

For example, Pay Parking Pass by Credit Card user story can be assigned to two software programmers. The two programmers work together to complete the user story. While one programmer writes the code for the feature, the other programmer reviews the code, and they switch roles frequently.

Follow these steps:

1. Click Agile, and from Planning, click Backlog.
2. Select the product name from the Product drop-down list.
3. Select the user story and click Details.
4. Select owners of the user story.
5. Save your changes.

Filter the Product Backlog by Release

Filter the product backlog page to display the user stories and issues that are associated with the release. For example, in the Parking Pass Management System, filter the backlog page to display only the items that are identified for the release:

• Purchase parking pass online
• Pay parking pass by credit card
• Pay parking pass by PayPal

Follow these steps:

1. Click Agile, and from Planning, click Backlog.
2. Select the product name from the Product drop-down list.
3. Click Add/Edit Filter.
4. Select Create a new filter.
5. Enter the Filter Name to identify the release.
6. Select the appropriate values from the drop-down list to define the filter criteria for the release.
7. Click Filter.

   The backlog page is filtered to display the release backlog.

Size the Release Backlog Items

Sizing helps you understand the effort that is required to complete a user story. You use points as the unit to estimate the relative size of stories.

For example, the Purchase parking pass online user story takes more effort to complete than Pay parking pass by credit card user story. Assign more points to Purchase parking pass online.

Follow these steps:

1. Click Agile, and from Planning, click Backlog.
2. Select the product name from the Product drop-down list.
3. Select the user story and click Details.
4. Enter the points.
5. Save your changes.

Note: You can also edit the points inline on the backlog page to estimate the relative size of stories.

You have successfully completed planning a release. The team can now use the release backlog to build the sprint backlog.