Releases For The Win in Software Development

Karsarsoft releases a new Release feature in Status, allowing teams to plan, track, and release work items into production. Releases are essential to software projects as they provide the required return on investment for building a product. Every team handles releases differently, but their outcome is the same: their software is available to consume.

Larger organizations often have structured processes that provide reassurance in their software release processes. They plan and release software in large batches of code, a process that can take months to execute and require off-hours and team coordination. These organizations have different ceremonies, processes, workflows, and approvals to ensure a smooth release of the software under development. They could use a code branching strategy to release per branch. The code released will then remain on this branch, and hotfixes will be created to update the release branch to make small changes to the current production code while the development team is working on a new release. This standard practice is a testament to their commitment to ensuring releases go smoothly.

Smaller or more agile teams take a different approach by allowing more frequent code releases. These teams are driven by the desire to get product features in the hands of users as quickly as possible, thereby gaining valuable insights and maximizing the value of their work. With fewer processes and approvals to navigate, they can swiftly address production issues or make minor changes by updating the main branch of code and releasing it with a few manual or automated approvals. Planning releases for them is a matter of waiting for the code to be completed and validated before releasing it.

Either approach works and can add value to an organization. The main focus should be on knowing what was released and having a proven process to ensure the release succeeds, as well as a mitigation plan if it doesn't. Like in math, you most likely won't get credit for half-completed work, only for the final correct answer - you must release software; otherwise, you waste time and resources. Status allows you to make this process easy to track, whether you are a large team with a structured process or a small team with frequent releases.