MSF for Agile Software Development

Releases

Release

 

Overview

A release defines the need for either a code promotion, a build or a release to production.  Each sprint can contain one or more release work items.  Additionally release work items made be created and assigned for teams with dedicated configuration management groups.  Release work items are designed to be associated to a code promotion or build to maximize auditing and traceability.

 

States and Transitions


New


A release is new when it is first created.  Create a new release when work has been identified from either the user stories or another source.


New to Active

 

Investigate

A release may be assigned to a team member for validation or analysis before it is assigned to a sprint.

Accepted

A release may be made active when it has been validated and assigned to a team member.


Active


A release is active when it has been reviewed by the scrum master and team and has been targeted for further analysis or has been accepted as valid work for the project.


Active to Closed

Overtaken

A release may be closed if the item has been overtaken by events in the project.

Duplicate

A release may be closed if the item is the duplicate of another release.

Postponed

A release may be closed if the project team decides to postpone the work.

Removed

A release may be closed if it has been removed from the project backlog.


Active to Resolved

Complete (No Verification)

A release may be marked as resolved once the work has been completed and may or may not need to be verified.

Complete (Requires Verification)

A release may be marked as resolved once the work has been completed and may or may not need to be verified.


Resolved


A release is resolved when the work that it specified has been completed but not yet tested or  reviewed.


Resolved to Active

Verification Failed

A release may need to be reactivated if verification of the work completed is not successful.


Resolved to Closed

Verified

A release may be closed once the work completed has been successfully verified.


Closed


A release is closed when the work that it specifies has either been completed or is no longer needed for the the project.


Closed to Active

Reactivated

A release may need to be reactivated for a variety of reasons.

Closed in Error

A release may have been closed by accident and need to be reopened.


Fields

Title

Required. The title provides a concise description of the release. The title should be descriptive enough to allow the team to understand what the potential release is.

Source Build

The build to be used as the source of the promotion or the release.

Area

The area is used to group the release into an appropriate feature or team area. The area must be a valid node in the project hierarchy.

Sprint

The iteration in which the release could be occur.

Assigned To

The current person that release is assigned to. Generally, it is a scrum master but may be any of the project team members.

State

Required.  Used to determine the status of the release in its lifecycle.  A release can be in the New,  Active, Resolved or Closed states.

Reason

The reason a release is in the current state.

Blocked

A flag to denote that progress on the release has been stopped.

Build Instructions

This field provides the instructions for the build or promotion.

History

The history field contains the set of changes to the work item.

Links

Links to related work items, hyperlinks, changesets, or source code files.

Attachments

Attach related files providing additional documentation around the release.

Estimate

The estimate time (in hours) for the backlog item.

Remaining Work

The amount of work (in hours) left to be done for the backlog item.

Completed Work

The amount of work (in hours) already done for the backlog item.

     

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