Ciclo de Vida de un Release y planificación

The life cycle of a release is critical to the success of any application. Without a proper structure, releases can become a series of improvisations that compromise the stability of the product. Implementing methodologies such as Scrum and tools such as Jira allows each interaction to be predictable, efficient and aligned with business objectives, transforming each release into a measurable hypothesis about the improvements it will bring to your application.

How to structure an effective release with Scrum and Jira?

Before diving into the planning of a sprint, it is crucial to clearly define the goal of the release. This goal will be the compass that will guide all decisions and actions of the team during the development process.

Let's take a common goal as an example: to create an A/B experiment to improve the design of an application. To address this objective effectively, we must follow a structured process:

1. Gather all the necessary details: specific goals and relevant information for the experiment.
2. Conduct a team meeting: generate ideas on how to develop the experiment, identify potential risks, and address questions or concerns.
3. Estimate the effort required: use a T-shirt sizing system to approximate the duration of the development in terms of sprints.

How is the sizing system used for estimation?

The T-shirt sizing system is an estimation technique that allows the team to quickly visualize the magnitude of effort required:

• XS: development requiring less than one sprint
• XL: development requiring more than ten sprints.

This method provides a rough estimate of how many work cycles (sprints) the team will need to complete the development.

How to implement the sprint in Jira?

Once we have a clear estimate, we can proceed to create a new sprint in Jira:

1. Create the sprint: a work cycle that typically lasts two weeks.
2. Assign tasks: drag to the sprint all the tasks that can be performed in that period.
3. Start the sprint: define the duration and set a clear goal (e.g. "start with experiments").

After starting the sprint, each developer can select the tasks that correspond to him and move them through the established workflow.

How to design a custom workflow for your project?

The workflow in Jira is completely customizable according to the specific needs of each project. An example of a workflow could be:

1. To-do tasks: after initial planning.
2. In progress: when a developer is actively working on the task
3. Developer review: peer code verification
4. Quality assurance: testing to ensure functionality
5. Staging: implementation in a test environment
6. Ready for release: ready to be included in next release

It is important to establish a feedback process: if any errors are found at any point in the flow, the task goes back to QA and the process is repeated until it meets the required standards.

Why is it crucial to have a clear code strategy?

A release plan without a well-defined code strategy represents a significant risk to the stability of the application. Without structure, changes can become chaotically jumbled, making bug reversal an extremely complex task.

To maintain control over each version of the application:

• Each version must be controlled: through version control systems.
• Hot fixes must be implemented quickly: to fix critical problems.
• Updates must follow a logical flow: to keep the code consistent.

Code structure is as important as release planning. Both elements must work in harmony to ensure that each new release improves the application without introducing instability.

Implementing a structured process to manage the release lifecycle not only improves the quality of the final product, but also optimizes the work of the development team. Have you implemented any of these practices in your projects? Share your experience and the results you have obtained in the comments section.