Monitor Release

(Activity) for Tier: Release

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PURPOSE

Monitoring the release reduces risk and allows for course correction as inevitable change occurs. Monitoring the release includes keeping the release plan up to date which consequently refreshes the forecast (scope or time) for the release to the end user. This forecast should become more stable in time. Metrics provide leading indicators for adjusting the forecast. The project manager leads the effort to monitor the release by observing the team’s progress in the daily team meeting. They mitigate, correct, and monitor risks and issues that may impede the release of the product. This includes the operational environments.

WHEN

  • Continuously throughout the release

PARTICIPATING ROLES

ENTRY CRITERIA

  • A release has been launched based on a reviewed and approved release plan.

SUB-ACTIVITIES

  1. Monitor Feature Progress

    • Monitor user stories to gain insight toward the progress of features.

      • Monitoring the actual progress of user stories being developed.
      • Use story points for refined user stories not yet being developed.
      • Use the average cycle or average lead time of user stories not yet refined.

    • Continuously update the forecast to better predict when the Features will be complete. This forecast can be used to adjust the schedule (# of sprints) or scope in later steps.

    • Modify the priority and focus of the team for features that are or contain critical dependencies to ensure they can be delivered on time. Update critical dependencies as changes to them are identified.

    • Develop risks and mitigation plans when necessary.

  2. Monitor the Progress of Contract Deliverables and Non-Feature Objectives

    • Monitor the status of Contract Deliverables tied to the release.
    • Monitor non-feature objectives such as important milestone dates, integration tests, table-top exercises, etc. to assess work balance within the release.
    • Develop risks and mitigation plans where necessary.

  3. Identify and Correct Issues

    • Correct issues with the release by conducting a root cause analysis to identify a solution that addresses the root cause rather than the symptoms. Use the Five Whys method for the team to identify the root cause of the problem. The exercise begins with the project manager stating a problem and then asking the question “Why?” (meaning “Why did the problem occur?”). The group iteratively brainstorms answers based on direct observation.

    • Discuss potential high-level solutions for the identified root and ensure multiple perspectives are elicited.

    • In the issue work item:

      • document the root cause analysis in the Causal Analysis field
      • document the proposed corrective actions
      • assign it to the appropriate stakeholder.

  4. Improve Future Estimates

    • Observe the flow of work within the sprints and throughout the release to gain insights on how accurate story point estimates are based on correlation with the completed work tracked in hours, wait times between tasks, and other bottlenecks.
    • Identify and update story point estimates, when applicable, based on the insights. These stories can be used as reference stories when doing future story point estimation. Additionally, individuals may leverage these insights to improve their hour-based estimates for tasks.

    Note

    Be careful not to assume hour estimates are more accurate than story points due to their greater precision. The time it takes to complete a story is more than the amount of hours spent directly working on it. Coordination and wait times are significant factors.

  5. Adjust the Release Plan

    • For time-boxed releases

      • Reduce the scope to meet the time when lagging behind the original forecast. Retain the initial planned scope so that an estimate to actual may be used to gain insight and improve future forecasting.
      • Increase the scope when leading ahead of the original forecast. Be careful not to confuse the team. Keeps new objectives separate so the original forecast is clear and an estimate to actual may be used to gain insight and improve future forecasting.

    • For scope-based releases, adjust the schedule to reflect the forecast.

      • Adjust the schedule (# of sprints) to match the new forecast. Retain the initial schedule so that an estimate to actual may be used to gain insight and improve future forecasting.

    • Update the release plan continuously and at least once near or at the end of every Sprint as the team is clear the plan has changed.

    • Communicate the changes to relevant stakeholders outlining any risks to accomplishing the release objectives.

  6. Reconcile Project Plan

    • Update the Project Plan to ensure the objectives, forecast and critical dependencies reflect the progress of the release.

EXIT CRITERIA

  • The Release Plan scope or schedule has been adjusted based on the progress of the release.
  • The Project Plan is adjusted to reflect cascading impacts to downstream objectives.
  • Estimates vs. actuals have been analyzed to improve future estimates.

NEXT ACTIVITY

SEE ALSO

Process Guidance Version: 10.4