### 5.3.2 Structure of the Release Planning The main goal of Release Planning is to adjust the release strategy according to the changes in the organisational context (top-down) and/or in the context of the daily work and feedback from the Product Owner (PrOw) (bottom-up). Effective Release Planning must consider the following activities: - Manage the Work Items List (WIL) - Work Items List (WIL) refinement - Work Items List (WIL) Prioritisation Each step has a specific purpose, involves different actors and generates different outputs. A prioritised Work Items List (WIL) reflecting the updated reality and a shared understanding of the vision will allow the Release Plan to be updated as a result. The following sections describe in more detail each of these steps. ![[5.3.2 The three key steps in Release Planning.png]] #### 5.3.2.1 Manage the Work Items List (WIL) Both the Product Owner (PrOw) and the Business Manager (BM) should align and share the same vision in regards to changes that will likely have an impact in the solution’s Work Items List (WIL). The Lean UX process starts a new cycle by incepting new and challenging current assumptions. This assures the Agile Project Core Team (A-PCT) will invest their time in the most valuable things. Alignment between the Product Owner (PrOw) and the Business Manager (BM) can be achieved in this Manage the Work Items List activity. Other stakeholders may also need to be involved in this discussion without focusing on the Work Items List (WIL) but rather on features that will be delivered to fulfill the identified needs. To support this, the Product Owner (PrOw) can create a separate ceremony. As soon as the Product Owner (PrOw) and the Business Manager (BM) are aligned, they will work together with the Business Implementation Group (BIG) to define how the Work Items List (WIL) will materialise the agreed-upon changes. New items can be added, others removed or even updated. Whatever the case is, their goal and acceptance criteria must be clear. As a tool to support this activity, Design Blocks bring together the Agile Project Core Team (A-PCT) and all the relevant business stakeholders to discuss and challenge assumptions, formulate hypotheses and define different ways to test them. PM2-Agile recommends using Design Blocks, supported by Collaborative design, including design studios and Design Systems to encourage alignment. PM2-Agile recommends that the Team Coordinator (TeCo) and an Agile Team Member (ATeM) with UX Design skills facilitate and participate in this ceremony when using tools like the ones mentioned. The final output should be a reviewed and prioritised Work Items List (WIL), according to the Product Owner’s (PrOw), Business Manager’s (BM) and Business Implementation Group (BIG) expectations. It will be the next activity’starting point: the Work Items List (WIL) refinement. #### 5.3.2.2 Work Items List (WIL) refinement After preparing the Work Items List (WIL) with the Business Manager (BM), the Business Implementation Group (BIG) and other stakeholders, the Product Owner (PrOw) describes all the changes to the rest of the Agile Team Members (ATeM). In return, the team will provide valuable information regarding the changes’ feasibility and size (estimates). The Product Owner (PrOw) and the Agile Team Members (ATeM) will also review the Work Items that are expected to be part of the next iteration and make sure they all come to a common understanding and agreement. Design Blocks play, once again, a vital role in this activity. Briefly, the two key activities in a Work Items List (WIL) refinement session are: - Discuss the most relevant items from the Work Items List (WIL). - Analysing and reviewing estimates. One must determine what are the most relevant items from the Work Items List (WIL). First, the items that have the highest priority and will be included in the next iteration planning and secondly, the items that were reviewed in the previous Manage the Work Items List (WIL) session. Once identified the Work Items, the Product Owner (PrOw) should discuss them with the rest of the Agile Project Core Team (A-PCT). More level of detail should be added to the Work Items that are expected to be included in the next Iteration Planning. This activity is a very important enabler for a successful Iteration Planning Meeting, since the team will need to determine how to build stuff. On the other hand, the new or reviewed items that will be implemented a few iterations ahead require less details. Nevertheless, it needs to be clear enough to allow the Agile Team Members (ATeM) to understand the concept, dependencies and logical links with the other items in the Work Items List (WIL). This implementation order is essential because one doesn't want to invest time on non-priority items far from being implemented. The Work Items List (WIL) refinement activity materialises the Incept assumptions and research step of the PM2-Agile Lean UX cycle towards an optimal solution. These discussions will help determining how to test the hypotheses that were formulated and need validation. The use of Design Blocks is a great way to support these activities. While the Work Items List refinement inputs are mostly coming from the Product Owner (PrOw), the rest of the Agile Project Core Team (A-PCT) can also identify items to be included in the Work Items List (WIL). This is the case of technical items (enablers), where the Architecture Owner (ArOw) explains to the Product Owner (PrOw) how important they are to support the implementation of the overall solution. After discussing and understanding all the work items, the Agile Project Core Team (A-PCT) should review and provide relative estimates. This allows the Product Owner (PrOw), Business Manager and other stakeholders to engage in a well-educated prioritisation exercise, leading the next activity: Work Items List prioritisation. #### 5.3.2.3 Work Items List (WIL) prioritisation As the final step in the Release Planning cycle, the Product Owner (PrOw) and all other stakeholders adjust the release strategy for the final users' solution by prioritising the Work Items List (WIL). This simple activity is the main outcome of Release Planning. Based on the estimates provided by the Agile Team Members (ATeM) during the Work Items List (WIL) refinement activity, the Product Owner, aligned with the Business Manager (BM) and other stakeholders, prioritises the several items and reviews the content of the several planned releases, updating, when applicable, the current Release Plan. During this activity, the Product Owner (PrOw) and the other stakeholders examine the items identified by the remaining Agile Team Members (ATeM), paying attention to enablers, which may compromise the integrity and usability of the solution, if not implemented when planned. Because neither the Product Owner (PrOw) nor the remaining stakeholders are familiarised with most of the enablement work items, PM2-Agile recommends the presence of the Architecture Owner (ArOw) to help with the prioritisation. By the end of this activity, a revised release plan is generated and shared with the entire Project Core Team (PCT). Depending on the impact, the modified release plan may need to be reviewed by the Project Steering Committee (PSC) to agree on the changes. [[5.3.3 Guidelines and Participants]]