Release Management - What to do when your big project is done!
What do you do when your project is done? How do you move from Project Mode to Stabilization? My advice is to implement a Release Management Strategy that delivers bug fixes and feature enhancements according to their priority. Here is a good approach to moving the project team from project delivery mode to Stabilization.
First, develop a backlog. List out your software bugs or enhancements using plain language and be as descriptive as possible. You will want the business to prioritize what is most important to least important. When you have your backlog set and you are ready to start estimating for development, have the development team estimate the top 10 or 15 items in the back log so that they can be selected for implementation.
Next, develop a Release Schedule. Generally its best to to settle the team into monthly releases. Allocate 3 weeks for development and unit testing, 2 weeks for QA testing and a few days to implement the build into production. It would be beneficial to leave a few days allocated for support of the new build before staring on the next. What I find is that having a release strategy and a realistic schedule takes the anxiety and pressure out of stabilizing and it also allows for flexibility. You don't know what might be needed next in terms of fixes, so having a living breathing backlog allows the business to make trade-offs, what was yesterday's top priority might change overnight and be needed for the next build. Having the phases time boxed (3 weeks, 2 weeks, etc.) really helps the team focus and ensures that they deliver what they promise. They would never take on more than they can complete - or at least they shouldn't. It also settles the business down because they know that their concerns will be heard and responded to eventually depending on priority.
So, when you are done with your big project it is time to celebrate, but don't forget...you are not done yet! You need to Stabilize and move the team from crazy project mode to support mode. Release management is a great way to do it!