Rally’s Release Planning page is a roadmapping tool that you can use
to sketch out delivery possibilities for one or more upcoming Releases.
Product and program managers can use the Release Planning page to begin
to visualize possibilities
for the scheduling of features (or whatever the organization calls lowest-level
portfolio items)
into release timeboxes.
Create your portfolio of mid-level portfolio items
(some call these initiatives),
break them down to define features at the lowest level in the hierarchy,
and give these features T-shirt size estimates.
Now you’re ready to begin Release Planning.
This board view shows a backlog list of your lowest-level
portfolio items (called features in this training)
that are not yet assigned to a release,
as well as three columns
representing the release timeboxes where you can assign portfolio items.
Use the arrows to the left and right of the release area to move
backward or forward in time.
Planned Velocity is one of the most important metrics for agile
mid-range or multi-month planning.
It's used to constrain the amount of work that's scheduled in a release or quarterly time box,
considering organizational capacity.
Before you add your planned velocity for the organization in the project scope,
make sure each team has agreed on their own estimated velocity for the release timebox.
It’s likely that each team will have a different planned velocity value.
Select Set Planned Velocity, or anywhere within the status bar,
to edit the planned velocity
for the associated release in the dialog box that appears.
If there are child projects within scope
that have an estimated velocity set for the release,
you’ll see their velocity point estimates summarized in parentheses.
You may enter additional velocity points if you're planning work for the project in scope,
or specify zero points if the project in scope is simply a container for child projects.
If you change the planned release velocity
or if you schedule features into the release,
you’ll see the release capacity
change to reflect the percentage of the planned velocity that's been scheduled
--that is
the total of the preliminary estimates for each of the features assigned to the release,
divided by the total number of planned velocity points for the release
as shown in the status bar.
This number takes into account the preliminary estimates and planned velocities
for child projects within scope,
so it’s best to start planning Features fully assigned to teams
at the lowest level of the project hierarchy.
Set preliminary estimates for all portfolio items to be scheduled,
and administer planned release velocities for each team,
working your way up the organization in the project picker.
Remember, since this page is a planning tool it’s OK not to be too precise.
It’s more important to represent a rough plan with reasonable,
but not perfect, velocity estimates.
Let’s take a closer look at the portfolio item card on the board.
You can view or edit card details in several ways.
For a quick view of card details,
hover your cursor over the card ID to view the pop-up window.
You can also select the card’s ID number to open the details page.
To change the name of a card, simply select the name and change it inline.
Select outside the field to save your changes.
You can quickly change the owner of the card by selecting the current owner name
at the top of the card.
Use the drop-down list or search to select a new owner.
To show additional attributes for a portfolio item on the card,
select the Show Fields icon
and use the checkbox to show or hide a field on the card.
Hover over the card and select the plus icon to add a new discussion.
Select the gear icon for edit options such as adding a child
(in this case, a story)
to the portfolio item.
You may also copy, rerank, watch or delete the portfolio item from here.
Deleting a portfolio item removes it from the board and places it in the recycle bin.
Note that child stories are disassociated from the portfolio item,
but they are not deleted.
Therefore, you may want to associate the child stories with another portfolio item
before deleting the parent.
Use quick filters or advanced filters to constrain
the portfolio items that are shown on the page.
When you’re ready to schedule a portfolio item, first ensure
that the portfolio item has a preliminary estimate assigned.
Select it, and drag it into a release column to schedule it.
Editing the release field for the portfolio item accomplishes the same thing.
You can’t schedule your lowest-level portfolio items into more than one release.
In creating your draft roadmap,
use portfolio items that represent the work
that can be completed in a single release.
Since it is common for scope to grow as teams begin work on a feature,
it’s a good idea not to schedule features to a release capacity of 100% or more.
Even teams in flow will often exceed their estimates for a feature
because of the following factors:
Estimating in points is a relative and subjective exercise.
We are using preliminary estimates here to determine release capacity,
and preliminary estimates are simply T-shirt size buckets of points.
This is just fine.
At this point in the process, it’s not common to have refined estimates for a portfolio item.
It’s difficult for engineers to know all the factors that may influence
the effort required until they actually get into the work
--even more so at this point in the process as we draft release plans months in advance.
You’ll discover over time what that growth factor is for your team or organization.
To start, consider scheduling for about 65 or 70% of the release capacity.
Congratulations! You’re ready to draft a roadmap for your upcoming releases.