{"id":2911,"date":"2026-01-18T17:51:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T17:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/?page_id=2911"},"modified":"2026-01-20T22:23:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T22:23:17","slug":"release-mgt","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/release-mgt\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Release Management a Value Stream"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2>\n\t\t\tIs Release Management a Value Stream?\t<\/h2>\n\t<strong>This article was originally written in May 2022 for the VSM consortium blog.<\/strong><br \/>\nThe Value Stream Management Consortium became <strong>Flowtopia<\/strong> in October 2025. If you are not yet a member, we invite you to visit\u00a0<a title=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/flowtopia.io\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">flowtopia.io<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flowtopia.io\/checkout\/flow-pro-membership?affiliate_code=f836d3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>join us<\/strong><\/a>.\n<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;In this, the second of a series of blog posts from the Value Stream Management Consortium, our experts weigh in on, &#8220;Is THIS a value stream?&#8221; This time, we&#8217;re looking at Release Management.&#8221;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\t<p><strong>No<\/strong>, I think\u00a0<strong>Release Management<\/strong>\u00a0is a discipline that is integrated or supports the software delivery <a href=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/vsm-approach\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>value streams<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The term &#8220;<strong>release<\/strong>&#8221; can be used in different ways, which can be confusing:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A &#8220;release&#8221; as the software product or service delivered to users;<\/li>\n<li>A &#8220;release&#8221; as a step, process or activity in our SDLC (software delivery lifecycle);<\/li>\n<li>A &#8220;release&#8221; as a phase of the <a href=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/devops-initiatives\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>DevOps<\/strong><\/a> infinite loop aiming to prepare the software before its deployment in production;<\/li>\n<li>A &#8220;release&#8221; as the action of making the software available to users, after it has been technically deployed to production.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p><em><strong>In this type of situation, it is important to start by sharing a common vocabulary and adopting naming conventions to facilitate our understanding.<\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>First, my preference is to use the term &#8220;release&#8221; or &#8220;software release&#8221; to designate the product or service as defined by the ISO\/IEC 20000 standard definition:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><em>A release is a collection of one or more new or changed services or service components deployed into the live environment as a result of one or more changes.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Then, when we visualise the existing or desired flow of work on a <a href=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/vsm-services\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Value Stream Map<\/a><\/strong>, we represent the &#8220;release&#8221; as a product and use an &#8220;action verb-noun&#8221; format to clearly identify macro activities or processes like for instance &#8220;prepare the release&#8221;, &#8220;deploy the release&#8221;, or &#8220;open the release to end users&#8221; :<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Fig-1-Agile-Scrum-Value-Stream-Map-1024x586.png\" alt=\"Fig 1 - Agile Scrum Value Stream Map\" itemprop=\"image\" height=\"586\" width=\"1024\" title=\"Fig 1 - Agile Scrum Value Stream Map\" onerror=\"this.style.display='none'\" loading=\"lazy\" \/>\n\t<p><strong>The software delivery <a href=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/vsm-approach\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">value stream<\/a> is supported by activities of the release management discipline<\/strong>, from release planning to delivery and user feedback loops. In other words, the software delivery value stream includes activities or processes, roles, artefacts, automation, &#8230; from this release management discipline.<\/p>\n<p>In complex situations where there are many\u00a0<strong>dependencies\u00a0<\/strong>(although ideally we should strive to reduce or eliminate these dependencies), release management activities may be necessary to orchestrate the delivery of a release by integrating the components or products of several &#8220;stream-aligned teams&#8221; as defined in the book &#8220;<a title=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/07\/book-team-topologies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Team Topologies<\/a>&#8220;.<\/p>\n<h3>\n\t\t\tLinks\t<\/h3>\n\t<ul>\n<li>Our <a href=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/vsm-services\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Value Stream Mapping for Digital Teams services<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/vsm-platforms\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>See Platforms as Value Streams<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/resources\/whitepaper-value-stream-mapping-for-software-delivery\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Whitepaper Value Stream Mapping for Software Delivery<\/a> (2021)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Check out our <strong>articles and contributions to the VSM Consortium blog<\/strong> on our <a href=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/resources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Resources<\/strong><\/a> page.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/value-driven-news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Value-Driven News<\/a>:<\/strong> A look at the latest advances in Value Stream Management to deliver greater value and streamline your workflows. <strong>LinkedIn newsletter\u00a0<\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/newsletters\/7248671317887995904\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Like to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flowtopia.io\/checkout\/flow-pro-membership?affiliate_code=f836d3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">join our growing Flowtopia community<\/a>?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is Release Management a Value Stream? This article was originally written in May 2022 for the VSM consortium blog. The Value Stream Management Consortium became Flowtopia in October 2025. If you are not yet a member, we invite you to visit\u00a0flowtopia.io\u00a0and join us. &#8220;In this, the second of a series of blog posts from the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-site-content-layout":"full-width-container","site-content-style":"unboxed","site-sidebar-style":"unboxed","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"enabled","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2911","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2911","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2911"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2911\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3014,"href":"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2911\/revisions\/3014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}