{"id":1950,"date":"2024-02-13T09:36:54","date_gmt":"2024-02-13T09:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/?p=1950"},"modified":"2026-01-05T22:25:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T22:25:09","slug":"is-release-management-a-value-stream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/13\/is-release-management-a-value-stream\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Release Management a Value Stream?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>This article was originally written in May 2022 for the VSM consortium blog.<\/strong><br>The Value Stream Management Consortium became Flowtopia in October 2025. If you are not yet a member, we invite you to visit <a href=\"http:\/\/flowtopia.io\" title=\"\">flowtopia.io<\/a> and join us.<br>The article was reposted on the blog of the new Flowtopia platform <a href=\"https:\/\/www.flowtopia.io\/c\/blog\/is-release-management-a-value-stream\" title=\"\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>&#8220;In this, the second of a series of blog posts from the Value Stream Management Consortium, our experts weigh in on, \u201cIs THIS a value stream?\u201d This time, we\u2019re looking at Release Management.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/patricecorbard\/\">Patrice Corbard<\/a>, Founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/\">SD ReFocus<\/a> and Influencer Member of the Value Stream Management Consortium:<\/h5>\n\n\n\n<p><br>No, I think <strong>Release Management<\/strong> is a discipline that is integrated or supports the software delivery value streams.<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The term &#8220;<strong>release<\/strong>&#8221; can be used in different ways, which can be confusing:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A \u201crelease\u201d as the software product or service delivered to users;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A \u201crelease\u201d as a step, process or activity in our SDLC (software delivery lifecycle);<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A \u201crelease\u201d as a phase of the DevOps infinite loop aiming to prepare the software before its deployment in production;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A \u201crelease\u201d as the action of making the software available to users, after it has been technically deployed to production.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<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>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\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\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><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\n\n\n<p>&#8211; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Then, when we visualise the existing or desired flow of work on a Value Stream Map<\/strong>, we represent the \u201crelease\u201d as a product and use an \u201caction verb-noun\u201d format to clearly identify macro activities or processes like for instance \u201cprepare the release\u201d, \u201cdeploy the release\u201d, or \u201copen the release to end users\u201d :<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"839\" height=\"473\" src=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/fig.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2632\" style=\"width:670px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/fig.png 839w, https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/fig-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/fig-768x433.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 839px) 100vw, 839px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The software delivery value stream 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\n\n\n<p>In complex situations where there are many <strong>dependencies <\/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 \u201cstream-aligned teams\u201d as defined in the book \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/sdrefocus.com\/index.php\/2021\/08\/07\/book-team-topologies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Team Topologies<\/a>\u201d.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8211; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Picture by <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/fr\/@an_ku_sh?utm_content=creditCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=unsplash\">Ankush Minda<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/fr\/photos\/ballons-de-couleurs-assorties-volant-dans-le-ciel-pendant-la-journee-VcD5OD2jDGA?utm_content=creditCopyText&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_source=unsplash\">Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do release management processes support the software delivery value 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