4 Software Release Management Best Practices

Release management is a crucial process in software development that ensures the optimization of all stages of launching a product or feature, helping teams meet deadlines without compromising quality. The five phases of releasing software include defining specific requirements, specifying acceptance criteria, testing software in production, iterating and refining the product, and finally releasing it to end-users. Key roles in release management include the release manager, product owner, quality manager, and DevOps team. Four best practices for successful launch are standardizing what success looks like, dark launching with feature flags to reduce risk, automating safely, and tracking metrics early and often. Release management tools such as LaunchDarkly can help teams achieve faster releases while maintaining quality.