A release cycle, also known as a software or product release cycle, is the process by which a software product goes from initial concept to being available for use. It involves several stages, including planning, development, testing, and deployment.

Stages of a Release Cycle

1. Planning

This is the initial stage where the team identifies the features and improvements to be included in the new release. It involves gathering requirements, setting goals, and creating a roadmap.

2. Development

In this stage, the software engineers start coding the features and improvements identified in the planning stage. This stage also includes unit testing to ensure each piece of code works as expected.

3. Testing

Once the development stage is complete, the software undergoes various types of testing, such as integration testing, system testing, and user acceptance testing. The goal is to identify and fix any bugs or issues before the software is released.

4. Deployment

After testing, the software is ready to be deployed. This involves packaging the software and making it available for users to download and install.

Best Practices for Release Management

Effective release management helps teams and companies deploy software safely at scale. Here are some best practices:

1. Document Releases: Knowing what was released and when it was released can help diagnose if a release is the cause of an improvement or regression in a product metric, performance monitor, or other indicators.

2. Communicate with the Team: People need to know when a new release is happening. This can be as simple as an automated bot message letting people know which release is going out, what phase it's in, etc.

3. Stage Release Rollouts: Rather than rollout out from 0-100, release your new version in stages. This helps bound the impact of a new release and identify issues before they arise more broadly.

4. Monitor, Monitor, Monitor: If you do all of the above, but have no diagnostics or monitoring, you are flying blind. Monitoring helps catch issues at the early stages of rollout.

5. Automate Releases (and Everything: Automation can help reduce the opportunities for error in any release process. This can include automatically generating release candidates, posting when a release is happening, following a staged rollout plan, running tests on releases before they go out, and monitoring metric regressions.

Example of a Release Cycle

An example of a release cycle can be seen in the way Facebook stages its releases. They start by releasing the new version to employees, then to 2% of production traffic, and finally to 100% of production. Monitoring is applied at each step to catch any potential issues early.