Software Planning and Development
The Software Planning and Development pillar is the engine room of the Released Method. It follows a structured, agile-aligned lifecycle designed to ship working software at a consistent cadence — while staying flexible enough to respond to change.
Built around iterative sprints, the process focuses on delivering functional, tested, and valuable software at every step. It promotes collaboration, innovation, and a relentless focus on the end-user.
Agile Alignment
The Released Method adheres to the principles of the Agile Manifesto — valuing individuals, interactions, working software, customer collaboration, and responding to change.
It aims to:
- Prioritise customer outcomes
- Embrace evolving requirements
- Sustain a consistent, manageable delivery pace
- Foster tight alignment between business and development teams
Agile isn’t a label here — it’s embedded in how planning, building, and delivery actually happens.
Sprint Structure
Sprints are time-boxed iterations (usually 1–4 weeks), each designed to produce a potentially shippable increment of the product. Every sprint includes structured activities from across the full lifecycle — from ideation to validation.
At the end of each sprint, the team should be able to demonstrate real, working software, not just progress or plans.
Lifecycle Phases
The Released Method incorporates four key phases in every sprint cycle. These aren’t linear — they loop and adapt as needed:
1. Envision
This is where ideas are born and refined into actionable hypotheses.
- Brainstorm – Free-thinking, collaborative idea generation
- Hypothesis – Formulate possible solutions to user problems
- Wild Ideas – Deliberately stretch beyond the obvious
💡 Output: A structured set of GitHub issues, split into:
- Functional requirements
- Non-functional requirements
- Prioritised backlogs
2. Prototype
Validate assumptions before committing to full-scale development.
- Build – Rapid prototype creation
- Verify – Quick user testing and validation
- Fail Fast – Kill bad ideas early and learn quickly
Customer feedback is key here — the goal is real-world input, not perfection.
3. Architect
This is where ideas become product.
- Develop – Turn validated prototypes into robust, secure features
- Document – Capture how features work and why they exist
- Refine – Improve design, performance, and structure
Architecture doesn’t mean heavyweight planning. It means thoughtful, scalable design from the ground up.
4. Validate
Final phase to ensure what’s built is fit for purpose.
- Validate – Test against specs, edge cases, and business goals
- Optimize – Improve code performance, efficiency, and clarity
- Enhance – Apply feedback to raise the quality bar
Every sprint should result in validated, production-ready work — not “works on my machine” builds.
Sprint Execution in the Released Method
Each sprint incorporates all four phases to maintain momentum, encourage feedback loops, and support continuous improvement. This makes each sprint a mini product cycle, ensuring:
- Balanced workloads
- Regular customer checkpoints
- Ongoing technical excellence
- No dead sprints or pointless refactoring loops
Key ceremonies include:
- Sprint Planning – What are we solving, and how?
- Stand-ups – Daily alignment and block removal
- Reviews/Demos – Show, don’t tell — real work, real value
- Retrospectives – Improve the process, not just the product
Final Word
The Software Planning and Development pillar is where strategy becomes execution. It blends agility with rigour, creativity with accountability, and iteration with direction.
It ensures your team doesn’t just write code — it delivers working, tested, valuable software that evolves with your users and your business.