Release notes from a sprint

[Tom Clark]

Hello,

I've only recently become an administrator for JIRA, so please go lightly! :-)

The company I've joined currently run one week sprints for a SaaS solution. We do aim to release at the end of each sprint, but inevitably things run over and we sometimes don't. I'm trying to get to fortnightly sprints, but right now it's just a week.

My question is can I get release notes out of a sprint, or do I need to have a version associated with it?

If it's the case that I need a version to create release notes (which certainly makes sense), I think the solution is to create a minor version for each sprint and add all the items in the sprint backlog to that minor version, and then merge up into a "proper" version when we do actually release. The only problem with that is administrative, since when an item runs over, I'd need to both move the story/bug/task to the next sprint, and also change its version. Not a big deal, but two things to do instead of one (unless I can automate the process of changing an item's version when it moves sprints?).

If I can get release notes from a sprint and not worry about versions (except for proper releases), could someone please point me in the right direction?

Thanks in advance,

Tom

[Kian Stack Mumo Systems · Accepted solution]

Tom, 

You are correct that you need to generate release notes with a version. As for your concerns about management, both have automated options available. When you complete a sprint, issues that are not done can be automatically moved into the next sprint. When you release a version, incomplete tickets can also be automatically moved.

Thanks, 

Kian

[Tom Clark]

Hi Kian,

Thanks for your reply.

Yep, that's pretty much as I thought. I'll start creating minor versions for each sprint and link the issues with the sprint in each version, then if we do decide to release that version, I can get the release notes, or if we don't, I can move them on into the next version and get a cumulative list of issues for an actual release.

Thanks for your advice.

Tom

[Tom Clark]

Kian,

Can you please explain to me how if I drag an item from the sprint backlog into another sprint, or the product backlog, how I automate the process of updating (or removing) the version?

Tom

[Kian Stack Mumo Systems]

Dragging an item to a newsprint in an of itself won't modify the version of a ticket. When you release a version, incomplete items have the option of being moved to the next scheduled version.

[Tom Clark]

Ah, okay, gotcha. I thought you meant when I dragged an item out of a sprint I could automate the process of updating/removing its version.

Thanks again.

[Jens Schumacher - Released_so]

Release notes in Jira are still tied to version numbers and releases.

To better cater for continuous delivery and also cover the use-case to publish release notes after a sprint, we (a team of ex-Atlassians) have created an new App called Released.

Released can also leverage AI to generate release notes from your Jira tickets... so you don't just share a list of issue titles.

You can get it on the Atlassian marketplace.

Release notes can be published to an In-App Widget, a website or Confluence. Take a look at our release notes to get an idea what it looks like.

Cheers,
Jens

[Aron Gombas _Midori_]

Using Better PDF Exporter you can generate professional release notes from any issue list, no need for versions or anything.

Just run an arbitrary JQL and export that using the built-in "Release notes" export type for a doc like this:

[Anand Inamdar_Amoeboids]

@Tom Clark  you may want to take a look at our Automated release notes app for Jira. It is extremely flexible in terms of the data it can collect from Jira & the format/look & feel of release notes it generates. 

Here is a quick showcase of sample release notes.

[Tonia Carlson]

This is super helpful - thank you!