Software Development Mode vs. Maintenance Mode

[Monic Morgan]

My team’s Sprint has completed and the software has successfully been developed. We are currently operating in a maintenance mode. What’s the best way for the team to track and to show credit for the work being done to maintain the application? What’s the best way to provide a status to our stakeholders?

 Thank you 

[Dave Solwold]

I think once you have the first version of the software published then you are in maintenance mode whether it is an enhancement or a bug. So really you are using the same board and the same issue types HOWEVER from an account management / billing standpoint you may want to establish a new PO so you can focus more on the tasks at hand versus managing each request that comes through.

Also set a threshold for how many hours something takes until it becomes a feature - for us if it is over 10 hours we look at it as a feature and not just an update within maint mode. This helps the client understand how much of the monthly retainer they are going to use up and make the business decision on the priority.

Then it is all business as usual. Work the sprints, groom the backlog and each month discuss with the stakeholders what got done last month, hours used and then plan what to work on the next month. I like to use monthly sprints for maint mode but it is really what timeframe works best for the team to plan out their days / weeks / months.