Towards a capability model for the software release planning process - Based on a multiple industrial case study

Software release planning is an important activity for effectively identifying the customer needs generating best business, especially for incremental software development. In this paper we propose a capability model for improving the release planning process of an organization. Using this model it is possible to 1) determine the capabilities of an organization's release planning process, and 2) identify areas for improvement. The model is based on empirical data from a multiple case study involving 7 industrial companies, all being producers of software intensive systems. We also provide examples of how the proposed capability model can be applied using the companies from the study.