When to create a Release record?

[Samantha Bragg]

Hi,

my organisation has it's own development lifecycle which is loosely based around the Scaled Agile Framework, and I'm wondering if anyone could advise me on when the best time to create a release record is?

Our planning works around an area of functionality we want to provide to the business in one implementation... basically a release.

However, sometimes our plans change and a release might not go ahead, might get shelved or we might decide to implement part of it early alongside something new.

Do you;

1. Create a release record and assign Stories to it when you first start planning the release content then archive it without going live if it doesn't go ahead, leaving the Stories assigned.

2. Create a release record and assign Stories to it when you first start planning the release content then delete the release record if it doesn't go ahead.

3. Delay Release record creation until development is almost complete and the Release is unlikely to be cancelled, and if so, how do you communicate the planned content across the project?

4. Something else.