Planning Product Upgrades: A Method for Defining Release Types and Their Strategies for Software-Intensive Products

The environment of today’s companies is marked by increasing dynamism. Rapid technological developments, strong innovation impulses, and continual market entry of new competitors create volatile conditions that make the delivery of valuable products challenging. Long-term corporate success therefore depends on offering a product portfolio consistently aligned with evolving market needs. Customers expect products that show continuous improvements in performance and functionality over time, making systematic product upgrading a key success factor. Release planning addresses this need by enabling continuous product evolution through planned product upgrades. It focuses on selecting and combining functional units for structured publication within releases. This proactive management of product value offers substantial potential but also demands comprehensive know-how, particularly given rising product complexity and the interplay of multiple technologies. The objective of this work is to develop a methodology that supports effective planning of product upgrades. The method assists in the product-specific selection of release types and the derivation of suitable release strategies. It yields release units defined by product structure and provides recommendations for appropriate release strategies. The methodology is demonstrated through its application to an electric vehicle, illustrating its practical relevance for software-intensive products.