Release Planning in a Hybrid Project Environment

Context: Even regulated domains like the automotive domain increasingly adopt agile software development. However, traditional sequential processes are still in use and have to coexist with the new development approaches. Collaboration between agile and hybrid projects within complex traditional product development processes is challenging, especially regarding the creation and synchronization of a qualification phase plan. Objective: The aim of this study is to motivate research related to the combined use of agile and traditional paradigms in release planning in the automotive domain and to report challenges from industry. Method: We introduce and motivate the research topic and discuss related work based on the results of a small literature study. Further, an online survey with 56 respondents from an automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer was conducted. Results: There is a clear research gap regarding release planning for combined agile and traditional projects. The state-of-the-practice survey identified challenges, such as a lack of transparency regarding the status quo of related projects. Conclusions: The research gap as well as the challenges from industry should motivate further research on this topic, in order to improve release planning processes in this specific context.