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The title says What is the difference between release and iteration? Can you explain what the difference is?

streetparade
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  • I haven't seen standard definitions of those words. I see a sprint/iteration as a period of time that produces something. It may or may not be released outside the organization. – mdoar Jul 17 '12 at 18:46

3 Answers3

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Iterations are basically single units of work within your release plan. Typically, your iteration planning phase will be a short (1-4 week) series of tasks that will be done.

After an iteration, there should be a series of acceptance tests. This verifies that the problem domain was handled correctly.

The series of iterations plus acceptance lead to a single release. The release leads to deployment, whether to a customer or internal usage by the end user (which is the critical difference).

Granted, in many teams, the lines can blur a bit, especially if you're releasing every iteration, etc...

Reed Copsey
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An iteration can be purely internal. A release goes out to a customer.

Jon Skeet
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We can say in simple words, Release is "What to do" and Iteration is "How to do". Release focuses on User stories and iterations focuses on Tasks decomposed from user stories.

Hanan Atif
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