Adapting to Different Release Approaches

I have participated in release planning throughout my career, from slow, structured waterfall processes at Altisource to chaotic attempts at agile in various startups. Finding the right balance between speed and quality has been a constantly evolving learning process.

Learning by Doing at Engagio

My first real ownership of release planning came at Engagio, where I was tasked with launching a major new set of features—almost an entirely new product—without a structured process in place. I had to figure it out as I went. I started by collaborating with marketing and customer success to identify power users to create a Beta group. I worked with engineering to flag certain features as "beta," allowing for controlled rollouts, and I created my own structured timelines for Testing → Beta → GA → Production. Acting as a one-person release team, I collected user feedback and iterated on designs as the features progressed through each stage.

Bringing Structure to Shipshape

Finally, most recently in my career at Shipshape, I worked closely with engineering to define clear release stages in Jira, ensuring transparency across teams. By establishing a structured rollout framework, we improved coordination between development and customer-facing teams, making releases more predictable and efficient.

Conclusion

Through these experiences, I’ve learned how to adapt to different company environments, introduce structure where needed, and drive releases that successfully balance speed, quality, and cross-team alignment.