Release management is about being in control of which version of your software is deployed to which environment. Versions are often created using continuous integration and delivery pipelines. These versions, along with all of the configuration needed, are then stored as immutable artifacts in a repository. From here on, release management tools are used to plan and control how these versions are deployed to one or more environments. Example controls are manual approvals and automated queries of open work and quality checks before allowing deployment to a new environment.

Release management is related to continuous deployment and focuses more on controlling the flow of versions through the continuous deployment pipeline. Chapter 6, Infrastructure and Configuration as Code, will cover configuration as code as part of release management.