Yours are all excellent points, especially in contexts that are close to or approaching continuous integration. However, many shops still release annually, qua

Yours are all excellent points, especially in contexts that are close to or approaching continuous integration. However, many shops still release annually, quarterly, and bi-monthly. Also many shops don't have smooth sprints, their development processes being somewhere between Agile and Waterfall. I've worked in two such shops. I'm not naysaying you, just adding that I think your insights apply to a different model of development than the one I'm thinking about in my previous comment.