Merge pull request #1220 from jenriquesoriano/release-strategy-update

Update release strategy. Clarifications on branches and instances

Author: MarcoMinghini

release strategy/README.md

@@ -38,9 +38,11 @@ For simplicity, the descriptions make explicit reference to the release in the y
 * **v2025.1 - 09/07/2025**: it includes both breaking and non-breaking changes. This release is the one used for the end-of-year Monitoring process.
 
 ### v2025.1 - 09/07/2025
-This release is scheduled on 09/07/2025 and includes the breaking and non-breaking changes occurred since the previous release (v2024.3). All these changes (each managed in a dedicated branch) are first incorporated in the _staging_ branch, i.e. they are made available in the Staging instance; afterwards, each change which is also tested and accepted by the user who originally reported it, is also incorporated in the _v2025.1_ branch. This branch is finally merged into the _master_ branch, which will make all changes available in the Production instance. Should hotfixes be needed at any time, they are immediately incorporated both in the _staging_ and the _master_ branches.
+This release is scheduled on 09/07/2025 and includes the breaking and non-breaking changes occurred since the previous release (v2024.3). All these changes (each managed in a dedicated branch) are first incorporated in the _staging_ branch, i.e. they are made available in the Staging instance; afterwards, each change which is also tested and accepted by the user who originally reported it, is also incorporated in the _next_ branch, thus making all upcoming and confirmed changes available to the community before the release. The _v2025.1_ branch is then created from _next_, incorporated into the release, and deployed in the Production instance. Should hotfixes be needed at any time, they are immediately incorporated both in the _staging_ and the _next_ branches, and made available in the Staging and Production instances accordingly.
 ![v2025.1](./img/v2025.1.png "v2025.1")
 
+
+
 # Release Delivery
 Each release of the INSPIRE Reference Validator is fully managed and made available to the INSPIRE community through the following set of GitHub artifacts: