- [x] Bump operator-rs to latest version in all operators. This should be done early in the release cycle to leave sufficient time for testing etc.
- [x] Check Rust and e.g. cargo deps versions
- [ ] https://github.com/stackabletech/issues/issues/451
- [ ] https://github.com/stackabletech/issues/issues/452
- [ ] https://github.com/stackabletech/issues/issues/454

### Other release-specific pre-requisites
- [x] Ensure the the hello-world operator is added to the list of platform operators: in the stackable-utils release scripts, in the github build actions
- [x] Review supported product versions and extend/adapt if necessary
- [x] Update the changelogs for each product docker image as these are out-of-sync with the releases.
- [x] refactor stackable-utils to create olm yamls that consider resource limits (also secret operator/daemonsets), check on any changed doc paths: see https://github.com/stackabletech/stackable-utils/issues/52

#### Technical tasks
- [x] Create release branches for docker-images (see stackable-utils for script to create branches)
- [x] Create release tag(s) for docker-images (see stackable-utils for scripts to create tags)
- [x] Create release branches for operators (see stackable-utils for script to create branches)
- [x] Create release tag(s) for operators (see stackable-utils for scripts to create tags)
- [x] Update changelogs in main branches (see stackable-utils for script to do this)
- [x] Check integration tests (use a table in Nuclino - easier for concurrent editing)
- [x] Check getting started scripts (use a table in Nuclino)
- [x] Check (new) stackablectl Stacks and Demos (use a table in Nuclino)
- [x] Test with locally updated (to new release number) `releases.yaml`
- [x] Update `release.yaml` in https://github.com/stackabletech/release/blob/main/releases.yaml: https://github.com/stackabletech/release/pull/25
- [x] Check that an upgrade can be performed on an existing cluster without data loss.

#### Documentation tasks
- [x] Check the Changelog and/or issue labels to compile Release Highlights
- [x] Upgrade guide: Document how to use stackablectl to uninstall all and install new release
- [x] Upgrade guide: Document how to use helm to uninstall all and install new release
- [x] Upgrade guide: Every breaking change of all our operators
- [x] Upgrade guide: List dropped supported product versions (if there are some)
- [x] Upgrade guide: List dropped supported operators (if there are some)
- [x] Upgrade guide: List supported k8s versions
- [x] Update version of main documentation repo
- [x] Set the release to "Released" in the Feature Tracker and create a new release
- [x] Add documentation note (release notes): when we change the default pvc size, the user needs to delete the sts, as we are not allowed to change the pvc in sts spec
- [x] Update the getting-started page in the main docs and check it works with this release: https://github.com/stackabletech/documentation/blob/main/modules/ROOT/pages/getting_started.adoc (@adwk67): https://github.com/stackabletech/documentation/pull/495
- [ ] https://github.com/stackabletech/issues/issues/458
- [ ] https://github.com/stackabletech/documentation/pull/497

#### Marketing tasks
- [x] Write marketing / customer oriented release summary to be published in the marketing channels
- [x] Update the homepage banner (as long as we have it) to point to the new release
- [x] Write a blogpost / news article announcing the new release (optional). See https://github.com/stackabletech/writing/pull/34
- [x] Write a description of new demos for hmepage/demos section
- [x] Announce Release on linkedIn
- [x] ~Announce Release on Twitter (optional)~ (removed from release template)
- [x] Announce Release in Newsletter (optional)
- [x] Produce a release highlight video (optional)
- [x] Announce Release on Hacker News (optional)?
- [x] Post an announcement in the GitHub [Discussions Announcement forum](https://github.com/stackabletech/community/discussions/categories/announcements) and make it a pinned discussion while at the same time removing the old pinned thread (@adwk67)
- [x] Post an announcement in Discord
- [x] Post an announcement on DOK Community (Ping Lars)
- [x] Post an announcement via OSBA (Ping Lars)
- [x] Ping Kubernetes Podcast
- [x] Ping heise
- [x] Inform customers of new release

### Post-release tasks
- [x] Bump Rust version. This can be done [in this file](https://github.com/stackabletech/operator-templating/blob/main/repositories.yaml) by changing `rust_version` and also for the ubi base image [here](https://github.com/stackabletech/docker-images/blob/main/ubi8-rust-builder/Dockerfile#L25). Please be aware that this action will change it for all repositories at the same time (when merging the templating PRs).
- [x] Run renovate manually by starting this action: https://github.com/stackabletech/ci/blob/main/.github/workflows/renovate.yml
- [x] Check/bump ubi8 base image https://github.com/stackabletech/docker-images/pull/514
- [ ] https://github.com/stackabletech/issues/issues/465
- [x] Define product versions to include in the next release (re-look at this 24.1? i.e. mid release-cycle)
- [x] Check/bump versions of kube-rs and k8s-openapi (also checking the version of k8s we build against)
- [ ] https://github.com/stackabletech/issues/issues/472
- [x] Update the repos.yaml file in the crddocs to include the new release tags @fhennig
- [x] Make tools/testing-tools/krb5 images release-specific
- [x] Check getting-started docs match the updated scripts. (@maltesander)