And this change can catches you off guard like it did me.

I went to check the roadmap today like I normally do.

Searched “Dynamics 365.” Zero results.

Thought it was a bug at first. It’s not. Microsoft actually killed off the twice-a-year Wave 1 / Wave 2 model. There’s no more fixed release schedule — D365, Power Platform and Dataverse all moved into one continuous feed called the “AI at Work Roadmap,” where stuff shows up the moment it’s approved internally instead of on a set date.

Here’s the actual timeline:

• New release plans stop publishing on Learn starting this month (September 2026)
• The old Release Planner tool retires November 15 — and any saved views/filters you had go with it
• Items now move through stages instead of dates: In Development → Rolling Out → Launched
• Anything dated June 1, 2026 or later is migrating over gradually between now and mid-November
• Message Center is still the one place that tells you what’s actually live in your tenant

Why this is more than a UI annoyance:

The waves weren’t just release notes, they were the two fixed checkpoints a year everything else got built around — UAT windows, regression cycles, budget approvals, steering committee updates. That structure’s just gone now, and nothing automatically replaces it. We have to build our own cadence, and there isn’t even a populated feed yet to build it from.

For F&O specifically — a Copilot feature touching a business process still needs sign-off before it goes live. Except now it can land in the middle of a review cycle instead of waiting for the next one.

Two things worth mentioning from what people are saying about this:

Microsoft also shipped a Release Communications MCP server, so you can ask the roadmap questions in plain language from VS Code or Copilot CLI.

Genuinely handy for research. But it’s not a compliance record — an LLM answering a query isn’t the same thing as an audit trail, so don’t try to use it as one.

And nobody’s actually said whether any of these AI capabilities come with extra licensing cost. A roadmap feed tells you what’s shipping, not what it’ll cost you.

What I’d do before November 15:

1. Set up a recurring roadmap review, monthly at minimum, with an actual owner
2. Rebuild whatever saved views you had — RSS, filters, CSV export, whatever
3. Use the MCP server to draft answers fast, but verify through Message Center and Learn before relying on anything
4. Stop treating regression testing as a twice-a-year event — make it rolling
5. Get the licensing question answered in writing before turning on anything AI-branded

Bottom line: Message Center is truth for your tenant. The roadmap is direction, not confirmation. And an AI answering roadmap questions is a productivity gain, not a governance control.

If you’re a partner, “here’s what’s changing and how it affects you” just became an actual service line instead of a courtesy email.

Curious how everyone else is handling this — monthly review, quarterly, or just reacting whenever Message Center pings you?