29 Nov The Need for Robust Communication in the IT world: Release Notes
The Need for Robust Communication in the IT world: Release Notes
— Rajdeep Roy
Evolution of Release Notes
From time immemorial, humans have devised numerous methods to communicate with each other. From sign language to advanced forms of communication, humans have always strived for better and more effective communication. In the computing world, effective communication is the bedrock for a successful product. From the first commercial computer UNIVAC I to present-day supercomputers, communication plays a very vital role in the success of a product. For a successful product, there are a multitude of layers of communication between developers, QA, testers, product managers, and end users. From linear sequential models like a waterfall to the agile model, Release Notes provide an effective medium of communication between different actors in the software and hardware industry. Release Notes are the mechanism that ensures that IT stakeholders keep their users informed regarding product developments and future updates.
What are Release Notes
Release Notes are the documents that are shared between end users, and internal and external customers. Release Notes – also called changelogs – are generally written using a combination of the present and past tense. The updates need present tense and the fixes are reported in past tense. Release Notes are how product managers and developers let users know about product improvements, major bug fixes, and brand-new features. They are generally bundled with every software release. Release Notes are not optional documents, they must be released with every release.
Benefits of writing Release Notes
There are many benefits of writing Release Notes:
- Improve branding: Users know in advance the feature enhancements in the product which in turn helps the team retain loyal customers.
- Build confidence: Informed users want to continue their subscription instead of going to the competitors. Even if users aren’t directly waiting for a specific enhancement, release notes help gain confidence by reminding users that your company is always on top of the features they need.
- Attract new customers: New prospective customers like to see the product’s enhancements in terms of new additions of features and remediation of any bugs. Release notes help attract potential customers.
- Reduce tickets: IT teams spend a considerable amount of time resolving bugs and tickets. There are many examples of bugs that are not fixed till the release date. With proper use of release notes, a smaller number of users submit tickets as they are already aware of certain updates in the product or bug remediation.
Who owns Release Notes?
There is no rule on who owns Release Notes. It varies from company to company. Release notes can be owned by anyone from developers to product managers based on the company size. In smaller companies, developers own them however in midsize to larger companies product managers or the head of product and chief product officers may have the ownership.
Contents of Release Notes
- Header: Document name, product name, release date, etc.
- Overview: A brief description of the product and changes.
- Bug id: Number identifying the bug.
- Bug Description: Description of the bug
- New features: Content explaining new features and enhancements
- Fixed issues: Bugs that have been fixed.
- Improvements: Changes that have been brought to improve the product.
- Disclaimers: Any warning or any closing remark
What to look for in Release Notes – Users’ perspective
This section explains what users are expecting from a new release, why is an update being released, and why the customer’s constant feedback is important to the company. Release notes enhance customer communication. They help keep your internal teams informed about the updates. They tell your current users why this new release is important for you. They showcase your software to potential users.
Release Notes Tools
While the most common tool for writing RNs is good old MS Word, there are many customized tools available in the market. Some noteworthy tools are:
- Headway: Headway is a clean and simple tool for publishing and sharing release notes.
- LaunchNotes: LaunchNotes supports both sides of release communication: internal communication to enable teams with the information they need to support a release, and external communication to inform and educate customers.
- Noticeable: Noticeable is a slick-looking release notes tool that allows your customers to add comments and emoji sentiments to your releases.
- Releasenotes.io: Release notes help product teams showcase their releases by including different buckets for each release. For example, a single release can be segmented into different categories like “bug fixes,” “updates,” and “features,” which historically has been a pretty standard way of formatting release notes.
- AnounceKit: AnnounceKit is another release notes tool that aims to be a simple and lightweight solution for publishing release notes.
- Beamer: Beamer positions itself as more of a user engagement tool, which makes sense because release notes can increase user engagement if done right.
- Onset.io: Onset appears to be focusing on brief release note entries where a single release has multiple categories. This is similar to the Releasenotes.io model.
- Frill: Frill offers announcements (release notes), a public roadmap, and an idea-collection board all in one place to help you streamline your workflow from collecting user feedback to adding it to your public roadmap to announcing when a new feature or improvement has been shipped.
Ways to distribute Release Notes
Some common methods to distribute Release Notes to wider customers are:
- Web page
- Blog
- SMS or text
- Social Network platform
About the Author
I am a simple, technology savvy man with high values. Fascinated by the world of technology on how things are changing so rapidly. Always ready to learn, unlearn, and relearn new things to keep myself abreast with the new technology
Current Role: Project and Program Senior Manager (Documentation)
Company: Equinix
City: Pune, India
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