
On Your Cute Release Notes - ingve
https://brooksreview.net/2016/01/release-notes/
======
spdustin
Slack's release notes, I find, are both friendly and informative. Some samples
from a recent update:

> We now show an “(edited)” label on messages that have been edited, making it
> clearer when things have changed. Less confusion, fewer shenanigans.

> Fixed: New users attempting to sign in from an invite email would get stuck
> in a sign in loop, which is not the warm welcome we would wish for those
> people. Sorry, people.

> Previously added, but now public: You can now feel free to not-receive all
> the messages you don’t want to receive, whenever you want not to don’t-not
> receive them, with support for our magical, long-awaited new Do Not Disturb
> feature (This was secretly supported in 2.65, but we didn’t want to disturb
> your not knowing about Do Not Disturb feature by telling you so).

I liked them.

~~~
jordonwii
Interesting that you chose Slack as a _positive_ example. Their most recent
release notes were exactly what I had in mind while reading this article:

"Revel in the ability create a whole new team from within the app! Enjoy a
whole new world of custom profile fields and bigger avatars! Delight in being
able to long-press on an emoji reaction to see who left it!"

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Disruptive_Dave
> "They are a matter of fact conveyance of information to your dedicated
> users."

False (obviously). Everything is marketing. Every touch point with your
consumer matters. For every reaction like this, there's a user who is
delighted by the little break from expectations and monotony.

~~~
Cthulhu_
^this. The author is probably a developer, of a cynical nature, more into
facts and to-the-point information, etc.

Whilst app makers generally cater to a much wider audience; if a release note
on an app makes someone smile or chortle instead of glaze over when confronted
with a detailed changelog, then, success.

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ibejoeb
I think there is a lot of frustration that has built over the past few years
of trends in marketing prose. It used to be "cheeky positive" and now it's
just cheeky. Technologists are especially tired of adjective-laden job ads,
and consumers are weary of the emo marketing. I saw this on an HN post a few
days back which has some examples:
[http://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com/](http://ourincrediblejourney.tumblr.com/).

I understand that marketing touches everything, but I think we have
overreacted to corporate speak, and now everything just needs to be turned
down a notch. I've made it a priority lately to be cordial and concise on my
external comms.

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jdlyga
Downcast has the best release notes I've ever seen. They tell you exactly what
bugs are fixed where and specifically what new features were added. As long as
people do the minimum, I have no problem with cute extras in the comments.

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mikez302
My favorite non-informative release notes are for MonkeyParking. An example:
[https://twitter.com/noahstewart/status/563539364177645568](https://twitter.com/noahstewart/status/563539364177645568)

~~~
p_monkeyparking
glad we're making your day with our release notes. You just won a special
mention on our next one :)

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LegNeato
Writing release notes for consumer software doesn't make sense. They are a
throwback to boxed software and should be abolished:

1\. With A/B testing and server-side feature flags they don't reflect what the
user will see.

2\. With technology like React Native and PhoneGap changes are decoupled from
shipping an updated ipa/apk.

3\. With most apps shipping quickly (some every 2 weeks) localization of
release notes becomes a long pole.

4\. Simple text is not effective for showing users potential benefits or
training how to use something.

5\. They can be misleading...saying something like "fixed a startup crash"
doesn't mean for a particular user the startup crash they are experiencing is
fixed.

6\. More and more users have automatic update turned on and don't even see
release notes is the app store UI.

7\. Users don't read release notes (or anything really). HN folks may read
them...normal people do not.

Do you know what version of Facebook.com you are using and all the new
features they push out daily? How about Gmail? Nope, you use products for core
functionality and then discover what's new in the course of actually using
them and not in a text pop-up up front. This is how apps should be.

A much better and more effective strategy is contextual in-app callouts / new
user experiences.

The above _only_ applies to consumer products. I believe release notes can be
valuable for enterprises/frameworks/libraries/tools/etc.

PS: I know all about the tradeoffs...I wrote release notes for Mac OS X,
Firefox, and Facebook. I was the one that decided to stop doing them at
Facebook for the above reasons.

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jrnichols
I dunno, I kind of look forward to the app release notes for Storm (weather
app.) And Weatherbug. Much better than just seeing "bug fixes." They keep me,
the 'casual power user,' engaged and interested in the changes.

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SPD-13
This reads like a speech given by the antagonist in a Robin Williams movie.

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draw_down
Jeez, give me a break. I mean, honestly.

