Structure and guidelines for release notes

Scenario

I was asked to design release notes (RNs) for a new, multi-market suite of apps. The RNs needed to scale with the growing suite and accommodate unique content for different markets. The RNs also needed to be easy for multiple authors to produce and for users to access and navigate online.

Process

I researched customer support logs and stakeholder feedback to identify legacy RN issues (e.g., wordiness, inconsistent scope, and mixed formats). I evaluated those issues against stakeholders’ needs and best practices to identify target areas to improve and worked with stakeholders to define back-end and front-end requirements. After modeling the range of the content's scope, its visual hierarchy, and its modular architecture in our CMS, I built functional prototypes. A couple iterations and stakeholder reviews later, we settled on the back-end structure and front-end design.

Results

I produced functional RNs and authoring guidelines which describe the overall RN architecture and content requirements. RNs are authored in an XML-based CMS and published in HTML to a website, where one suite-level RN home page links to every app-specific RN page and vice versa. Market-specific content is published based on conditional build tags and the architecture of RN assets in the CMS.