On Your Cute Release Notes

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.

> "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.

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/.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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