Apr 4
Benefits of Release Notes
by Bradley Nice, Content Manager at ClickHelp — all-in-one help authoring tool
It is well known that there are no products in the world that would stay the same for years or even decades. These days it is impossible, even fatal, for any service to remain in its permanent condition. The needs and desires of modern consumers demand unstoppable development from businesses in all spheres and areas of human activity.
This situation demands a specific introduction for the user, introducing all the changes made by a company, their functionality, benefits, and perspectives. This is what the release notes do.
What Are Release Notes?
Release notes are a special type of documentation responsible for providing information about all the changes made in the product or service, its last updates, new functionalities, bug fixes, and many other modernizations. The creation of release notes is a responsibility of a specialist, primarily a technical writer. Technical writers take instructions and information about the product’s development from the project managers, programmers or other developers, QA engineers, designers, and marketers. The further content is created according to these instructions and the writer’s personal observations.
Benefits of Release Notes
People dealing with the product or service gain several advantages with creating, keeping, and maintaining the release notes.
For the user, publication and the mere existence of such documentation mean a condition of being well informed about all the developments that happen in applications, programs, or software. It helps the user to understand the opportunities available for them while working with the product, so they decide the fate of further interconnection with it.
For those, who take part in the product’s creation, development, and quality assurance, release notes help to understand what part of work is already created, which parts are left, and what functions can be added to make the work of the app or program faster, easier and more effective. Moreover, these notes kept in a proper condition may help quickly go back to the product’s history at some point in the future.
Marketers also may benefit from these documents as they can take some information for creating advertisements and build the sales strategy.
It is important to remember that the engagement with release notes works on both sides, so everybody takes something from it and contributes to it.
Release Notes Templates
As with any documentation, file, or announcement, release notes require specific writing rules. To understand these rules, it is always better to look at some examples that will give a clear picture of the structure, writing style, and other peculiarities.
One more way of correct writing is to use special templates. Templates provide structure and organization with some instant data. These instant data can be changed into necessary data. It is an excellent tool for aspiring writers to learn and master the skill of writing release notes or any technical documentation. The structure can be analyzed and implemented into further works.
Here are several excellent and popular programs that may provide good templates:
- Kipwise (provides not only templates but also effective searching tools and a real-time online editor);
- UiPath’s;
- Hubspot’s;
- Sketch;
- Amplitude.
There are far more programs, but these are the most famous and convenient with millions of users worldwide.
Conclusion
The release notes perform as a vital sort of documentation that exists as a part of a complex of measures dedicated to the problem of satisfaction growing consumers’ demands and desires.
Moreover, release notes perform as a connecting element between different business areas and between clients and developers, and business owners. As a result, many companies pay great attention to that matter and find and hire specialists such as technical writers.
Have a nice day!
Bradley Nice, Content Manager at ClickHelp.com — best online documentation tool for SaaS vendors
