Release Notes

Context

I write and own the release notes for OneStrata, a digital advertising campaign management platform. The monthly release guide keeps internal and external users informed about product updates, and is an important part of our product communications strategy.

Contribution

Shortly after I wrote the first version of the OneStrata User Guide, I worked with the product team to create a release note process. My team (Knowledge Management) had developed release note processes for other platforms, but this was our first time doing so with the OneStrata team.

I collaborated closely with product managers to understand their product development lifecycle and create a process that worked with existing timelines, like aligning flag-by deadlines with code freezes. I also defined ticket flagging procedures and intake requirements to ensure that the appropriate context and details is provided from the start, significantly reducing the need for follow-up conversations.

For the release notes, I introduced a release note template that addresses the following key questions in a clear, consistent way:

• What is it?: A high-level summary of the feature. Generally includes a comparison of previous and new product behavior, helping users understand what has changed.
• Where is it?: Which part of the product is affected; this information is useful to users because OneStrata has a highly nested UI.
• Do I need to do anything?: Whether or not the user must take any action to access the feature, since some features are gated and only enabled upon request.

The release note process and template that I created for OneStrata has been recognized and adopted by teams on other platforms for their internal release notes.

For the past 18 releases and counting, I have owned the end-to-end release note process for OneStrata, from ticket intake and stakeholder coordination to writing clear, high-quality release notes and publishing the release guide on time.