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Release notes template

Release notes tell users what they can do now that they couldn't before. They're written from the stories that shipped, in the users' words, not the team's.

Signed off by:
The product owner
Comes after:
Change request
2.4.md
# <Product> <version> · <date>

## New

## Improved

## Fixed

## Known issues

## For admins
Config, migrations, permissions.

## Internal
Story keys, owners.

Write for users

Each line says what someone can now do, and why it's better: "Upload your order sheet from the cart instead of typing every line", not "Implemented bulk upload service (BO-1)". One line each, benefit first.

Where it comes from

The stories marked done in the release, and any approved change requests. If a done story doesn't produce a line a user would care about, it goes under Internal.

The sections

  • New: things that didn't exist.
  • Improved: things that work better. Say how much when you can.
  • Fixed: bugs users could have hit, described by their symptom.
  • Known issues: what's still wrong and any workaround. Users trust notes that admit this.
  • For admins: settings, migrations and permission changes someone has to act on.
  • Internal: story keys and owners, kept out of what users read.

Common mistakes

  • A list of ticket titles.
  • Hiding known issues.
  • Notes nobody reads because they arrive weeks after the release.

Example

Northwind Orders 2.4 · March 4

New

  • Upload your order sheet (.xlsx or .csv) from the cart instead of typing every line.
  • Rows that don't match a product come with suggestions, so you fix them before they reach your cart.

Improved

  • Large carts load twice as fast.

Fixed

  • Quantities over 999 were shown as 999 in the cart summary.

Known issues

  • Sheets with merged cells are read as one row. Unmerge them before uploading.

For admins

  • Account SKU maps are under Settings › Accounts.

Internal

BO-1 (Sam), BO-2 to BO-6, BO-10, CR-4.

Have Releavo write the release notes

In Releavo this lives at releases/2.4.md. Releavo drafts it from the docs before it and your team's conversations; every edit is a draft until the product owner approves it, and approved versions are never overwritten.

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