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There just needs to be total buy in, from all parties from development, support, and product management, that release notes need to be handled as a daily, ongoing task/story. It cannot be treated like a "back end of the horse" process where no one wants to give any time or thought until the very end, when you end up in a scramble. (I will say, I do NOT have this luxury now but am pushing for it - it took two weeks to get final release notes completed since everyone was on a different page or not paying attention, etc.). As a story for each sprint, addressed in the daily scrum if someone fixed something that may need to be noted as fixed, OR items under review that won't be fixed but need to be released, need to be noted.
Removing it from being a "end" process to something ongoing means only a few minutes of attention at a time, rather than waiting on reviews and comments at the end of the line. If you make any updates, you can note it in a daily scrum, ask people to review the changes before the next scrum, and give prompt feedback if needed.
- V
-----Original Message-----
From: Charlotte Branth Claussen
Sent: Tuesday, December 26, 2017 7:29 AM
Subject: Re: release notes in Agile environment
I see it as an advantage to have frequent releases, as your developer colleagues quickly learn how to manage their bug cases in a way that reduces the workload for everyone involved.
If the frequent releases also include new functionality, then figure out how docs work can be part of the feature development.
If input-, review- and publication processes take up too much of your time, take it up as a team responsibility to see how the workload can be distributed among different people, or how the processes can be improved.
Can developers or support engineers deliver text for bug cases? Do they have good mechanisms for sorting which bug cases should be included in the release notes? How is your review process? Can anything be automated?
Personally, I prefer working in agile environments, as it's always clear what the developers are working on and what's up next (if they truly work agile and don't use the word agile for not having any useful processes!).
Also, you can finish small bits of content while the developers are working on a new feature and have it all fresh in mind.
/Charlotte
On 25 December 2017 at 21:43, Gene Kim-Eng <techwr -at- genek -dot- com> wrote:
> Create a comprehensive note for the first release. The you just need
> to update it with changes as needed.
>
> Gene Kim-Eng
>
>
> On 12/24/2017 10:31 PM, Erika Yanovich wrote:
>
>> The rule over here is to accompany each customer release with release
>> notes. In Agile environment, this is could happen every 2 weeks. How
>> do you deal with the extra effort?
>>
>
>
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