Many teams get confused about the difference between a changelog and a release note. Often, they are grouped together or used interchangeably to describe written alerts that tell a product’s latest changes.
However, there may be a few nuanced differences between the terms. Let’s dig in a bit and understand why they are actually two very different types of documentation for two very different audiences.
What is a Release Note?
Release Notes can be internal or external and serve as an update or announcement to changes that have happened on a product over a certain amount of time. They are written and designed in such a way as to be easily understood by end-users and to explain how the latest changes will change the way a user interacts with the product. Think of a release note as a way a company “stays in touch” with its user base – providing an open communication channel that makes sure users are always in the loop.
What is a Changelog?
A changelog tends to provide a chronological list of recent changes on a product’s different versions. It serves as a record of all changes that a piece of software undergoes and helps map out the ongoing evolution. While users may sometimes see a product’s changelog, ultimately, it’s a software developer working systematically on a project that benefits from a changelog as it is more detailed and lays out each and every change a product goes through.
How Changelogs and Release Notes Overlap
While each serves its purpose, a changelog and release note does have a lot of commonalities. These include:
- Being concise snapshots of high-level information that a reader can quickly consume
- Being well-organized and linear in fashion
- Being designed as a way to communicate between parties
How Changelogs and Release Notes Differ
The difference between the two is also quite stark. For example:
- Release notes are not meant to be overly technical and should be written for a non-technical audience in mind
- Release notes should focus on changes that directly affect the user experience
- Release notes are more effective the shorter and more concise they are
- Changelogs provide a more comprehensive, highly technical list of changes and a short explanation of what the newer version entails
- Changelogs are much more detailed and may contain information including modification dates, developers involved, etc.
- Changelogs are meant to be a comprehensive historical document that outlines all changes a product goes through
Should I Initiate a Changelog…or a Release Note Strategy?
There is no right or wrong answer in terms of which your team should focus on. Some companies may choose to initiate one over the other depending on their priorities. Some may even choose to focus on both. If your team is on the fence, ask yourselves these questions:
- Is my user base highly technical? Suppose you are writing for a non-technical audience. In that case, it may be better to write simple, non-technical, easy-to-understand notes that illustrate precisely how the changes affect them directly. If your audience is highly technical or your internal team, a changelog may be better suited.
- Am I mostly fixing bugs and focused on technical adjustments? Once again, a more technical approach may make more sense, and a changelog may be a better fit.
- Am I going to use this for marketing purposes? Release notes, being largely non-technical, lend themselves to marketing a bit more effectively. If you plan to use your information in newsletters, blogs, or in-app pop-ups, more straightforward universal language, and therefore release notes, may be more effective.
How Can I Write an Effective Changelog
Changelogs are a bit different from release notes, and therefore need to be written a bit differently. When writing a changelog, information – and the more, the better – is what is essential. Therefore, make sure you:
- Write in reverse chronological order so that the latest changes always appear first.
- As your changelog is a historical reference of changes, make sure you include a complete history (in comparison, a release note may only have the changes that will directly impact a user and their experience with the product).
- Include the “when” for each update. This will help pinpoint issues should a bug appear weeks or months later.
- Note everything that was changed, removed, fixed, added, or deprecated.
- Understand that changelogs aren’t often as short as release notes. Therefore, it’s a good idea to:
- Include a summary. Changelogs can often run a log if many changes are happening, and summarizing everything at the outset helps those reading the changelog get a quick snapshot of everything that’s happened.
- Group the same types of changes (for example, bugs) to make items easy to find
- Use one-word categories for changes for easy referencing.
- Embrace white space, so the entire document doesn’t look too chaotic.
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