Under the Radar

00:00:00 ◼   ► welcome to under the radar of show about

00:00:02 ◼   ► independent iOS app development I'm mark

00:00:04 ◼   ► Worman and I'm David Smith under the

00:00:06 ◼   ► radar is never longer than 30 minutes so

00:00:08 ◼   ► let's get started so today we wanted to

00:00:10 ◼   ► talk about release notes and I guess

00:00:13 ◼   ► more generally about kind of like launch

00:00:15 ◼   ► communication strategies and approaches

00:00:17 ◼   ► oh so around talking about the podcast

00:00:19 ◼   ► release notes to the conference release

00:00:20 ◼   ► notes we're actually talking about

00:00:21 ◼   ► release notes what about the actual

00:00:22 ◼   ► things that you write and publish when

00:00:25 ◼   ► you release an update to your

00:00:27 ◼   ► application or you launch it initially I

00:00:29 ◼   ► think mostly release notes really come

00:00:31 ◼   ► into play when you're doing an update

00:00:33 ◼   ► it's the ways in which we communicate to

00:00:35 ◼   ► our users that things have changed you

00:00:38 ◼   ► know these can range in so many

00:00:41 ◼   ► different ways like from the actual

00:00:43 ◼   ► prose you write in terms of the how

00:00:46 ◼   ► details you go where you put these if

00:00:49 ◼   ► you actually do them at all like I feel

00:00:51 ◼   ► like there's a lot of things that are

00:00:52 ◼   ► worth kind of unpacking here because it

00:00:54 ◼   ► is a interesting opportunity for us to

00:00:58 ◼   ► communicate with our customers you know

00:01:00 ◼   ► we have the documentation and the things

00:01:04 ◼   ► that we write and put together with

00:01:05 ◼   ► screenshots in our app store page is our

00:01:08 ◼   ► initial communication with the vast

00:01:10 ◼   ► majority of our users from that point on

00:01:12 ◼   ► release notes are one of the other

00:01:15 ◼   ► venues that we really have to talk to

00:01:18 ◼   ► our customers unless you have some kind

00:01:20 ◼   ► of messaging system built into your app

00:01:22 ◼   ► which may or may not be a good idea or

00:01:24 ◼   ► not like it always drives me crazy when

00:01:26 ◼   ► I open an app and it pops up and it says

00:01:28 ◼   ► hey here's everything that's changed

00:01:29 ◼   ► it's like right I don't care I wanted to

00:01:32 ◼   ► use the app not to read right now but

00:01:36 ◼   ► still like the things that we submit to

00:01:38 ◼   ► the app store I think is probably is is

00:01:40 ◼   ► a common place for this I think release

00:01:43 ◼   ► notes are a funny topic now because I

00:01:45 ◼   ► think increasingly release notes for

00:01:48 ◼   ► most of the most popular apps have

00:01:51 ◼   ► become just a one-sentence thing that

00:01:54 ◼   ► says you know bug fixes and performance

00:01:55 ◼   ► improvements you can have ism very bland

00:01:58 ◼   ► very boring and I mean I guess in many

00:02:01 ◼   ► ways it's fair enough because since the

00:02:05 ◼   ► since was it Johnny was John McCain

00:02:07 ◼   ► complained to Tim Cook about having to

00:02:10 ◼   ► keep updated up updating apps in the App

00:02:12 ◼   ► Store and have getting

00:02:13 ◼   ► that badge and then somehow magically

00:02:16 ◼   ► the next Ellis iOS update we had

00:02:18 ◼   ► automatic up updating in the background

00:02:21 ◼   ► but ever since that day at least notes

00:02:24 ◼   ► probably are less read and less

00:02:27 ◼   ► important in that regard because I

00:02:28 ◼   ► imagine a significant proportion of

00:02:30 ◼   ► users never ever read the release notes

00:02:33 ◼   ► you know there they are there as a as a

00:02:35 ◼   ► reference and it's something that we

00:02:37 ◼   ► have to do but in in practicality

00:02:39 ◼   ► they're probably not actually looked at

00:02:40 ◼   ► very much but I don't know maybe it's

00:02:43 ◼   ► maybe it's a bit silly but for me I

00:02:44 ◼   ► still look at them as something that is

00:02:46 ◼   ► a a rare opportunity to try and make a

00:02:49 ◼   ► connection with my customers and for me

00:02:53 ◼   ► increasingly I've started to I used to

00:02:55 ◼   ► do the kind of like slightly more

00:02:58 ◼   ► developer II like more like treating

00:03:00 ◼   ► release notes as a change log you know

00:03:03 ◼   ► something that's like I'm something more

00:03:04 ◼   ► technical like this is here's all the

00:03:07 ◼   ► like a bulleted list of all the things

00:03:09 ◼   ► that I did and then more recently I

00:03:11 ◼   ► think I've moved over towards viewing my

00:03:13 ◼   ► release notes as like a letter that I'm

00:03:15 ◼   ► writing to my customers and in some ways

00:03:18 ◼   ► I'll even you know it's like I'm usually

00:03:19 ◼   ► I'm even still I having a you know

00:03:21 ◼   ► signing off with my name and the bottom

00:03:23 ◼   ► of it being like hey you know this is

00:03:24 ◼   ► what I'm this is what I'm thinking about

00:03:25 ◼   ► the app here's some of the things that I

00:03:27 ◼   ► worked on you know sex sincerely Dave

00:03:29 ◼   ► like and viewing it in that reproach and

00:03:32 ◼   ► I don't know if that's good or not but

00:03:34 ◼   ► it's you know I think release notes can

00:03:36 ◼   ► span such a wide range of things and

00:03:39 ◼   ► they also have to encompass so many like

00:03:42 ◼   ► like potentially really awkward

00:03:45 ◼   ► situations like if you have to like as

00:03:47 ◼   ► we mentioned in a couple episodes ago if

00:03:49 ◼   ► you happen to have to remove a feature

00:03:51 ◼   ► that people like or at least a small

00:03:53 ◼   ► group of people like the release notes

00:03:55 ◼   ► is how you mention that to them and how

00:03:57 ◼   ► you break that news and so how we do do

00:04:00 ◼   ► that and go about that is probably

00:04:02 ◼   ► something that tenure is important to

00:04:03 ◼   ► have at least some consideration and

00:04:05 ◼   ► care about to do you handle it in the

00:04:07 ◼   ► most sort of delicate way possible yeah

00:04:11 ◼   ► and I think you know in the case of a

00:04:13 ◼   ► feature removal like I guess we'll start

00:04:14 ◼   ► here then we'll get more positive

00:04:15 ◼   ► towards the end in the case of a feature

00:04:18 ◼   ► removal it's important to realize I'd

00:04:21 ◼   ► say two main themes number one as you

00:04:24 ◼   ► mentioned no one reads these like rel

00:04:27 ◼   ► speaking no one reads like it's not zero

00:04:29 ◼   ► but it's it's a it's a low percentage

00:04:32 ◼   ► number two if you change something like

00:04:35 ◼   ► a feature removal that people are going

00:04:37 ◼   ► to be mad about they're going to be mad

00:04:40 ◼   ► regardless of what you say many of them

00:04:42 ◼   ► are going to email you or tweet you or

00:04:45 ◼   ► leave a one-star review without reading

00:04:48 ◼   ► your release notes first of all they're

00:04:49 ◼   ► just going to be mad and they're gonna

00:04:50 ◼   ► do that many of them are going to read

00:04:52 ◼   ► your explanations in some form but will

00:04:56 ◼   ► still be mad and we'll still tweet the

00:04:57 ◼   ► one start review or you know suite you

00:05:00 ◼   ► or do the one-star review and there's

00:05:02 ◼   ► there's only so much you can do you know

00:05:05 ◼   ► so what you're what you're optimizing

00:05:07 ◼   ► for when trying to write good release

00:05:09 ◼   ► notes so we're trying to explain a

00:05:11 ◼   ► feature removal things like that what

00:05:12 ◼   ► you're optimizing for is not let me make

00:05:15 ◼   ► everybody okay with this instead it's

00:05:18 ◼   ► like you know let me do my best to give

00:05:21 ◼   ► a reasonable sensible summary of what

00:05:23 ◼   ► has happened or a reason why things have

00:05:25 ◼   ► changed or a list of major things that

00:05:28 ◼   ► have changed and for the very few people

00:05:31 ◼   ► who will read it and the very few people

00:05:33 ◼   ► who will actually like read it with some

00:05:36 ◼   ► consideration or like you know not hate

00:05:38 ◼   ► you immediately or not be mad or

00:05:40 ◼   ► whatever else you know I'll do my best

00:05:42 ◼   ► but that's all you can really do so like

00:05:44 ◼   ► in the case of my of my future move on

00:05:46 ◼   ► overcast where I remove the the

00:05:47 ◼   ► standalone watch play back and let

00:05:49 ◼   ► analyze update that you know I've gotten

00:05:52 ◼   ► a lot of negative reviews about that a

00:05:54 ◼   ► lot of negative tweets about that but I

00:05:56 ◼   ► think I did the best job I could of you

00:05:59 ◼   ► know in in the release notes I said here

00:06:02 ◼   ► this sorry I had to remove this feature

00:06:03 ◼   ► for more information go to go to this go

00:06:06 ◼   ► to market org and there's a blog post

00:06:08 ◼   ► there and you know so and in that blog

00:06:10 ◼   ► post I gave the whole story which I told

00:06:12 ◼   ► him this show a few episodes ago about

00:06:14 ◼   ► you know here's why I had to change it

00:06:15 ◼   ► I'm sorry and I hope I can bring it back

00:06:17 ◼   ► in the future and that's about the best

00:06:20 ◼   ► I can do there you know it's I think

00:06:22 ◼   ► there would have been more angry people

00:06:24 ◼   ► had I not explained it the way I did but

00:06:27 ◼   ► they're still gonna be angry people

00:06:29 ◼   ► whenever you change or remove anything

00:06:30 ◼   ► and so you just kind of have to be okay

00:06:32 ◼   ► with that because again this is good

00:06:34 ◼   ► this is kind of a a best-effort but low

00:06:36 ◼   ► low response and low comprehension

00:06:39 ◼   ► medium that you're communicating

00:06:41 ◼   ► yeah the thing that's tricky though I

00:06:43 ◼   ► find is AK so what you did there where

00:06:45 ◼   ► you you your actual detailed explanation

00:06:48 ◼   ► went in a different place in your case

00:06:50 ◼   ► went on your website like it's kind of

00:06:54 ◼   ► an awkward thing I find I mean and I

00:06:55 ◼   ► understand why Apple doesn't allow us to

00:06:57 ◼   ► have links in our release notes where I

00:07:02 ◼   ► mean I sort of understand why like you

00:07:04 ◼   ► could see it as an avenue for abuse or

00:07:07 ◼   ► being problematic but I do kind of wish

00:07:09 ◼   ► that they did for these for situations

00:07:12 ◼   ► like this where the thing that's awkward

00:07:16 ◼   ► there is I can't like the note that had

00:07:18 ◼   ► the number of people who went to the App

00:07:20 ◼   ► Store saw the saw your release notes and

00:07:23 ◼   ► then open Safari and remembered the URL

00:07:26 ◼   ► to type in that you'd like they can't

00:07:29 ◼   ► even copy/paste it out of there like

00:07:31 ◼   ► they I mean you have a short URL but

00:07:33 ◼   ► it's still like it's that lap barrier is

00:07:36 ◼   ► in my mind is so high that it's very

00:07:39 ◼   ► unlikely almost anybody did that that

00:07:42 ◼   ► and so if you have if that's true which

00:07:46 ◼   ► means it's speculation but my guess is

00:07:47 ◼   ► that's reason a reasonable expectation

00:07:49 ◼   ► that very few people did that beyond the

00:07:52 ◼   ► people who read your blog regularly and

00:07:54 ◼   ► are like oh heroes who wrote something

00:07:55 ◼   ► about this let me go and and read it you

00:07:59 ◼   ► know who knew what marker org was

00:08:00 ◼   ► beforehand but for the rest of folks

00:08:03 ◼   ► like it's a tricky thing where I almost

00:08:05 ◼   ► wonder if it's better to try and you

00:08:08 ◼   ► know concisely

00:08:10 ◼   ► you know couldn't boil down that blog

00:08:12 ◼   ► post into something that you could put

00:08:14 ◼   ► just there and there release notes and

00:08:15 ◼   ► you know this isn't it I've I've gone

00:08:17 ◼   ► back and forth on many times myself

00:08:18 ◼   ► where usually when I'm doing something

00:08:21 ◼   ► like any any making it a big update in a

00:08:23 ◼   ► positive sense like hey here's all these

00:08:25 ◼   ► great new features or on the negative

00:08:26 ◼   ► sense here's some thing I had to change

00:08:28 ◼   ► that you may not like those I often will

00:08:31 ◼   ► write a blog post or related to that but

00:08:33 ◼   ► I tend to in my release notes just say

00:08:35 ◼   ► hey you know I could turn to try and

00:08:38 ◼   ► turn that like the four or five

00:08:39 ◼   ► paragraph blog post into you a one

00:08:42 ◼   ► paragraph explanation because it seems

00:08:45 ◼   ► like it's just more likely that act that

00:08:46 ◼   ► people are actually going to read it and

00:08:50 ◼   ► honestly probably have the patience to

00:08:51 ◼   ► read it that it's just you know it's

00:08:53 ◼   ► it's unlike I

00:08:55 ◼   ► people's attention spans for this type

00:08:57 ◼   ► of stuff you can get very short very

00:08:59 ◼   ► quickly and so just trying to be as

00:09:02 ◼   ► concise as I can as possible and then I

00:09:04 ◼   ► have the blog post is there is a

00:09:06 ◼   ► tremendous resource when doing customer

00:09:08 ◼   ► support after the fact you know so in

00:09:10 ◼   ► terms of waiting someone then reaches

00:09:12 ◼   ► out and says hey cuz the reality is most

00:09:14 ◼   ► people couldn't reading the release

00:09:15 ◼   ► notes like when you have to remove a

00:09:17 ◼   ► feature as I guess which is a good

00:09:18 ◼   ► example of where this is probably most

00:09:20 ◼   ► tricky the what it will often the the

00:09:23 ◼   ► customer support request you get is the

00:09:26 ◼   ► hey so I used to use this thing and I

00:09:28 ◼   ► can't find it anymore like what what

00:09:31 ◼   ► happened right there's from their

00:09:32 ◼   ► perspective they don't even know it's

00:09:33 ◼   ► gone they may just think that it's in a

00:09:35 ◼   ► different place or it's moved or they

00:09:37 ◼   ► configured something incorrectly and in

00:09:40 ◼   ► that case having a blog post or

00:09:42 ◼   ► something to point them to and say hey

00:09:43 ◼   ► you know here's what's unfortunately had

00:09:45 ◼   ► to remove that and here's a detailed

00:09:47 ◼   ► explanation why it's like it feels a

00:09:49 ◼   ► little bit better but yeah it's a it's a

00:09:51 ◼   ► weird thing to not be able because we

00:09:53 ◼   ► can't link people directly to those

00:09:56 ◼   ► release notes to do anything kind of

00:09:57 ◼   ► like linking or just say like hey go

00:10:00 ◼   ► read this over here like I don't know in

00:10:03 ◼   ► my mind no one's actually going to do

00:10:05 ◼   ► that yeah and and that's why you know

00:10:07 ◼   ► and part of it is again it's like you

00:10:08 ◼   ► know you do what you can like I just

00:10:10 ◼   ► said go to marker that org I didn't give

00:10:12 ◼   ► a full URL for like a permalink page

00:10:14 ◼   ► which I helped here of my in frequency

00:10:18 ◼   ► of vlogging this is like it's going to

00:10:21 ◼   ► be the top post for a while probably and

00:10:23 ◼   ► and if it isn't the top post it'll be

00:10:25 ◼   ► like the second post damn it the third

00:10:27 ◼   ► post down for you know the whole time

00:10:28 ◼   ► this version is likely to be in the

00:10:30 ◼   ► store probably yeah so you know I'm

00:10:32 ◼   ► helped out there but also you know I

00:10:34 ◼   ► feel like again it's like so few people

00:10:36 ◼   ► read that that I don't think it's really

00:10:39 ◼   ► a problem worth optimizing too much for

00:10:41 ◼   ► like I gave a short version I gave a

00:10:42 ◼   ► short explanation in in the in the

00:10:44 ◼   ► description I said like sorry I had to

00:10:46 ◼   ► remove send to watch you to watch OS

00:10:47 ◼   ► changes details at market org like

00:10:50 ◼   ► that's I figure like that's the best I

00:10:52 ◼   ► can do because I almost no one's reading

00:10:54 ◼   ► this to begin with the few people that

00:10:55 ◼   ► do read it are not going to read

00:10:56 ◼   ► anything long so you brevity is your

00:10:59 ◼   ► friend here and so it's this is simply

00:11:01 ◼   ► three bullets the things I changed in

00:11:03 ◼   ► the app and that's the third one so and

00:11:07 ◼   ► I feel like also you have to consider

00:11:08 ◼   ► like

00:11:10 ◼   ► when you do a blog post as part of an

00:11:14 ◼   ► update that's really the marketing post

00:11:16 ◼   ► that is the marketing material if

00:11:17 ◼   ► there's gonna be any news stories

00:11:19 ◼   ► written if you're lucky enough to have

00:11:20 ◼   ► press coverage of your app that's gonna

00:11:23 ◼   ► be what people refer to not the two or

00:11:26 ◼   ► three lines you put in the changelog in

00:11:28 ◼   ► the App Store and so it's it's partially

00:11:30 ◼   ► a different approach like it's a

00:11:32 ◼   ► different style of writing you should

00:11:33 ◼   ► use in like in like an announcement post

00:11:36 ◼   ► you should cover different things in

00:11:38 ◼   ► different ways just because it's it's

00:11:40 ◼   ► more of a general audience thing it is a

00:11:43 ◼   ► little important though to also consider

00:11:45 ◼   ► the the downside of doing the blog post

00:11:47 ◼   ► thing is that again when you just put it

00:11:52 ◼   ► in the changelog almost no one reads

00:11:54 ◼   ► that if you make a blog post out of it

00:11:56 ◼   ► that you that people might link to or

00:11:58 ◼   ► the press might cover you draw attention

00:12:00 ◼   ► to it and that could be good or bad if

00:12:03 ◼   ► you're doing a big new version great

00:12:05 ◼   ► draw attention to it if you're removing

00:12:07 ◼   ► a feature that is or do another or like

00:12:10 ◼   ► if you're basically announcing bad news

00:12:12 ◼   ► drawing attention to it might not be

00:12:15 ◼   ► what you want it that might be actually

00:12:18 ◼   ► a bad idea

00:12:19 ◼   ► in the case of this feature I I made the

00:12:22 ◼   ► decision to do this because I thought it

00:12:23 ◼   ► required some explanation about why I

00:12:25 ◼   ► had to remove it I have removed other

00:12:28 ◼   ► smaller features before like there used

00:12:30 ◼   ► to be an option called seek acceleration

00:12:33 ◼   ► where you know as you as you hit

00:12:36 ◼   ► fast-forward everyone in a podcast more

00:12:39 ◼   ► and more if you hit it like a lot in a

00:12:40 ◼   ► short time it starts jumping by larger

00:12:42 ◼   ► intervals cuz it seem like you're trying

00:12:43 ◼   ► to get further this used to be optional

00:12:46 ◼   ► it was on by default

00:12:47 ◼   ► I found that almost nobody turned it off

00:12:50 ◼   ► and I figured it wasn't even worth

00:12:52 ◼   ► having the option anymore so now it's

00:12:54 ◼   ► just always on and I removed the option

00:12:56 ◼   ► I did that how do you remember when

00:12:57 ◼   ► probably six months ago at least maybe

00:12:59 ◼   ► probably more maybe a year ago and I

00:13:02 ◼   ► didn't announce that anywhere because

00:13:03 ◼   ► who cares like it was it was a feature

00:13:06 ◼   ► that almost no one used it is a really

00:13:08 ◼   ► minor inconsequential thing sorry for

00:13:10 ◼   ► like the three people who hate it but

00:13:11 ◼   ► you know they probably stopped using my

00:13:12 ◼   ► app already you know it's a very minor

00:13:15 ◼   ► thing and so it wasn't worth writing a

00:13:17 ◼   ► huge apologetic blog post saying I'm

00:13:19 ◼   ► sorry I've decided to remove this

00:13:21 ◼   ► checkbox in the app be

00:13:23 ◼   ► is I you know I wanted simpler settings

00:13:25 ◼   ► and I wanted the fewer things to test

00:13:26 ◼   ► and everything it it wasn't worth

00:13:28 ◼   ► drawing attention to it that way because

00:13:30 ◼   ► that was that would be that would have

00:13:31 ◼   ► been a bunch of negative attention and a

00:13:33 ◼   ► lot of people who who might be angry

00:13:35 ◼   ► about that are people who might not even

00:13:38 ◼   ► notice if the option goes away it's like

00:13:42 ◼   ► you're kind of like you're taking on

00:13:43 ◼   ► additional negativity when you don't

00:13:44 ◼   ► need to similarly I like I had to be

00:13:47 ◼   ► very careful when we are in this blog

00:13:48 ◼   ► post because again keep in mind people

00:13:51 ◼   ► don't read things very carefully

00:13:53 ◼   ► especially stuff on online but I think

00:13:57 ◼   ► probably everywhere comprehension is low

00:13:59 ◼   ► and so I was I had to be very careful

00:14:02 ◼   ► when when wording this to be very clear

00:14:04 ◼   ► about what I was removing so I've

00:14:07 ◼   ► learned from past things where I haven't

00:14:09 ◼   ► been so clear or you know things I've

00:14:11 ◼   ► tried to announce like only on Twitter

00:14:12 ◼   ► and a short form or whatever else if you

00:14:15 ◼   ► announce that like oh I need to remove

00:14:17 ◼   ► this page for I'm considering moving

00:14:18 ◼   ► this feature half the crazy responses

00:14:21 ◼   ► you get are from people who are really

00:14:23 ◼   ► mad that you're removing something that

00:14:25 ◼   ► you're actually not talking about like

00:14:27 ◼   ► that you're talking about something else

00:14:28 ◼   ► and either you didn't communicate it

00:14:30 ◼   ► properly or they misunderstood or

00:14:31 ◼   ► whatever you know whoever's fault it was

00:14:33 ◼   ► they didn't get that memo and so I

00:14:36 ◼   ► wanted to be very careful in writing

00:14:37 ◼   ► this to be clear that I'm talking about

00:14:39 ◼   ► these send to watch feature and I called

00:14:42 ◼   ► it I kept referring to it I send to

00:14:43 ◼   ► watch not standalone watch playback or

00:14:46 ◼   ► offline watch playback because those

00:14:48 ◼   ► could be very easily misunderstood to

00:14:50 ◼   ► mean the entire watch app or playback on

00:14:53 ◼   ► the phone when you're offline that

00:14:54 ◼   ► happens to be controlled by the watch or

00:14:56 ◼   ► something like that like this could be

00:14:57 ◼   ► very very easily misunderstood so I

00:15:00 ◼   ► carefully thought about it I've wrote

00:15:02 ◼   ► this post weeks before I published it

00:15:04 ◼   ► and I was editing it frequently that's

00:15:07 ◼   ► making it shorter more concise more

00:15:09 ◼   ► clear because it's you run such a big

00:15:13 ◼   ► risk if you announce some kind of

00:15:15 ◼   ► negativity or removal or like other

00:15:18 ◼   ► things that people don't like late like

00:15:19 ◼   ► a change to your business model you have

00:15:21 ◼   ► to be so clear with how you communicate

00:15:23 ◼   ► it because again keep keeping my no

00:15:26 ◼   ► one's going to read every word you write

00:15:27 ◼   ► and those who do might be skimming it or

00:15:29 ◼   ► might be already mad and maybe then not

00:15:32 ◼   ► comprehending what you're saying or not

00:15:33 ◼   ► focusing too much on the details so like

00:15:35 ◼   ► you

00:15:36 ◼   ► to be so overly cautious about how you

00:15:38 ◼   ► word things and what you tell people

00:15:40 ◼   ► what you call things because so many

00:15:44 ◼   ► people are going to want to jump and be

00:15:46 ◼   ► mad on that and you have to know kind of

00:15:48 ◼   ► like what triggers to avoid and and how

00:15:51 ◼   ► to be absolutely clear so that you're

00:15:53 ◼   ► not being unnecessarily blamed for the

00:15:56 ◼   ► wrong thing even we our sponsor this

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00:17:52 ◼   ► one of the thing with release notes that

00:17:54 ◼   ► and I've had to learn over the years is

00:17:57 ◼   ► remembering that I am writing my release

00:18:00 ◼   ► notes like unless maybe you're unless

00:18:01 ◼   ► you're making a developer tool like

00:18:03 ◼   ► remember that I'm writing my release

00:18:05 ◼   ► notes for a different audience than

00:18:07 ◼   ► myself and specifically the thing that

00:18:11 ◼   ► I've had to make sure that I walk walk

00:18:13 ◼   ► myself back from when I'm writing

00:18:14 ◼   ► release notes or doing this kind of

00:18:15 ◼   ► launch communication is recognizing the

00:18:18 ◼   ► things that I thought were interesting

00:18:21 ◼   ► problems to solve or technical

00:18:24 ◼   ► challenges and in the development of the

00:18:28 ◼   ► update that I thought were cool from a

00:18:30 ◼   ► technical perspective but from a user's

00:18:32 ◼   ► perspective are not relevant or not

00:18:36 ◼   ► interesting or wouldn't make any sense

00:18:37 ◼   ► and so often it's like I like one of the

00:18:42 ◼   ► things that was draw like how if I'm so

00:18:44 ◼   ► frustrating is when I do this like I

00:18:46 ◼   ► spent a lot of time on an update that is

00:18:48 ◼   ► doing some big you know overhaul

00:18:50 ◼   ► refactoring in the bottom of the app and

00:18:52 ◼   ► it's like it's really you know ended up

00:18:54 ◼   ► with what I think is a really elegant

00:18:55 ◼   ► clever solution to a problem and I go to

00:18:58 ◼   ► write the release notes and I have to

00:19:00 ◼   ► remember I'm not writing this to someone

00:19:02 ◼   ► who is also an iOS developer I'm writing

00:19:05 ◼   ► this to just a general user who doesn't

00:19:08 ◼   ► really care that I solved some you know

00:19:10 ◼   ► GCD threading problem with Morse you

00:19:13 ◼   ► know with with clever uses of semaphores

00:19:16 ◼   ► like that's not something that they're

00:19:19 ◼   ► going to care about or understand and

00:19:23 ◼   ► that can be tough when you spend all

00:19:24 ◼   ► this thick you spend like three weeks

00:19:25 ◼   ► working on an update and your release

00:19:27 ◼   ► notes are actually just kind of from

00:19:30 ◼   ► this user's perspective it's like

00:19:31 ◼   ► performance improvement like will crash

00:19:34 ◼   ► less often like those kinds of things

00:19:37 ◼   ► can be so frustrating because like I

00:19:39 ◼   ► want to tell it like I want to tell the

00:19:40 ◼   ► world like hey I wrote I did all this

00:19:42 ◼   ► really cool like hard work down below

00:19:45 ◼   ► the surface but from a user's

00:19:46 ◼   ► perspective nothing changed you know

00:19:49 ◼   ► like the app just crashes less like

00:19:50 ◼   ► that's a good improvement but they're

00:19:52 ◼   ► not four they're not going to notice

00:19:53 ◼   ► that in a tangible way and you know it's

00:19:57 ◼   ► also after my myself like I kind of love

00:19:59 ◼   ► when I get insights into how other

00:20:03 ◼   ► developers

00:20:03 ◼   ► you know solved trick tricky technical

00:20:06 ◼   ► problems or when they kind of get into

00:20:07 ◼   ► the weeds with things and I kind of like

00:20:09 ◼   ► appreciate it when I see that in release

00:20:11 ◼   ► notes but just because I see that like

00:20:13 ◼   ► if anything that's a good indication

00:20:15 ◼   ► like no no I really need to not take

00:20:17 ◼   ► that as a good as a example of something

00:20:19 ◼   ► good because I'm a very narrow and

00:20:23 ◼   ► specific kind of user who you know we

00:20:26 ◼   ► like that maybe if you're making a

00:20:28 ◼   ► developer tool you can kind of get into

00:20:29 ◼   ► the weeds a bit more but for a general

00:20:31 ◼   ► purpose general audience application

00:20:33 ◼   ► it's important to remember that like I'm

00:20:35 ◼   ► trying to explain what's happened in a

00:20:38 ◼   ► way that will you know make this make

00:20:40 ◼   ► this user want to keep using the app

00:20:42 ◼   ► well bringing them back into it if

00:20:44 ◼   ► perhaps they haven't you know they just

00:20:45 ◼   ► happen to be in the App Store and see

00:20:49 ◼   ► something pop up there that might grab

00:20:51 ◼   ► their attention and bring them back into

00:20:52 ◼   ► the app like I need to be writing this

00:20:54 ◼   ► in and as accessible of a way as

00:20:56 ◼   ► possible and in some ways I just need to

00:20:59 ◼   ► swallow my pride and be okay with the

00:21:01 ◼   ► fact that the world may never know about

00:21:03 ◼   ► this like really hard problem that I

00:21:06 ◼   ► solved that no one that never actually

00:21:09 ◼   ► you know comes above the surface of the

00:21:11 ◼   ► application and like that's okay I have

00:21:13 ◼   ► to just like accept that and move on and

00:21:15 ◼   ► not you know publish something that is

00:21:18 ◼   ► just gonna confuse or alienate my users

00:21:20 ◼   ► as a result yeah oh yeah it's definitely

00:21:22 ◼   ► like by far the most interesting

00:21:24 ◼   ► technical things I've ever done in

00:21:25 ◼   ► programming it in apps were summarized

00:21:28 ◼   ► in the release notes as minor fixes and

00:21:31 ◼   ► improvements yeah it is harsh but like

00:21:36 ◼   ► but I'm gonna you're writing it from

00:21:38 ◼   ► their perspective right from there even

00:21:40 ◼   ► though for me I consider it a major

00:21:42 ◼   ► improvement or a major fix but they

00:21:44 ◼   ► would consider it minor like if you fix

00:21:47 ◼   ► a bug you don't even need to list which

00:21:49 ◼   ► bugs you fix unless there was like some

00:21:51 ◼   ► massive crashing bug and the previous

00:21:53 ◼   ► version that everyone knew about you

00:21:55 ◼   ► know otherwise and an image case you

00:21:57 ◼   ► couldn't even say the next version fix

00:21:58 ◼   ► the crashing bug for the last you don't

00:22:00 ◼   ► even have to go into details otherwise

00:22:02 ◼   ► when you fix bugs or when you make

00:22:03 ◼   ► things better

00:22:04 ◼   ► no one cares you care you get

00:22:07 ◼   ► satisfaction out of it you know

00:22:08 ◼   ► developers care your users do not care

00:22:10 ◼   ► at all and they shouldn't need to care

00:22:12 ◼   ► and they never will care no matter what

00:22:13 ◼   ► you say so best to keep it short fixes

00:22:15 ◼   ► and improvements and then

00:22:17 ◼   ► you know use the rest of your allocated

00:22:20 ◼   ► space in that field to talk about some

00:22:22 ◼   ► maybe some new thing that they might

00:22:24 ◼   ► care about that you know some new

00:22:25 ◼   ► feature or new ability in the app and if

00:22:27 ◼   ► there's one leave it out it's fine it's

00:22:28 ◼   ► fine to be brief you know there is a

00:22:30 ◼   ► place if you want to share technical

00:22:32 ◼   ► details there are ways to do that

00:22:34 ◼   ► they're called blog posts and this is

00:22:36 ◼   ► something that should not even be

00:22:37 ◼   ► probably in your marketing blog post

00:22:39 ◼   ► like if you're going to do a separate

00:22:41 ◼   ► blog post for the for like a major

00:22:43 ◼   ► release I would say this is not a good

00:22:46 ◼   ► place to go into technical detail if you

00:22:49 ◼   ► did something huge like you converted

00:22:51 ◼   ► the whole app to swift something like

00:22:53 ◼   ► that maybe submit that that might

00:22:55 ◼   ► deserve one sentence in your marketing

00:22:58 ◼   ► blog post but it certainly does not

00:23:00 ◼   ► deserve to even go in the changelog in

00:23:02 ◼   ► the app store and you know because like

00:23:04 ◼   ► who dear do your users care if you

00:23:07 ◼   ► convert the whole app to Swift do users

00:23:08 ◼   ► care if the app is now 20% faster no all

00:23:11 ◼   ► you can say like converting the entire

00:23:14 ◼   ► app to a different programming language

00:23:15 ◼   ► to me would qualify as minor fixes and

00:23:18 ◼   ► improvements which is take these things

00:23:20 ◼   ► I'm getting used to and I think we just

00:23:22 ◼   ► it's like having to just and I guess

00:23:23 ◼   ► there's a certain humility and just

00:23:25 ◼   ► being able to be like yeah like that

00:23:27 ◼   ► work is just the cost of doing business

00:23:28 ◼   ► like that work is not you don't get like

00:23:31 ◼   ► poor extra brownie points for solving

00:23:32 ◼   ► something like that like you get brownie

00:23:35 ◼   ► points for coming up with interesting

00:23:37 ◼   ► features and finding new ways to solve

00:23:40 ◼   ► user problems but solving technical

00:23:42 ◼   ► problems like that's just table stakes

00:23:44 ◼   ► that's just what the costs are that's

00:23:46 ◼   ► just the bare minimum you have to do and

00:23:48 ◼   ► so you don't get credit for it just for

00:23:50 ◼   ► doing something like that I think and

00:23:52 ◼   ► then also this should kind of help focus

00:23:54 ◼   ► where it's worth allocating your effort

00:23:57 ◼   ► and energy during ordering a new you

00:23:59 ◼   ► know new product release yeah

00:24:01 ◼   ► it's is it like whatever your whatever

00:24:03 ◼   ► is going to be worth spending your time

00:24:05 ◼   ► on are gonna be things that users might

00:24:07 ◼   ► actually notice and might actually care

00:24:08 ◼   ► about and things that might be worthy of

00:24:10 ◼   ► user relevant to bullet points in that

00:24:13 ◼   ► change Locker in that marketing blog

00:24:14 ◼   ► post if you're gonna spend a ton of time

00:24:17 ◼   ► tackling some you know hairy technical

00:24:21 ◼   ► problem or converting your app to a

00:24:23 ◼   ► different language or switching to a

00:24:25 ◼   ► different database layer or something

00:24:27 ◼   ► like that like those are things that are

00:24:29 ◼   ► massive time and effort

00:24:30 ◼   ► syncs that are going to be worth zero in

00:24:33 ◼   ► your marketing it like your users are

00:24:35 ◼   ► not gonna care at all your marketing

00:24:37 ◼   ► blog posts and the press that you hope

00:24:39 ◼   ► will cover them will not care at all you

00:24:42 ◼   ► are like that's gonna get you nowhere so

00:24:44 ◼   ► that's not really worth investing tons

00:24:47 ◼   ► of unnecessary time into if you have to

00:24:50 ◼   ► for like technical debt reasons fine

00:24:52 ◼   ► then you have to still shouldn't spend a

00:24:54 ◼   ► ton of time on it if you could help it

00:24:56 ◼   ► sometimes you can't help it

00:24:57 ◼   ► but oh well but if you're thinking about

00:25:00 ◼   ► like okay I have to I have to tackle

00:25:02 ◼   ► like you know these like five big

00:25:05 ◼   ► difficult time-consuming bullet points

00:25:07 ◼   ► on our on our wish list here we can

00:25:09 ◼   ► afford to do maybe two of them for this

00:25:11 ◼   ► release if if neither one of them is

00:25:14 ◼   ► something that's going to be

00:25:15 ◼   ► representing you know a major thing for

00:25:18 ◼   ► your users that you can mark it and that

00:25:20 ◼   ► people will love and care about it might

00:25:22 ◼   ► increase your sales I would strongly

00:25:24 ◼   ► reconsider your priorities and so like

00:25:26 ◼   ► if you if you're spending an entire

00:25:27 ◼   ► release cycle doing something that's

00:25:30 ◼   ► only paying off technical debt or only

00:25:32 ◼   ► doing interesting hairy problems behind

00:25:34 ◼   ► the scenes that are not representing

00:25:37 ◼   ► major improvements for your users your

00:25:40 ◼   ► users are gonna have a really hard time

00:25:41 ◼   ► getting excited about that or justifying

00:25:43 ◼   ► paying for an upgrade or things like

00:25:45 ◼   ► that yeah and I think that's just the

00:25:48 ◼   ► reality we have to deal with like it's

00:25:49 ◼   ► it's in some ways it's it's kind of like

00:25:54 ◼   ► I almost wonder if in some ways it's a

00:25:55 ◼   ► good it would be a constructive exercise

00:25:57 ◼   ► to write the release notes for the

00:25:59 ◼   ► update before you do the technical work

00:26:01 ◼   ► to do the update as it just is you at

00:26:05 ◼   ► the very least has a thought exercise to

00:26:07 ◼   ► try and understand how is this like it

00:26:10 ◼   ► how rather than sitting down at the like

00:26:13 ◼   ► at the very low technical like level

00:26:15 ◼   ► like looking at it from the other end I

00:26:17 ◼   ► mean like I can put in this work what is

00:26:19 ◼   ► that going to end up looking like from

00:26:21 ◼   ► my customers perspective what kind of

00:26:23 ◼   ► release notes would come out of this

00:26:24 ◼   ► update and doing that exercise ahead of

00:26:27 ◼   ► time it may be very constructive as a

00:26:29 ◼   ► way to be like huh yeah that that makes

00:26:32 ◼   ► it that takes a bit of the the shine off

00:26:34 ◼   ► this if all I'm gonna end up with like

00:26:36 ◼   ► all I get from you know all this solving

00:26:39 ◼   ► this hard technical problem is you know

00:26:41 ◼   ► minor improvements exact

00:26:43 ◼   ► big app 2.0 minor fixes and improvements

00:26:47 ◼   ► yeah that has not very compelling

00:26:50 ◼   ► exactly yeah I like throw some bones

00:26:52 ◼   ► your users like you know if you're in

00:26:54 ◼   ► the position where you have to you know

00:26:56 ◼   ► spend a lot of time on technical stuff

00:26:57 ◼   ► that yours won't care about that's a

00:26:59 ◼   ► really good time to also tackle like

00:27:00 ◼   ► easy features like a couple new options

00:27:03 ◼   ► that maybe a nurse in your settings

00:27:04 ◼   ► screen that are easy to implement that

00:27:06 ◼   ► people have asked for a lot you know

00:27:08 ◼   ► stuff like that like easy things like

00:27:09 ◼   ► that like you know like I when I added

00:27:10 ◼   ► my 3x speed that took very little effort

00:27:12 ◼   ► that was mostly good testing to make

00:27:13 ◼   ► sure it performed well on on slower

00:27:15 ◼   ► devices and to make sure it was

00:27:16 ◼   ► intelligible at all to anybody with any

00:27:19 ◼   ► content which is tricky but that that

00:27:22 ◼   ► was a relatively easy

00:27:24 ◼   ► gimmie and it was the kind of thing like

00:27:25 ◼   ► I had to do a bunch of other technical

00:27:27 ◼   ► stuff in these releases and so I threw

00:27:29 ◼   ► that in as kind of like a bone like I

00:27:31 ◼   ► needed something easy to you know keep

00:27:33 ◼   ► people interested and to keep the mood

00:27:35 ◼   ► happy and everything else so I threw

00:27:36 ◼   ► that in you know that if you if you're

00:27:39 ◼   ► forced to do a lot of technical work and

00:27:40 ◼   ► and you you are not going to have a lot

00:27:42 ◼   ► to show for it to the users that's a

00:27:44 ◼   ► good time to do features like that the

00:27:46 ◼   ► last thing I just wanted to mention that

00:27:48 ◼   ► I think it's just a serve as a personal

00:27:50 ◼   ► experience with release notes is that

00:27:52 ◼   ► don't be too afraid of like I don't love

00:27:56 ◼   ► super like the cutesy release notes when

00:27:59 ◼   ► they get like people are like telling a

00:28:01 ◼   ► story from the perspective of the app

00:28:02 ◼   ► and it's this like like this long should

00:28:05 ◼   ► like the writing a little short story

00:28:06 ◼   ► about the update like that's a little

00:28:07 ◼   ► far but don't be afraid of being a

00:28:09 ◼   ► little bit fun with it and then Luigi in

00:28:13 ◼   ► my experience what thats comes down to

00:28:14 ◼   ► is being a little bit personal like

00:28:15 ◼   ► talking about the story of why the

00:28:17 ◼   ► feature came into k into existence or if

00:28:21 ◼   ► there's an any kind of interesting human

00:28:23 ◼   ► element like i the rienne pedometer plus

00:28:26 ◼   ► plus you get confetti when you hit your

00:28:28 ◼   ► goal

00:28:28 ◼   ► and when you double your goal you get

00:28:30 ◼   ► blue confetti and when you triple your

00:28:32 ◼   ► goal you get pink and when you quadruple

00:28:33 ◼   ► your goal you get purple and the reason

00:28:36 ◼   ► there's blue pink and purple above that

00:28:37 ◼   ► is because my kids asked me to add that

00:28:40 ◼   ► feature to the app and i thought that

00:28:43 ◼   ► was kind of fun and like i put that in

00:28:44 ◼   ► the release notes and i got a lot of

00:28:45 ◼   ► really positive feedback from people who

00:28:47 ◼   ► kind of like that little insight that

00:28:49 ◼   ► like you know my son thought that there

00:28:52 ◼   ► should be blue confetti and you should

00:28:53 ◼   ► get it when you're double your goal and

00:28:54 ◼   ► like that's where that feature came from

00:28:55 ◼   ► like that's a nice human

00:28:57 ◼   ► connection that was also kind of cool or

00:28:59 ◼   ► like being a little bit silly like once

00:29:00 ◼   ► I had a feature an update where there's

00:29:03 ◼   ► a bug in the confetti system and it

00:29:04 ◼   ► wasn't firing all the every time that it

00:29:08 ◼   ► was supposed to and in my release notes

00:29:09 ◼   ► I said you know this but this this

00:29:11 ◼   ► update is it includes bug fixes to avoid

00:29:14 ◼   ► a situation where confetti wouldn't fire

00:29:15 ◼   ► when you know when you should have

00:29:18 ◼   ► gotten it as compensation please accept

00:29:20 ◼   ► 10% higher confetti rates from here on

00:29:22 ◼   ► out and I increase the confetti rate by

00:29:25 ◼   ► 10% in the app and it's like exactly

00:29:27 ◼   ► like it's kind of cute it's kind of

00:29:28 ◼   ► silly but I think those are the kinds of

00:29:30 ◼   ► opportunities where hopefully you can

00:29:32 ◼   ► make an actual meaningful connection

00:29:34 ◼   ► with a customer because you can maybe

00:29:36 ◼   ► you make them laugh maybe you make them

00:29:37 ◼   ► smile and if you can think of an

00:29:39 ◼   ► opportunity to do that take advantage of

00:29:41 ◼   ► it yeah most people won't read them but

00:29:43 ◼   ► for the few that do reward them yeah

00:29:46 ◼   ► alright we're out of time this week

00:29:48 ◼   ► thanks for listening everybody and we'll

00:29:49 ◼   ► talk to you next week bye