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As a Designer I want better Release Notes(medium.com)

over 6 years ago from Rob Gill, UX Designer and Director at Provius

  • Ken Em, over 6 years ago

    How about including release notes in the first place? All of the Facebook apps, I'm looking at you.

    5 points
    • Seymour ButzSeymour Butz, over 6 years ago

      Rob links to this reddit post explaining why Facebook doesn't have them. Though I still agree with you.

      2 points
      • Jesse HeadJesse Head, over 6 years ago

        How can you still agree after reading the reddit post? Genuine question. It's literally impossible for companies like FB to provide release notes when releasing features to subsets of users at a time.

        0 points
        • Seymour ButzSeymour Butz, over 6 years ago

          I guess my cynical attitude towards Facebook leads me to agree with the people in the comments of that post that other large companies like Google manage to find a way to do it, and that Facebook has a history of slipping in "features" that are bad for privacy.

          They intentionally hide what's new because they don't want to lose customers. If they can't be honest with what's coming out in their app, than they can't be trusted, plain and simple. Their response proves that. We make thousands of updates every time your app is updated, but nobody cares about them so buzz off? If anything, they need to be held to a higher accountability for this stuff because, as you say, they are "fucking huge."

          0 points
          • Ken Em, over 6 years ago

            I don't buy the argument that Facebook doesn't have the resources to do this or that it isn't practical. They are deliberately choosing to not include release notes. Other large companies can do it and they can too. I don't expect every single bug fix and pixel tweak to be expressed in detail, but give us an overview of any new features in simple bullet form, so we at least know something about what we are getting. This isn't rocket surgery here folks.

            0 points
            • Jesse HeadJesse Head, over 6 years ago

              I don't buy the argument that Facebook doesn't have the resources to do this

              Until you work for the company, you can't really make that claim.

              They are deliberately choosing to not include release notes.

              This is purely an assumption. I believe they're bound by constraints, but may also be choosing not too... who knows though.

              Other large companies can do it and they can too.

              What other companies? Uber doesn't, Yelp doesn't, Spotify doesn't. Google sometimes does, but that's because they tend to release features platform wide rather than incrementally, which is easier to manage (although this isn't always the case).

              As long as features are being released incrementally, I have zero expectations for companies to list them in release notes. I don't see how anyone can expect companies to do this. You've made a lot of assumptions in your comment that I just don't understand.

              0 points
              • Ken Em, over 6 years ago

                Until you work for the company, you can't really make that claim.

                Please read my comment again. I am not saying that for a fact Facebook does not have the resources to do it, I am saying that I don't buy that they don't. It's my opinion. My opinion isn't wrong.

                This is purely an assumption.

                It's not an assumption. It's spelled out in detail in the Reddit post linked to above. They are making a conscious decision to not include release notes.

                What other companies?

                In looking at the updated apps on my iGadgets, I see three major companies which have included release notes for new features or stuff that's been fixed:

                • Yahoo (Tumblr, Flickr apps)
                • Google (GMail, YouTube apps)
                • Microsoft (Outlook app)

                Again, as I said earlier, I'm not looking for every single thing that's been tweaked to be spelled out in detail. But if there are new features or major bugs that have been fixed, I think those are good things for users to know about when they see an update pop up on their device.

                0 points
                • Jesse HeadJesse Head, over 6 years ago

                  I agree and disagree with some of your replies (mainly semantics, which is why I'm moving on for now), but the thing I still don't get is this line:

                  if there are new features or major bugs that have been fixed, I think those are good things for users to know about when they see an update pop up on their device.

                  I agree that it's good for users to know about these features/fixes. But how are major companies supposed to show them in the App Store's release notes, when many (if not all) of these 'new features' are released incrementally? It makes no business sense to promote a new feature in the release notes, when X% of users won't even have access to that feature for who knows how long (often weeks).

                  0 points