It takes a lot of effort within a large organisation to get things done, especially to a really high standard. However it’s often minor tasks that will offer you the biggest rewards. This talk will take you through a journey of suggestions and tips to help improve communication, productivity and quality, whilst tying back to an overarching theme of Release Notes.

1. Minor Bug Fixes
by Rob Gill

2. TL; DR
too long; didn’t read
Content:
Apps, AppStores & Release Notes
Topics:
Communication, Communication Channels &
Improvement

4. goal.com

5. 57.4M
Users
585.1M
Page Views
38 local editions
20 languages
goal.com

6. Rob Gill
👋UX Manager

7. 📍

8. Business goals &
priorities are
changing
😫
20 different
languages
🤔
Lots of
different
products
😅
Communication across
timezones
🙁
Little time to
focus on improving
one feature
🙁
It can take a long
time to do anything
😒

9. 😁
But…
this is software
at scale!

10. First ticket created
29th December 2014
)*
🕸
🕸

11. ✨
First ticket created
29th December 2014
V8.0 iOS Release
19th May 2016
1 year,
3 months,
8 days later
✨
✨
✨
✨)*
🕸
🕸

14. 1 year, 3 months, 8 days later
💩

15. 😍
😍😍 😍
💩

16. Nobody reads them!
😒
Not much
point
😑
Too much
effort
🤔
We don’t have
enough time
🙁
Translations
take a long time!
🙁

17. Turns out nobody does read
release notes…

19. 💩
💩

20. 📣 ----------------> 👀
your
users
2you

22. 📣 ----------------> 👀
your
users
2you

23. 📣 ----------------> 👀
📬 <---------------- 💌 your
users
2you

24. 📣😍🎉

25. ! ” # $ % & ( ) * + , - . /
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 : ; < = > ?
@ A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S
T U V W X Y Z [ ] ^ _ ` a b c d e f g
h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z }
{ ~ D E L Ç ü é â ä à å ç ê ë è ï î ì Ä
Å É æ Æ ô ö ò û ù ÿ Ö Ü ø £ Ø × ƒ á í ó
ú ñ Ñ ª º ¿ ® ¬ ½ ¼ ¡ « » ░ ▒ ▓ │ ┤ Á Â
À © ╣ ║ ╗ ╝ ¥ ┐ └ ┴ ┬ ├ ─ ┼ ã Ã ╚ ╔ ╩ ╦
╠ ═ ╬ ¤ ð Ð Ê Ë È ı Í Î Ï ┘ ┌ █ ▄ ¦ Ì ▀
Ó ß Ô Ò õ Õ µ þ Þ Ú Û Ù ý Ý ¯
´ ¬ ± ‗ ¾ ¶ § ÷ ¸ ° ¨ • ¹ ³ ² ■ ¢

26. Summarise First; Tell Later.

27. • Bullets

28. Make it easy for people to get in touch

29. Reference the last major release

30. …2 days later..

31. 🚀
Euros Section
🚀
Improved Match Pages
🚀
Bug
Fix
🚀
Bug
Fix

32. 🚀
Euros Section
🚀
Improved Match Pages
🚀
Bug
Fix
🚀
Bug
Fix

33. r
🚀
Euros Section
🚀
Improved Match Pages
🚀
Bug
Fix
🚀
Bug
Fix

34. 🚀
Euros Section
🚀
Improved Match Pages
🚀
Bug
Fix
🚀
Bug
Fix
⚽
Euro 2016
Start
⚽
Euro 2016
End

35. The perfect release note

36. The introduction. A short paragraph. Make this personal if
appropriate. Eg. "Season greetings, everyone! You asked, Santa
listened - this update is exactly what you ask for this
Christmas."
TL; DR
• An extra short summary of these notes goes here.
*** NEW ***
• This is where you layout any new features.
• Explain where abouts these features are within your app.
• How do users find these new features?
• Which users will this benefits, or how exactly will this
benefits them?

37. The introduction. A short paragraph. Make this personal if
appropriate. Eg. "Season greetings, everyone! You asked, Santa
listened - this update is exactly what you ask for this
Christmas."
TL; DR
• An extra short summary of these notes goes here.
*** NEW ***
• This is where you layout any new features.
• Explain where abouts these features are within your app.
• How do users find these new features?
• Which users will this benefits, or how exactly will this
benefits them?
• E.g. "[Who benefits?] Apple Watch users will be particularly
happy with the latest release. [Why?] We now automatically support
handoff with your Mac. [Where/how?] Don’t forget to have your
bluetooth turned on, you can do it]!”

38. The introduction. A short paragraph. Make this personal if
appropriate. Eg. "Season greetings, everyone! You asked, Santa
listened - this update is exactly what you ask for this
Christmas."
TL; DR
• An extra short summary of these notes goes here.
*** NEW ***
• This is where you layout any new features.
• Explain where abouts these features are within your app.
• How do users find these new features?
• Which users will this benefits, or how exactly will this
benefits them?
• E.g. "[Who benefits?] Apple Watch users will be particularly
happy with the latest release. [Why?] We now automatically support
handoff with your Mac. [Where/how?] Don’t forget to have your
bluetooth turned on, you can do it]!”
*** IMPROVEMENTS ***
• If improving an existing feature, rather than something that’s
brand new, use the "Improvements" title instead of "New".
• If you've improved something as a result of user feedback,
consider a sentence like, "you asked, we listened". A great way to
make your users feel valued.

39. • This is where you layout any new features.
• Explain where abouts these features are within your app.
• How do users find these new features?
• Which users will this benefits, or how exactly will this
benefits them?
• E.g. "[Who benefits?] Apple Watch users will be particularly
happy with the latest release. [Why?] We now automatically support
handoff with your Mac. [Where/how?] Don’t forget to have your
bluetooth turned on, you can do it]!”
*** IMPROVEMENTS ***
• If improving an existing feature, rather than something that’s
brand new, use the "Improvements" title instead of "New".
• If you've improved something as a result of user feedback,
consider a sentence like, "you asked, we listened". A great way to
make your users feel valued.
*** FIXED ***
• List out any major bugs that might have affected many users.
• If you've only addressed minor fixes, or nothing specific, use
something like:
• E.g. "Minor Bug fixes"
• Keep the "Fixed" title if you've included other titled sections.
The sign off. Similar to the introduction, this could be
personalised if appropriate. You could easily have a couple of

40.
*** IMPROVEMENTS ***
• If improving an existing feature, rather than something that’s
brand new, use the "Improvements" title instead of "New".
• If you've improved something as a result of user feedback,
consider a sentence like, "you asked, we listened". A great way to
make your users feel valued.
*** FIXED ***
• List out any major bugs that might have affected many users.
• If you've only addressed minor fixes, or nothing specific, use
something like:
• E.g. "Minor Bug fixes"
• Keep the "Fixed" title if you've included other titled sections.
The sign off. Similar to the introduction, this could be
personalised if appropriate. You could easily have a couple of
variations of this in your locker.
Finally Feedback. Add the feedback email address and welcome users
thoughts. Eg. “Submit your suggestions for improvements to
feedback@yourapp.co we value your feedback”

41. *** FIXED ***
• List out any major bugs that might have affected many users.
• If you've only addressed minor fixes, or nothing specific, use
something like:
• E.g. "Minor Bug fixes"
• Keep the "Fixed" title if you've included other titled sections.
The sign off. Similar to the introduction, this could be
personalised if appropriate. You could easily have a couple of
variations of this in your locker.
Finally Feedback. Add the feedback email address and welcome users
thoughts. Eg. “Submit your suggestions for improvements to
feedback@yourapp.co we value your feedback”

42. Life before this template…sllbefore 😓

43. Life before this template…sllafter 😓😍

44. Issues

45. Translations
take a long
time
😓

46. Make it a part of your workflow…

47. 📍 📍
📍

48. What if our updates aren’t
user friendly?
e.g. additional ad networks integrated
😓

49. Minor bug fixes

50. “Minor bug fixes” from last 12 months
0 65 130 195 260
Total Development Time (hours)
V8.6.7
V8.6.6
V8.6.5
V8.6.4
V8.6.3
V8.6.2
V8.6.1
V8.6.2
V8.5.1
V8.3.1

51. “Minor bug fixes” from last 12 months
0 65 130 195 260
Total Development Time (hours)
V8.6.7
V8.6.6
V8.6.5
V8.6.4
V8.6.3
V8.6.2
V8.6.1
V8.6.2
V8.5.1
V8.3.1

52. “Minor bug fixes” from last 12 months
0 65 130 195 260
Total Development Time (hours)
V8.6.7
V8.6.6
V8.6.5
V8.6.4
V8.6.3
V8.6.2
V8.6.1
V8.6.2
V8.5.1
V8.3.1

53. Before —
— After

54. Minor bug fixes *** NEW ***
Compact news cards - you can now
see more news in on your screen
*** IMPROVED ***
Optimised ad experience
*** FIXED ***
24 bugs fixed

56. Seems like a
lot of effort for
little reward
😓
But nobody reads
release notes…

58. Re-use

59. Re-use

60. Proof this works

65. 📣 ------> 👀
📬 <------ 💌

72. The 2mm Rule

73. The introduction. A short paragraph. Make this personal if appropriate. Eg. "Season greetings,
everyone! You asked, Santa listened - this update is exactly what you ask for this Christmas."
TL; DR
• An extra short summary of these notes goes here.
*** NEW ***
• This is where you layout any new features.
• Explain where abouts these features are within your app.
• How do users find these new features?
• Which users will this benefits, or how exactly will this benefits them?
• E.g. "[Who benefits?] Apple Watch users will be particularly happy with the latest release. [Why?]
We now automatically support handoff with your Mac. [Where/how?] Don’t forget to have your bluetooth
turned on, you can do it]!”
*** IMPROVEMENTS ***
• If improving an existing feature, rather than something that’s brand new, use the "Improvements"
title instead of "New".
• If you've improved something as a result of user feedback, consider a sentence like, "you asked, we

74. @rob_gill_
• E.g. "Minor Bug fixes"
• Keep the "Fixed" title if you've included other titled sections.
The sign off. Similar to the introduction, this could be personalised if appropriate. You could
easily have a couple of variations of this in your locker.
Finally Feedback. Add the feedback email address and welcome users thoughts. Eg. “Submit your
suggestions for improvements to feedback@yourapp.co we value your feedback”

75. @rob_gill_
• E.g. "Minor Bug fixes"
• Keep the "Fixed" title if you've included other titled sections.
The sign off. Similar to the introduction, this could be personalised if appropriate. You could
easily have a couple of variations of this in your locker.
Finally Feedback. Add the feedback email address and welcome users thoughts. Eg. “Submit your
suggestions for improvements to feedback@yourapp.co we value your feedback”
Thank You