Release notes... finally

I've finally gotten the company that I work for to standardize the release notes that are being submitted.

Previously, some groups would send text files with some information, other groups would send PDF or MSWord files with other information, still more groups wouldn't send any release notes at all.

The principles of the new release notes format are:

• easy to write
• target the audience
• document change (only)
  
• information related to this release of this product
• easy to read (audience targeting again)

The format is a text file broken into two sections:

1. A set of value pairs that will show information like product name, release number, list of developers, etc.
2. Descriptions for super-system impact, changes to the product, changes to perform to OS, DB or release procedures.

The release notes should not include the complete release procedures. Those should be documented elsewhere. The release notes should only changes to the release procedures.