When it comes to building an amazing product, change isn’t only inevitable — it’s essential.
But if nobody knows what’s changing, even your best updates can go unnoticed or — worse yet, result in sheer chaos behind the scenes.
That’s the beauty of changelogs. While most teams are in tune with the value of effectively tracking updates, many seemingly breeze right past the incredible power of having both an internal and external changelog.
If that’s you, we’re here to enlighten your thinking and empower your business to harness the exciting potential of combined internal and external changelogs.
Discover why smart teams depend on both types to stay organized, maintain communication, and build stronger products.
Table of Contents
- What Is a Changelog?
- What Is the Difference Between Internal and External Changelogs?
- Internal Changelogs
- External Changelogs
- The Big Question… Internal vs. External Changelogs: Why Do You Need Both?
- Create Seamless Product Updates With AnnounceKit’s Interactive Changelog Software
What Is a Changelog?
Let’s start by getting the obvious question out of the way.
A changelog is a chronological file containing a curated, ordered list of notable changes made to each version of a project, typically software or a website. It serves as an easy way for product users, developers, and stakeholders to stay up to date on the modification, addition, and/or removal of features, bug fixes, and other vital updates.
What’s the big deal about keeping a changelog? Ultimately, it makes it easier for both users and contributors to see details about notable changes you’ve made between each version or release of your project.AnnounceKit is an innovative platform that enables companies to clearly and efficiently share product updates while also tracking customer engagement and feedback. It features automatic, easy-to-use changelogs that can be migrated from one program to another hassle-free.
What Is the Difference Between Internal and External Changelogs?
As their names imply, each changelog serves distinct purposes and audiences.
Internal changelogs are used by your team to keep in step with development, track changes, and ensure accurate communication.
External changelogs are for your customers and users and keep them in the know about new features, bug fixes, and other updates.
Internal Changelogs
Purpose
Internal changelogs are responsible for documenting even the smallest updates, including new features, refactoring, bug fixes, and internal AIP changes. They provide your development team with the technical information it needs to understand the evolution of the project and quickly and effectively debug issues.
Content
Internal changelogs provide a detailed, sometimes technical description of product changes, version numbers, and commit messages, as well as links to related tickets or code.
Audience
Internal changelogs are mainly targeted at your organization’s project managers, developers, and testers.
Format
Internal changelogs tend to be technical and detailed, often including specific company terminology, code changes, and version numbers.
External Changelogs
Purpose
External changelogs are designed to communicate changes and updates to users regarding details that directly impact their experience in a concise, clear, and user-friendly way.
Content
External changelogs’ content is focused on user-facing changes and focuses on highlighting bug fixes, new features, and improvements that impact user experience.
Audience
External changelogs are directed at technical stakeholders, developers, and users.
Format
External change logs maintain a user-friendly format that avoids technical jargon, focusing instead on clear, concise language.
The Big Question… Internal vs. External Changelogs: Why Do You Need Both?
Utilizing both internal and external changelogs allows your business a distinct advantage by:
- Targeting different audiences by providing customer-friendly user updates as well as technical details for your internal teams.
- Streamlining internal processes by enabling your development teams to stay aligned and efficiently manage releases.
- Enhancing customer communication by keeping your users informed while promoting your product.
- Capitalizing on the strengths of each type, since a solid internal changelog creates a solid foundation for external changelogs.
To sum it all up, your internal changelog represents the “how” and your external changelog represents the “what” and “why” for your users.
Risks of Relying on Only One Type
If you’re stuck in the dark ages of depending on just one type of changelog, you — and your audience — are missing out.
Relying solely on an internal changelog means you’re keeping vital information locked inside your organization, resulting in missed opportunities to engage your customers and build trust.
Yes, you’ll keep your teams informed and aligned, but at the expense of delivering transparency to users about your products and services. This can cause them to feel disconnected and falsely assume your product has stopped evolving and has become stagnant.
Choosing to use an external changelog to publicly share updates, fixes, or improvements — even small ones — lets your customers know you’re actively listening, committed to improving, and continually investing in their experience. You strengthen customer loyalty while setting your brand apart from the competition.
On the flip side, using only an external changelog invites serious internal risks. Only communicating updates outwardly leaves your internal teams fumbling in the dark, attempting to determine exactly what’s going down behind the scenes.
They’ll suffer from misaligned priorities or wind up duplicating assignments. Support teams will be unprepared for user questions and wind up scrambling to understand the feature, struggling to effectively assist your customers. After a while, the breakdown of internal transparency will isolate departments and reduce the overall cohesion of your organization.
Create Seamless Product Updates the Easy Way With AnnounceKit’s Interactive Changelog Software
At AnnounceKit, we take the hassle out of making sure your customer base stays in the know.
With our announcement board software, you’ll simplify your life while effectively engaging with your customers through:
- Eye-catching notification widgets that allow users to quickly overview your latest updates.
- Feature requests where users can vote on the ones they’re most interested in seeing, prioritizing the features that matter most to your audience.
- Increased visibility with our Boosters for important announcements and updates your users shouldn’t miss.
- Roadmap sharing that keeps your users informed about what’s coming next for your product, increasing your audience’s trust and transparency.
- Instant feedback through the use of emojis and direct comments that allows you to see how users feel about new updates, while simultaneously letting them know their voices are being heard.
- Email and Slack notifications that keep your customers in the loop with product updates, even when they’re away from your website or product.
- Targeting specific, relevant user segments based on any property, such as their role, location, past events, or basically anything else.
- AI-assisted writing that helps generate announcements, release notes, and content so you can spend less time on writing.
- Publishing in multiple languages to easily provide a completely localized experience for all users.
- So much more!
