Release Notes Are Not Product Education: Build a Decision-Oriented Walkthrough

Release notes answer an important question: what changed? About this method: I build KPainter , a source-to-explainer video workspace. KPainter helps teams turn release notes, product briefs, docs, screenshots, and other source material into clear explainer videos. The workflow below keeps the maintained source—not the video—as the source of truth. They are not always enough to answer the next questions a customer, support teammate, or implementation partner has: Does this change affect my workflow? What should I do differently? What is deliberately unchanged? Where can I check the current details when the product evolves again? That difference matters when a team turns a changelog, launch note, or technical update into a walkthrough. A screen recording can show a new control. A useful explanation helps the viewer decide whether to care, what to try, and where the boundary is. Start with the viewer's decision Before opening a recorder or drawing a storyboard, write one sentence in this form: After this walkthrough, [viewer] should know whether [change] affects [their job] , and what to do next. For example: After this walkthrough, an existing workspace administrator should know whether a new approval step changes their release process, and where to configure it. This sentence prevents a common failure mode: putting every release-note bullet into a video. A list of features is complete, but it is rarely a clear path through a decision. Establish the source hierarchy Product details have different lifetimes. The launch note may be a useful summary, while the maintained documentation defines the exact configuration, permissions, availability, or limits. Use a small source hierarchy before drafting scenes: Current product documentation — the maintained source for setup, constraints, and terminology. The release note or change record — why the change happened and the scope of the release. A verified product view — the interface or workflow that a viewer should recognise.