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Is User Notification Prepared Where Needed?

Type: Structure
Category: Release
Audience: Product managers, designers, backend/frontend developers handling release or UX change

🔍 What This Perspective Covers

Not all changes are self-evident.
Some require explanation. Others require trust.

Designing change delivery is as critical as designing the change itself.

When Notification Is Required

  • UI or interaction pattern changes
  • API behavior that silently shifts (e.g., sort order, pagination)
  • Scheduled downtime or rollout impacting data visibility
  • Feature flags released per tenant or per user group

⚠️ Failure Patterns

  • Users are surprised by behavior shift (“it used to do this…”)
  • Docs not updated → support gets overloaded
  • Admin users unaware of configuration change impacts
  • Notification was added too late to coordinate translation/review

✅ Good Notification Planning

  • Who needs to know? When? How early?
  • Embed messages into UI or release notes—not just email
  • If i18n needed, schedule translation before freeze
  • Ensure rollback path considers user state (e.g., partially migrated data)

🧠 Principle

Communication is a design dependency.
If left out, the system will behave unpredictably—for humans.

❓ FAQ

  • Q: Is this PM’s job?
    A: Yes—and also engineering’s responsibility to surface risk.

  • Q: Do we always notify?
    A: No. But when surprise is dangerous, silence is failure.