Release Notes Should Map Changes to Affected Runbooks

A change is only fully shipped when the runbooks that reference the old behavior are updated, and release analysis should treat stale runbooks as open work.

The incident responder follows the runbook, and the runbook describes the previous release. That gap is a release-management failure that surfaces at the least convenient time.

Mapping changes to procedures

• For each behavior change, list the runbooks that mention it.
• Update or flag those runbooks before the rollout, not after.
• Track runbook debt as part of release readiness.

Use the changelog, architecture guide, and contributing guide to close the gap between shipped behavior and written procedure.