Step 2: Document your process

This is the most important step in the tutorial. Document your manual workflow before automating anything.

Time estimate: 30-45 minutes

Key principle: Automation replicates your workflow. Poorly defined manual processes create poorly defined automation.

Why documentation matters

Your documented manual process becomes:

Foundation for automation prompt - Each manual step maps to an automated step
Quality baseline - Compare automation output to your manual standards
Training material - Teach the AI what good categorization looks like
Troubleshooting guide - Check which manual step is misaligned when automation fails

Complete these tasks

Document complete workflow
Define clear categorization standards
Specify exclusion rules
Create output format specification
Prepare automation prompt

Workflow worksheet

Answer each question based on your current manual process.

Part 1: Current manual workflow

List each step you follow to create release notes:

## My Manual Release Notes Process

1. Step: _______________________________________________
   Time: _____ minutes
   Tools used: _______________

2. Step: _______________________________________________
   Time: _____ minutes
   Tools used: _______________

3. Step: _______________________________________________
   Time: _____ minutes
   Tools used: _______________

(Continue for all steps...)

**Total time per release:** _____ hours/minutes

Example:

## My Manual Release Notes Process

1. Step: Open GitHub and navigate to repository
   Time: 2 minutes
   Tools used: GitHub web interface

2. Step: Navigate to "Commits" and filter by date range
   Time: 5 minutes
   Tools used: GitHub filters

3. Step: Review each commit message
   Time: 30-45 minutes (for 50+ commits)
   Tools used: Read commit messages, click through to see changes

4. Step: Copy relevant commits to a draft document
   Time: 15 minutes
   Tools used: Google Doc or Markdown file

5. Step: Categorize each commit as Feature/Enhancement/Bug Fix/Docs
   Time: 20 minutes
   Tools used: Manual judgment

6. Step: Format consistently with headings and links
   Time: 10 minutes
   Tools used: Markdown formatting

7. Step: Add context and clean up language
   Time: 15 minutes
   Tools used: Editing skills

**Total time per release:** 1.5-2 hours

Part 2: Categorization standards

Define how you decide which category each change belongs to. Be specific with keywords and indicators, not vague descriptions like "I know a bug fix when I see one."

Complete this table:

Category	Definition	Keyword Indicators	Examples
New Features
Enhancements
Bug Fixes
Documentation
Other

Example:

Category	Definition	Keyword Indicators	Examples
New Features	Capabilities that didn't exist before	"add", "new", "create", "introduce"	"Add user authentication", "New dashboard view"
Enhancements	Improvements to existing features	"improve", "update", "enhance", "optimize", "increase"	"Improve search performance", "Update API response format"
Bug Fixes	Corrections to existing functionality	"fix", "bug", "resolve", "issue", "correct"	"Fix memory leak", "Resolve login timeout"
Documentation	Content updates, guides, API docs	"docs", "documentation", "guide", "readme"	"Update API guide", "Fix typo in docs"

Part 3: Exclusion rules

Define which commits should not appear in release notes:

Merge commits without meaningful changes
Work-in-progress commits (WIP, temp, test)
Internal tooling changes
Code formatting or style changes
Test file updates (unless new features)
Dependency updates (unless user-facing)
Other: ___

Write specific exclusion criteria:

## What to Exclude

1. Exclude commits containing: _______________
2. Exclude commits starting with: _______________
3. Exclude commits from these paths: _______________
4. Exclude commits by these authors: _______________

Example:

## What to Exclude

1. Exclude commits containing: "WIP", "temp", "test only", "internal"
2. Exclude commits starting with: "Merge pull request", "chore:"
3. Exclude commits from these paths: /tests/, /internal-tools/
4. Exclude commits by these authors: automation-bot@company.com

Part 4: Output format

Define your final release notes format:

## My Release Notes Format

### Header Information
- Include: _______________
- Format: _______________

### Category Order
1. _______________
2. _______________
3. _______________
4. _______________

### Entry Format
- Commit description format: _______________
- Link format: _______________
- Additional context: _______________

### Footer/Notes
- Include: _______________

Example:

## My Release Notes Format

### Header Information
- Include: Date, period covered
- Format: "Release Notes - MM/DD/YYYY (covering commits since MM/DD/YYYY)"

### Category Order
1. New Features (most exciting first)
2. Enhancements
3. Bug Fixes
4. Documentation

### Entry Format
- Commit description format: "- Description ([commit-hash](link))"
- Link format: Full GitHub URL to commit
- Additional context: Add parenthetical notes for major changes

### Footer/Notes
- Include: "For questions, contact docs@company.com"

Part 5: Audience considerations

Identify who reads your release notes:

Internal engineering team
External customers
Product managers
Support team
Sales or Marketing
Other: ___

Define language adjustments for this audience:

## Audience Guidance

Technical level: _______________
Tone: _______________
Avoid: _______________
Emphasize: _______________

Example:

## Audience Guidance

Technical level: Mix of technical and non-technical readers
Tone: Professional but approachable
Avoid: Internal jargon, overly technical implementation details
Emphasize: User impact, benefits, links to documentation

Completed worksheet example

Review a complete example worksheet showing real documentation from a docs team.

Convert to automation prompt

After completing the worksheet, convert it into an automation prompt in Step 5.

Manual steps map to automation steps:

Manual Step	Automation Step
Filter by date range	Script queries GitHub API
Review each commit	Script fetches commit data
Decide if user-facing	Exclusion rules in prompt
Categorize commits	AI analyzes with your standards
Format consistently	Template in prompt
Add context	Human review (stays manual)

Summary

You documented your complete manual workflow, defined clear categorization standards, specified exclusion rules, created output format template, and considered audience needs.

Next step

Set up API access with your process documented.

Next: Step 3 - Configure APIs

Keep this documentation. Reference it when writing your first prompt (Step 5), troubleshooting categorization errors, training new team members, and building other automation projects.