"We usually start the release notes for the next major version right after we released a major version, and try to keep up with what happens" That is a best pra

"We usually start the release notes for the next major version right after we released a major version, and try to keep up with what happens" That is a best practice right there, and I've long been an advocate of 'continuous documentation' because it's actually less work per unit of quality over time.