As a marketing operations professional and a marketing technology admin, how do you keep track of critical changes to your tech stack? Some systems make it easy to track changes, and others…not so much. However, system audit logs only tell you who changed what—but not the why. That’s why it’s crucial to keep a martech changelog for your key systems, such as your marketing automation platform.
A martech changelog is a shared spreadsheet where you log any system changes that have a global impact. In Marketo Engage, that includes operational programs and smart campaigns, anything in Admin, global smart lists, and segmentations. The key to a changelog is listing not just what was changed, but why.
In Marketo Engage, you can get the “what” by looking at Audit Trail. But Audit Trail won’t tell you why the change was made, which can be the key to understanding your instance in the future. Think of it as a gift from current you to future you (and your team)!
I highly recommend filling out the changelog before you make the change. This forces you to slow down and explain to yourself what you are doing. You’ll make much smarter changes to your instance.
To get you started, here is my changelog template!
P.S. If you find yourself constantly reminding your teammates to fill out the changelog, please feel free to belt out “We Need a Changelog,” to the tune of “We Are The Champions.”
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We have a changelog, my friend
And we need to use it, to the end
We have a changelog
Fill out the changelog!
No, you can’t skip it
Because we need a record … of the change
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Amy is the founder of MarketingOpsAdvice.com. She is passionate about helping marketing operations professionals grow their careers and work smarter. Amy is a 4X Marketo Champion with 10 years’ experience in high-growth B2B SaaS companies. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her Cajun Terrier, Helo. Pronouns: she/her