Communicating a migration
Most migration complaints are not about the migration. They are about a change nobody mentioned: a wave of page notifications, or tabs that look different on Monday.
Two short messages prevent nearly all of it.
#Before the run
Say which spaces, and when.
Warn that every changed page gets a new version, and watchers may be notified.
Warn that tabs become expands, and panels become native Confluence panels. That is the visible change authors notice.
Say that nothing is deleted and every page can be restored from history.
#After the run
Say what changed and what did not, using the numbers from the results.
Name the macros that were reported only, so people know what still needs doing by hand.
Ask space owners to look at their own pages and report anything odd within a week.
Say when the old app will be uninstalled, and that until then the old version still renders.
The one people ask about is tabs. Confluence has no native tab element, so tabbed content becomes expands. It is the right trade for content that has to survive export and publishing, and it is worth explaining once rather than defending ten times.
#A few things that catch people out
Send the first message before the pilot, not before the site-wide run. The pilot is when people first notice.
Include the rollback story. It changes how people react to something looking wrong.
Give a deadline for feedback, or the review never finishes.
#Related
Say it first. It is a different conversation afterwards.
