This is a great post.

I think it would be good for your readers to make it clear that not all READMe files will be the same based on who the audience is.

There is a marked difference between a README that only an internal product team sees, and the README you have on an open source project.

Why? Becuase the OSS README is an advertisement for a new tool. Whereas the Product team is more interested in details about how to get up and running and stay up and running on their own codebase.

Some of the elements are the same, and some are irrelevant to the product team (and thus divest in them).

Context, as always is an important fact in any design. and README's are no different.