Transitioning

Thu Nov 15 09:52:20 UTC 2012

I'd volunteer for Authentication Module Owner.

On Thu, Nov 15, 2012 at 9:42 AM, Max Kanat-Alexander <mkanat at bugzilla.org>wrote:

>         Hey Bugzilla Developers.
>
>         I love working on Bugzilla, and I'm totally thrilled at the
> unbelievable changes we've made it it. I'm pretty sure that in 2004, most
> people thought that this project was going to die and be crushed by all the
> major commercial competitors that suddenly arose. And yet, here we are,
> still one of the most widely-respected and used  bug-tracking systems in
> the world, all based on volunteer efforts and open-source principles.
>
>         This isn't to say that the project is totally out of danger--it's
> very likely that some significant changes have to happen in order to keep
> the project alive (myself and other reviewers discussed this a few months
> back), and the Pretty project needs to be completed in order for us to
> retain a broad userbase. But the sort of things we've accomplished
> (particularly the degree of improvement in code quality without a full
> re-write) with this codebase have possibly never before been achieved by
> any software organization in the world, let alone one populated across
> nearly every timezone by people working in their spare time. So I think we
> deserve a little pat on the back from ourselves.
>
>         I personally had a major goal of bringing Bugzilla's code up to a
> high level of quality and learning enough from that process to develop a
> series of broad principles for software development as a whole. With the
> completion of my book, I believe that I have accomplished this, and now
> it's time for me to start focusing on bringing that message to the world,
> as well as time for me to start focusing on my career at Google where I may
> also be able to have a significant and important impact on the world of
> software development.
>
>         In reality, LpSolit and others have actually been managing the
> project entirely without me for the last several months (in fact, for
> pretty much the entire 4.4 release cycle) so I think there's excellent
> evidence that the project can both survive and flourish without me. I will
> definitely miss the Bugzilla community and the great work that we've done
> together, but I think the best thing to do at this point is to transition
> away all of my duties to others so that I can focus on what I need to focus
> on, and so that the project can have somebody holding all of the positions
> that need to be held.
>
>         If I had to supply only three pieces of advice to the Bugzilla
> community that should live on and be kept in force always, they would be:
>
>         (1) Make sure you keep intact all of the principles of an
> effective open-source community. It's most important that we gain and
> retain developers faster than we lose them. I wrote up the results of my
> research into this at: http://www.codesimplicity.com/**
> post/open-source-community-**simplified/<http://www.codesimplicity.com/post/open-source-community-simplified/>
>
>         (2) The most important thing to focus on when prioritizing
> features is "how much does this help people track bugs?" I wrote this up as
> "The Feature Acceptance Test" once, and I think it helped us have one of
> the most successful releases we ever had. I would suggest keeping this in
> operation for every release: https://groups.google.com/**
> forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.**apps.bugzilla/hHoJ3IqN0ns<https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/mozilla.dev.apps.bugzilla/hHoJ3IqN0ns>
>
>         (3) Remember that code quality is king. Without code quality, we
> can't deliver features in time that actually end up helping our users.
> Losing code quality almost killed the project once; letting that standard
> slip could end us up there again.
>
>         With that said, it's time to give away all of my duties! As near
> as I can tell, here's a list of all the things I'm currently in charge of,
> with who they should go to:
>
>         * Infrastructure (Sysadmin)
>
>         This is already being handled by wicked.
>
>         * CVS-to-bzr sync
>
>         wicked, could you please take this over? It runs on landfill from
> my personal crontab.
>
>         * webmaster at bugzilla.org
>
>         Also being handled by wicked.
>
>         * Twitter
>
>         justdave has volunteered to take this over.
>
>         Note that I routinely search for the word "Bugzilla" on Twitter
> and reply to people who have genuine questions or problems. I don't feed
> the trolls who have pure complaints that aren't useful, but sometimes I do
> offer to help them or ask them for specifics so that I can be helpful to
> them. Doing this search is also a good way to get an idea of how people
> feel about Bugzilla. Generally, the longer it's been since we released
> anything, the more negative they feel. Anybody can help in this fashion, as
> long as they actually know enough about Bugzilla and are willing to be
> polite and positive to every single person they Tweet at.
>
>         * The Bugzilla Update (blog)
>
>         I believe I have transitioned this to LpSolit.
>
>         * Extensions module owner
>
>         I think timello should take on my work on this with oversight from
> the other reviewers, if he's willing. I don't think there should continue
> to be a module owner.
>
>         * DB module owner
>
>         I think LpSolit should take over maintaining the DB layers. I
> don't think there should presently be a module owner.
>
>         * Release Manager
>
>         dkl, as has been happening anyway.
>
>         * Authentication module owner
>
>         Nobody. Should be maintained by the community for now. Perhaps
> wicked could look into this, though, as I recall he had some patches and
> interest.
>
>         * WebServices
>
>         dkl. Note that API reviews should remain very strict. The API
> should retain TOTAL consistency and reviewers should always think about
> forward-compatibility so that we have a stable API where we (ideally)
> never have to break backwards-compatibility. Also, all WebService methods
> must be fully unit-tested before a Bugzilla release can be called stable.
> Every single release, we have discovered problems during unit testing that
> would have prevented backwards-compatibility if not fixed before the
> release.
>
>         * Installation and Upgrading
>
>         LpSolit should probably take over generally directing this work.
> There should probably be no module owner for now.
>
>         * Chief Architect
>
>         I suspect that this title should simply disappear until it's clear
> that somebody else is doing this specific job. Essentially this role is
> implicitly held by the project's leaders.
>
>         * Community Lead
>
>         This is essentially the job of making sure that the community
> stays healthy and that each member of the community is enjoying working on
> the Bugzilla Project. I think justdave is probably best positioned for
> this, or he can assign that job away to somebody else who really wants to
> do it and seems well-suited for it.
>
>         * Maintaining the Developers Guide.
>
>         In general, this probably won't change much, particularly the
> guidelines for new contributors that are on the Wiki. However, I suspect
> things will need to change over time, and I'm guessing that LpSolit
> would be the best person in general to maintain this. It's probably
> going to partially be a community effort, too, I imagine. But
> particularly anything having to do with coding style should generally
> have a single maintainer who makes the important decisions about
> consistency for the whole app.
>
>         * UI coordination
>
>         Perhaps glob or dkl would like to do this? Essentially I have
> always coordinated with our UX people and given them my input and guidance
> based on experience with lots of Bugzilla users. I helped Jonathan revise
> the mocks for Pretty, as an example.
>
>         * The xt/ search test.
>
>         I would suggest dkl or glob. Please maintain this test; it took
> tremendous effort and it's the *only* way to know that the Custom Search
> system is behaving as it was intended. We spent 10 years with a
> continuously buggy system because this test didn't exist. Don't let it fade
> away and let us go back to that parade of endless bugs.
>
>         * Reviewer
>
>         There exist many other reviewers, they can still do reviews. I
> will unfortunately not be available for reviews.
>
>         * My bugs
>
>         Should mostly go back to their default assignees. Some should be
> taken over by individuals, particularly the P1 enhancements.
>
>         If there's anything else that I've missed, please let me know!
>
>         Once again, I've loved working with you, it's been an incredible
> adventure, and I will miss you all.
>
>         -Max
> --
> Max Kanat-Alexander
> Chief Architect, Community Lead, and Release Manager
> Bugzilla Project
> http://www.bugzilla.org/
> -
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> >
>

-- 
The best argument for celibacy is that the clergy will sooner or later
become extinct.
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