ChannelSwitching/2011-03-23

Status

• Rob Strong - mostly done with work on bug 386760. Waiting on 3 reviews, in particular rel eng. There is a clear path for completion.
• Need to add in the front end work. Sheila will check with Limi on progress of design piece. We are ready to hook up the back end and front end.
• Rob Strong probably not the right person for UI work - Sheila will talk to Johnath about getting someone on this. Need it done in 3 weeks (hopefully sooner).
• There is an additional bug for rel eng that needs to be logged - need constant update URLs for these channels.

Next Actions

• Setup meeting for next Monday (Mar 28th) - after 1:00pm (Sheila)
• Follow-up with Limi on UI work, talk to Johnath and get someone assigned to implement UI piece (Sheila)
• Proposal for naming channel URLs - will discuss with Jay (Rob Strong)
• Talk to Jinghua re: test pilot and rumor to remove the feedback button (Rob Sayre)
• Follow up with Socorro on timing for changes to UI to show all channels (Sheila)
• Follow up with metrics - getting right data for all channels (Sheila).
• Talk to press team about plan and meeting on Monday (Mayumi).
• Write up value proposition for each channel (Mayumi).
• Follow up with morgamic on websites and naming issues for amo, sumo, input. (Rob Sayre)
• Work on path for getting more detailed feedback ie: via feedback button (Aakash & Mayumi).

Notes and Discussion

• Bugzilla
  • How do we track issues on each channel.
  • Sheila will take this. Think about workflow we want to have and what would be easiest.

• Users - what do we want to do with them?
  • Typically we would be moving people off the RC to the final and beta users would stay on the beta channel - didn't do this.
  • Currently we have 4.7 million users grouped across RC and beta.
  • Extra RC users more mainstream, beta users never moved up.
  • Beta people - we should move to experimental?
  • We want to figure out and act on a plan for these people before the move somewhere on their own. We probably have a week.
  • Goal
    • Want fx4.1 (500K to 1 million)
    • Rest of people move between Fx5 Experimental and Fx5 Beta.
  • Many people on old betas - Beta12 (370K), Beta11 (200K), BetaX - 20K
  • Why are they sitting there? Maybe aren't using it. Might be having trouble updating.
  • Need to talk more about the backend stuff and what is happening.

• How do we get people on the various channels?
  • Is there a 4.1 beta for them?
  • Make the 2 channels for experimental and beta today - they start out the same.
  • The bata channel is in place but doesn't actually change until 9 weeks.
  • What's the user experience? Probably not much notification - channel switcher.
  • RC people - giving them 3 choices: Experimental, Beta or Download 4
  • Nightly group staying the same. Move current nightly users over. Do we want them to be able to add UI so they can move channels?

• Getting feedback and engaging with users
  • Beta - good at input feedback.
  • Nightly - good at filing bugs in bugzilla.
  • What are the Experimental users going to be like?
  • Experimental channel - want feedback using feedback button.
  • Is that enough? What we get today is too general.
  • We probably need more fields that we could have people fill out.
  • We would like the ability to add stuff like screen shots.
  • Feedback button is good for trends but hard to drill down on issues.
  • We could give users the option to fill out more information - via link.
  • Need to have a channel to go back to these people for follow-up.
  • Simple solution - link in feedback UI to send to a web page. Way to contact them, get screen shots (bugzilla UI but not bugzilla).
  • Aakash has been thinking of some options that relate to this ie: allow people to send input message through twitter or hooking into buzilla with input.
  • Aakash will work with Mayumi on a solution to create a path for more detailed user feedback. Focus on some solution for "tell us more" hyper link. We can change the mechanics behind it later.
  • Mayumi - Jinghua mentioned some work happening to consolidate test pilot programs and they want to get rid of the feedback button. Need to talk to Jinghua about this - we are going need the Feedback button. Rob Sayre will talk to Jinghua since we need to understand how test pilot integrates with new release cycle anyhow.

• Naming
  • Rob Strong has been working through naming conventions and issues - mozilla firefox and mac app bundle. Has a proposal, need to talk to Jay.
  • Do we have feature teams? When things go from code name to actual name can be confusing for users.
  • Rule - No codenames on Beta channel, codenames ok on Experimental channel.
  • Channel name built into user agent string? No it's not.
  • What about websites - need to figure out requirements - input, amo and sumo will have an issue with the name. Talk to morgamic and individual leads for each site, fligtar, ragavan, aakash.

• Logistics
  • Plan out there, need to formally communicate to users soon.
  • Need to setup a meeting with the press people.
  • Planning pages need to be clear.
  • Need the message to be - we are moving forward.
  • Need to formulate a press plan for announcements all tied in with value propositions etc.
  • There was a recent post from christian on newsgroups - how to figure out what channel to go to.
  • Mayumi and Laura to look over the points in this post and use as a starting point.

• Other stuff
  • What channel do web developers go to? Look at experimental but don't base your production site on this.
  • Add on developers - Justin Scott on top of this and working out a plan
  • Mayumi working on value proposition for each channel - communication, growth plan, what we want from them.
  • Need to setup a meeting to talk with press folks (Justin, Erica). Aim for Monday at 1:00pm.
  • Need to start including Christian on these discussions - focus on moving RC group to the right channels next week.