MDN/Development/ProcessNext: Difference between revisions

Users and other stakeholders can request changes to the MDN at any time using the [https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/form.mdn Mozilla Developer Network Feedback] form. The MDN project manager occasionally reviews these requests and, based on priorities set by the team, decides which ones the team should complete. For each of these, a new Kanban card is created and added to a phase called ''Selected''. Over time, these cards move out of ''Selected'' and through four other phases in order: ''Research & Design'', ''Development'', ''Review & QA'', and ''Released''.

When a phase is completed (see the section [[#Phases|Phases]]), the card is marked as ''Ready'' in Kanbanery. At any point, a team member working in the next phase can pull a ''Ready'' card into his phase and begin working on it. Phases are not skipped when a card is moved. If a phase is not required for a given card, the group responsible for that phase simply marks the card as ''Ready'' immediately after it is pulled in.

All requests go through this process. The team can elect to work on any requests that interest them, but they are first approved by the project manager (to ensure they fit with other priorities) and go through the same phases (to ensure quality).

The team investigates a technical solution to the change. The team also decides if the change is small enough to be implemented without a detailed design, if a detailed design is needed before development beings, or if the feature is so big that it should be implemented behind a feature flag (so that the team can iterate on it over time). The card is marked as ''Ready'' when the team feels comfortable starting development.

The team uses Work in Progress (WIP) limits to limit the amount of work being done at a given time. A card is not pulled into a new phase if this limit has already been reached.

Cards are roughly equal in size. If a request seems particularly big, the MDN project manager works with the team to identify a smaller piece to start on. A card is created for that piece and added to the ''Selected'' column. The process is then repeated until the entire request is completed.

The project manager lists himself as a mentor in bugs that seem like good candidates for contributors. The team shares a list of these bugs with contributors.

The team publishes several RSS feeds that stakeholders can subscribe to for notifications about progress. The state of things might change by the time a notification is seen, so subscribers are encouraged to always consult the corresponding Kanban card for the most up-to-date information.