TPAC process discussion summary/next steps

Hi everyone!

The process discussion turned into more of a brainstorm, here is a 
summary and next steps (please chime if you'd like to correct or add!):

The main topic was "Stable" and "Main": Two keep two branches, or to not 
keep to branches?

Ultimately, there was plenty of vocal support to remove the "stable" 
branch and little support to keep it. In order to remove the "stable" 
branch we will have to have stricter requirements on landing normative PRs.

Pros:

  * This distributes work to working group members. Instead of chairs
    and editors having to keep track of features in various states after
    they have been merged into main and before stable, work group
    members must keep track of the features they champion
  * Main will always be up to date with small changes, bug fixes and
    editorial changes and will show only features that have at least
    implementation commitment.

Cons:

  * Normative PRs may take a while to land, but the group decided this
    was an ok side effect. If someone retires or changes job before a PR
    can be landed, then another WG member can adopt the work.

Next steps:

 1. Checklist for normative changes to be added to open PRs:
     1. This checklist will be used to determine if a normative PR can
        land in main.
     2. Earlier this year we tried adding "PR tracking" and
        "implementation tracking" to the issue templates, but I think
        this is not the approach. When an issue is filed, it is
        typically not clear what the actual specification change will
        be. I think ultimately this needs to reworked into a PR templates.
 2. Improve process for tracking changes to the specification in general
     1. Keeping the changelog up to date has also been a struggle for
        this group. Sarah suggested we use a tool like "beachball" will
        adds some automation and helps contributes provide description
        details for changes associate with a PR. There was a lot of
        support from this in the discussion.

Here is the document I'll continue to use as we discussion other parts 
of the process: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/14dOVzG-nB1P-uLBET3BYC2v_LvfPpUPWvRfqGLUnBzg/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks for the lively discussion, everyone!

Valerie

Received on Monday, 19 September 2022 18:59:34 UTC