Re: Starting a new task force

There is also a repo template here: https://github.com/swicg/specification-template

Though we may want add some of the structure from https://github.com/swicg/activitypub-trust-and-safety (e.g., the workflow and some of the folder structure to encourage meeting notes to be taken)

– Emelia

> On 18 Jun 2025, at 15:14, Evan Prodromou <evan@prodromou.name> wrote:
> 
> Melvin, great point! I guess my intuition would be that the Social Web API user stories are a great place to look for user stories for a new task force, but that including them all in a single task force would probably be too much.
> 
> https://www.w3.org/wiki/Socialwg/Social_API/User_stories
> 
> Evan
> 
> On 2025-06-17 2:55 p.m., Melvin Carvalho wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> út 17. 6. 2025 v 20:43 odesílatel Evan Prodromou <evan@prodromou.name <mailto:evan@prodromou.name>> napsal:
>>> Hey, folks. I've headed up a few task forces for the CG so far. I'm 
>>> co-leading a new one, and the other lead asked about what we need to do 
>>> to get started. I thought I'd share the list here. Maybe we should have 
>>> a similar list somewhere on GitHub...? Also, is there anything I missed?
>>> 
>>> ----
>>> 
>>> 0. Create and manage a GitHub repository. We use GitHub issues and 
>>> GitHub Pages a lot for SWICG, and we have about one repo per task force.
>>> 
>>> 1. Convene and chair meetings. Just get them on the schedule, make sure 
>>> interested parties know about them, put together the agenda, and chair 
>>> the discussion.
>>> 
>>> 2. Assemble user stories. I don't think this is formal, but it's a big 
>>> part of what I try to start with. One GitHub issue per user story, with 
>>> an appropriate label ("user story"). User stories in the format "As a 
>>> <persona>, I want to <action>, so that <benefit>." I also find it useful 
>>> to add some out-of-scope stories to clarify boundaries -- what's outside 
>>> of our scope.
>>> 
>>> 3. An explainer. Explainers are the W3C way of showing the state of 
>>> play. https://w3ctag.github.io/explainer-explainer/ I think we've been 
>>> doing these as README.md files. Just listing out the user stories to 
>>> describe the problem, who is heading up the task force, links to any 
>>> documents or code that illustrated the work, expected deliverables, and 
>>> a description of the top 2-3 candidate solutions.
>>> 
>>> 4. A report. This is usually the big deliverable on any SocialCG task 
>>> force. https://www.w3.org/community/reports/reqs/ TF lead needs to 
>>> identify an editor, or edit directly. Make a first draft with ReSpec 
>>> http://respec.org/ and start editing. Use GitHub issues and PRs to 
>>> manage feedback, edits, etc. At some point, submit to the CG for broader 
>>> review; it will move on to becoming a draft report and then a published 
>>> report.
>>> 
>>> 5. Reference implementations and testing. It's great to get these things 
>>> implemented and tested. Gold standard is two independent publishers and 
>>> two independent consumers. Having a reference implementations makes 
>>> testing easier. An automated or semi-automated test suite helps too.
>> 
>> Evan, this is a very welcome and practical guide.  Thank you!  
>> 
>> It does get one thinking: might some of those "next version" use cases from the SWWG find a natural home in a task force?
>> 
>> And perhaps more generally, a clear articulation of a task force's purpose for the SWICG would be quite useful.
>>  
>>> 
>>> ----
>>> 
>>> Evan
>>> 
>>>