Re: Proposed outline of the evolution of the QA Framework

Lofton,

   We (Mark and I) do not have any objections to present this proposal as 
the QAWG position in the Project Review meeting.  The approval of this 
proposal  will provide with the  benefit of getting feedback directly from 
the working groups to our documents and also resolution to the issue of 
"mandatoriness".

Cordially,
Sandra






At 09:16 AM 6/16/2002 -0600, Lofton Henderson wrote:

>(All QAWG members -- note "QUESTION." below, and please respond.)
>
>Dom,
>
>Thanks for this excellent summary/proposal.   In particular, I think that 
>the two-step approach to "mandatoriness" is a very sensible way 
>forward.  To recap your proposal:
>
>1.)  Once we declare "CR" phase, it would be mandatory that the WGs 
>use/apply the GL documents (Ops, Spec, Test) and report the results to the 
>QAWG.
>
>2.) After CR phase, the GL documents are published as W3C Notes and the 
>WGs are required to conform (e.g., at least to Level-A).
>
>I would like to present this as WG consensus in the Thursday (6/20) 
>Project Review (QA chairs with W3C Team).
>
>QUESTION.  Does anyone object to presenting this as consensus QAWG position?
>
>I do have a question on some details.  You write, "we push a document in 
>WD in Last Call when we feel it's stable enough for review by the other 
>working groups."  It is (was?) our target to reach last call on all parts 
>in 1/2003.  So Last Call period would happen just before Tech Plenary, and 
>we would enter CR "implementation" phase after Tech Plenary.
>
>Given that we can't really expect serious attention to documents before 
>Last Call (usual W3C practice), how would you suggest to try to get some 
>WG input in the interim?  As we said, the evolution and maturation of the 
>documents requires external input to us.  I'd like to figure out how to 
>stimulate some input before January.  (For example, Ops might be ready for 
>some review now;  Spec might be clean enough to benefit from review in the 
>August WG-only draft, else in the October publication; etc)
>
>-Lofton.
>
>P.S.  This relates to two issues marked "Closed":
>
>http://www.w3.org/QA/WG/qawg-issues-html#16
>http://www.w3.org/QA/WG/qawg-issues-html#18
>
>If we have a new consensus, we'll document the new discussions and modify 
>the resolutions of the two issues.
>
>At 08:58 AM 6/14/2002 -0400, Dominique Hazaël-Massieux wrote:
>
>>Summary of the issue:
>>It wouldn't make much sense to have the QA Framework be promoted to a
>>W3C Recommendation, since it only or mostly concerns W3C internal
>>functioning. Provided that it will finish as a set of Notes, how do we
>>want these notes to be used and especially enforced.
>>
>>Summary of yesterday discussions:
>>After some discussion, we agreed that in their final state, the various
>>specifications should define required level of commitments to the
>>objects they apply, namely:
>>- QA-OPS: should probably be an addendum to the Process Document (maybe
>>like the pubrules)
>>- QA-SPEC: probably referenced by the pubrules (like the WCAG)
>>- QA-Test: ? Hard to say, no document yet.
>>
>>The level of commitment for each of these spec has not yet be defined
>>(probably level A). The process to have them be required is yet to be
>>explored, probably by the staff contacts.
>>
>>We agreed also that we could not enforce requirement on non measurable
>>guidelines, which means that we should aim to have at least all our
>>priority 1 check points be easily quantifiable.
>>
>>Outline of the various status of the QA Framework status:
>>While we don't aim to produce Recommendations, It is expected that our
>>document will follow the Recommendation track progress as follow:
>>- we push a document in WD in Last Call when we feel it's stable enough
>>for review by the other working groups. Note that the operational
>>guidelines might require a review by the Advisory Board (owner of the
>>process document) and/or by the W3C Management Team.
>>- after integrating last call comments, we would use the stage of
>>Candidate Recommendation as an implementation phase: the idea would be
>>to require that each WG applies the GL and sends us the resulting
>>report; note that the requirement would *not* to comply with the GL,
>>only to use them. This would have the double benefit to allow them to
>>have a QA approach to their work and us to have some real life feedback
>>on ours. It has yet to be defined how such a requirement could be
>>obtained and applied.
>>- depending on how the candidate recommendation is successful, we would
>>go back to Last Call WD or finalize the document as a Note. Once a Note,
>>the document would define a minimum level of compliance as explained
>>above.
>>
>>This would be a 2 stages process: first stage, the WGs would be required
>>to use the GL; second stage, the WGs would be required to comply with
>>them. This is not a very orthodox evolution in the W3C Process, but
>>then, our documents aren't very classic either.
>>
>>Whatever the consensus we reach on this issue, the resulting idea should
>>probably be explained in the introduction document and detailed for each
>>specific part of the framework.
>>
>>Comments and corrections are welcome.
>>
>>Dom
>>--
>>Dominique Hazaël-Massieux - http://www.w3.org/People/Dom/
>>W3C/INRIA
>>mailto:dom@w3.org
>

Sandra I. Martinez
National Institute of Standards and Technology
100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8970,
Gaithersburg, Md. 20899

(301) 975-3579
sandra.martinez@nist.gov

Received on Monday, 17 June 2002 14:36:10 UTC