Proposal: Engineering support for Release Post
Despite numerous optimizations to the workflow and process, the release post can have complications between the 18th-22nd that sometimes require the help of more technically knowledgeable folks, for example with final MR merge on the 22nd.
Previously the release post had no technical support and the PM, Messaging and TW leads were left to sort things out on their own, which was stressful and inefficient. Starting in 13.2 the Static Site Editor team offered to support technically in emergencies between the 18th and 22nd via slack Handbook-escalation channel. However, this is not in their area of ownership and bandwidth/prioritization has become a challenge.
I'd like to propose EMs across all development sign up on the release post scheduling page and volunteer to rotate supporting if technical challenges arise with the release post between the 18th - 22nd of each month. This would follow the existing pattern of how PMs, PMMs and TWs take turns supporting the release post and provides a consistent and scalable solution, that doesn't unfairly burden any one team. And they volunteer, meaning they pick a cycle in advance that works for them.
EMs will get knowledge transfer on the content assembly for the 18th, along with documentation. It's assumed that EMs will already be expert with MRs for problems that come up on the 22nd. Based on previous cycles, we anticipate an average of 2 hours of support needed per cycle between the 18th-22nd.
Current proposal to be investigated in 13.8: #1759 (comment 459129962)