Establish translation cut-off process for GitLab version releases to ensure human-reviewed translations

Background

During the discussion in #692 (closed), @sarahgerman raised an important concern about GitLab's versioning process and the permanence of documentation versions:

Our versioning process and the fact that old versions are forever available (and actively used by customers) make iteration like this a little more risky than it may seem. If we commit unreviewed AI docs to 18.6, for example, then fix them in 18.7, those 18.6 docs are forever questionable unless we backport a human-reviewed version.

This highlights a critical gap in our current localization workflow that needs to be addressed for future releases.

Problem

Currently, there's a significant time gap between AI+translation memory versions and human-reviewed translations. This creates a risk where:

  1. AI-only translations get merged into specific GitLab versions (e.g., 18.6)
  2. Human-reviewed improvements come later in subsequent versions (e.g., 18.7)
  3. The earlier version remains permanently available with lower-quality translations
  4. Customers using older versions may encounter translation issues

Proposed Solution

Establish a translation cut-off process that coordinates with GitLab version releases:

  1. Pre-release coordination: Set translation cut-off dates X days before new docs.gitlab.com releases
  2. Quality gate: Ensure all translations in the cut-off are human-reviewed before the version is finalized
  3. Process documentation: Define clear workflows for the localization and TW teams

Trade-offs to Consider

  • Translation freshness: Translated versions may not be as up-to-date as English content
  • English content coordination: To investigate if there are similar cut-offs on English content updates

Success Criteria

  • Document the translation cut-off process
  • Define timeline requirements (X days before release)
  • Establish coordination workflow between Localization and TW teams
  • Create quality gates for version-specific translations
  • Test the process with an upcoming GitLab release

Related Issues

  • #692 (closed) - TW + Localization alignment on AI-only translation merge approach for launch
  • #138 (closed) - Japanese site disclaimer banner

Timeline

This should be implemented after the December 10th launch when we transition to "continuous localization mode" and can better measure the time between AI+TM and human review steps.

Edited by Maria Jose Salmeron Ibáñez