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Updates the policy on UX reviews for pipeline execution

Sam Beckham requested to merge ux-reviews-pe into master

What is being changed?

This MR updates the policy for UX reviews on MRs to better align up with the company guidelines. Previously, MR reviews were completely optional. This MR makes them mandatory on user-facing changes as-per the general company guidelines.

Why is this change being made?

When we added this exeption to MR reviews, we were in a very different position to where we are now. We had one product designer split across several groups and MR reviews really impacted our velocity. Now we have dedicated product designers in both grouppipeline authoring and grouppipeline execution, our policy states that MR reviews are a a product designer's top priority, and there are clear guidelines on how to handle UX reviews. With all of these changes, UX reviews on MRs should be much smoother and have less of a negative impact on our velocity.

However, anecdotal evidence isn't the most reliable so we should track this over the next few milestones and re-assess. I've created a spreadsheet to track the Mean Time To Merge (MTTM) both before and after the change. If this number goes up, we should investigate and re-consider this approach. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13ecB1vWKBdsEYQ7ksQuDdo9soRK9PVumO0Fh_0Iqr78/edit#gid=0

We also have certain initiatives tied directly to UX reviews on MRs such as, Product design MR review volume, and the review-response SLO.

Author Checklist

  • Provided a concise title for the MR
  • Added a description to this MR explaining the reasons for the proposed change, per say-why-not-just-what
    • Copy/paste the Slack conversation to document it for later, or upload screenshots. Verify that no confidential data is added.
  • Assign reviewers for this change to the correct DRI(s)
    • If the DRI for the page/s being updated isn’t immediately clear, then assign it to one of the people listed in the "Maintained by" section in on the page being edited.
    • If your manager does not have merge rights, please ask someone to merge it AFTER it has been approved by your manager in #mr-buddies.
  • If the changes affect team members, or warrant an announcement in another way, please consider posting an update in #whats-happening-at-gitlab linking to this MR.
    • If this is a change that directly impacts the majority of global team members, it should be a candidate for #company-fyi. Please work with internal communications and check the handbook for examples.
Edited by Sam Beckham

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