Deprecation note: Deprecate Trending tab in Explore > Projects

Deprecation Summary

The Trending tab on the Explore > Projects page will be removed due to extremely low usage (0.25% of users), maintenance burden, and limited usability. Self-managed users have specifically requested this removal because the trending algorithm only considers public projects, making it largely useless for instances that primarily use internal and private visibility (the tab is empty at all times). Only ~1,500 users per month access this tab on GitLab.com, with similar utility on self-managed instances. The algorithm has not been matured to be useful (it considers the amount of system notes in a specific time frame, and only public projects), and rather than investing resources we don't have to improve it, removal is the better choice. Users have superior alternatives through the Active, All and Most starred tabs with better search and filtering capabilities.

See https://gitlab.com/explore/projects/trending for context.

Documentation

  • Deprecation notice: TBD

Product Usage

See also the related Tableau dashboard.

GitLab.com:

  • Only 0.5% of users access the Explore > Projects page
  • Of those, only 1/3 to 1/2 access the Trending tab
  • Total impact: ~0.25% of users (~1,500 users/month)

Self-Managed/Dedicated:

  • Similar low usage patterns (~1,500 paid users access Explore > Projects in total per month, and even fewer access the Trending tab)
  • Users have explicitly requested removal as the tab is often empty due to internal/private project visibility

Breaking Change?

Does this deprecation contain a breaking change? Yes

See the related approval issue.

Affected Customers

Who is affected by this deprecation: GitLab.com users, Self-managed users, or Dedicated users? (choose all that apply)

  • GitLab.com
  • Self-managed
  • Dedicated

What pricing tiers are impacted?

  • GitLab Free
  • GitLab Premium
  • GitLab Ultimate

Deprecation Milestone

This deprecation will be announced in milestone: 18.8

Planned Removal Milestone

The feature / functionality will be removed in milestone: 19.0

Links

Checklists

Timeline

Rollout Plan

  • DRI Engineers: @smaglangit
  • Describe rollout plans on GitLab.com
    • Feature flag rollout issue that covers:
      • Expected release date on GitLab.com and GitLab version
      • Rollout timelines, such as a percentage rollout on GitLab.com
      • Creation of any clean-up issues, such as code removal
  • Determine how to migrate users still using the existing functionality
  • Document ways to migrate with the tooling available
  • Automate any users who have not yet migrated, but ensure it's a two-way door decision

Communication Plan

An internal slack post and a release post are not sufficient notification for our customers or internal stakeholders. Plan to communicate proactively and directly with affected customers and the internal stakeholders supporting them.

Internal Communication Plan This will have been documented in your breaking change request. You can use this checklist to track completion of these items.

External Communication Plan This will have been documented in your breaking change request. You can use this checklist to track completion of these items.

  • Customer announcement plan (timeline for notifications, audience, channels, etc)
  • Ensure you have approvals from legal and corp comms for any communication being sent directly to customers.
  • As soon as possible, but no later than the third milestone preceding the major release, ensure that the following are complete (for example, given the following release schedule: 17.8, 17.9, 17.10, 17.11, 18.0 – 17.9 is the third milestone preceding the major release).
  • On the major milestone:
    • The deprecated item has been removed. Add link to the relevant merge request.
    • If the removal of the deprecated item is a breaking change, the merge request is labeled breaking change.
    • Document the migration plan for users, clearly outlining the actions they need to take to mitigate the impact of the breaking change.
      • Add link

Development

  • DRI Engineers: @smaglangit
  • Measure usage of the impacted product feature
    • Evaluate metrics across GitLab.com, Self-Managed, Dedicated
    • add issue link
    • list any metrics and/or dashboards
  • Create tooling for customers to manually migrate their data or workflows
    • add issue link
  • Build mechanism for users to manually enable the breaking change ahead of time
    • add issue link
  • Automate the migration for those who do not take any manual steps (ensure the automation can be reverted)
    • add issue link
  • Develop rollout plan of breaking change on GitLab.com
    • add feature flag rollout issue
  • Dogfood the changes on GitLab.com or a Self-Managed test instance
    • add issue link
  • (Optional) Create UI controls for instance admins to disable the breaking change, providing flexibility to Self-Managed / Dedicated customers. Optional as this depends on the breaking change.
    • add issue link

Stakeholder Mentions

  • Product Designer @jason_istakinganap
  • Tech Writer @z_painter
  • Any other stable counterparts based on the product categories:
    • Add Sales/CS counterpart or mention @timtams
    • Support counterpart @asmaa.hassan @b_freitas
    • Add Marketing counterpart or mention @martin_klaus
    • Add Corp comms if direct customer comms are needed @jmalleo
    • Mention (in internal note) Customer Success Managers / Acount Managers / Solutions Architects for impacted customers

Labels

  • This issue is labeled deprecation, and with the relevant ~devops::, ~group::, and ~Category: labels.
  • This issue is labeled breaking change if the removal of the deprecated item will be a breaking change.

References

Edited by Christina Lohr