Technical Writing milestone plan for 15.4
As a result of the FY2022Q3 OKR, Balance tech writer workload by improving the planning and estimation process for feature docs, we determined that the following plan would help us begin to consolidate release planning for the TW team.
Why is release planning for the tech writing team important? First, we are almost entirely reactive. Our workflow has writers constantly responding to developer reviews to update the docs. We don't have a consistent planning process across the team. That makes it hard for us to estimate our capacity. Second, we also have had a long-standing focus on Improvement MRs (now called Maintenance.) How do we plan for OKRs, improvement projects, and backlog items if we don't understand what's coming for release docs? All of this contributes to the question: How do we know when we have the correct number of writers on the team?
Beginning to understand what's coming in each release across stages will help us plan for more Improvement projects and OKRs, such as the CTRT OKR already scheduled. We know findability is a problem on the docs site, and that users struggle to figure out how to use GitLab. Moving from reactive to proactive working will benefit our users by allowing us to plan to focus on targeted improvements.
This issue provides a consolidated view of what the Technical Writing team expects to work on with their assigned groups for the upcoming milestone. In addition to the work with their assigned groups, the Technical Writing team also works on OKRs and other tasks that are not reflected in this issue.
On the 15th
of each month:
The TW Bot creates the issue for the upcoming milestone.
By the 29th
of each month:
The TW carries out the following planning activities for their assigned groups, and populates Checklist and links to confirm these activities have taken place:
-
Have a conversation - synchronously or asynchronously - with either the group PM or EM to review planned documentation and UI text work for the upcoming milestone (
Milestone: Upcoming
) or (Milestone: Started
). This is also an opportunity to talk to the PM or EM about any improvement or development opportunities they're aware of in their areas of the product documentation. This can be a regular group meeting or any other means of communication that you have established with your group.If the TW, PM, or EM is unavailable around the beginning of the milestone, we encourage using async methods (like commenting in issues or Slack messages) or having conversations at an earlier time. If the conversation happens before the creation of the issue, just add the planning information to the issue when it's available.
-
Identify a linked artifact that describes the upcoming planned work, such as:
- An issue board for the group's documentation/UI text items for the milestone.
- A filter that describes/lists the planned work. (Example for devopsplan)
- The group's planning issue, if it identifies issues/MRs that require Technical Writing team involvement. (Example)
-
Select the appropriate checkboxes and share the links to planned features to confirm that the "conversation" has taken place.
Checklist and links
After you've reviewed the plan with your PM or EM, select the checkbox for your group. If you can't meet with the PM or EM for some reason (perhaps they're on PTO), append that information to the end of the line and leave the checkbox cleared.
devopsmanage
Stage-
~"group::authentication and authorization" - gitlab-org/manage/general-discussion#17550 (closed) -
~"group::workspace" - Link to board or filter
-
groupcompliance - gitlab-org/manage/general-discussion#17499 (moved) -
~"group::import" - gitlab-org/manage/general-discussion#17555 (closed) -
groupoptimize - Board
devopsplan
Stage-
groupproject management - Docs board | UI text board | Planning issue -
groupproduct planning - Docs board | UI text board | Planning issue -
~"group:certify" - Docs board (nothing) | UI text board
devopscreate
Stage-
groupsource code - board, create-stage#13038 (closed) -
groupcode review - board, create-stage#13022 (closed) -
~"group::editor" - board, https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/create-stage/editor/-/issues/104
Stage ~"devops::ecosystem"
-
~"group::integrations" - board, issue -
groupfoundations - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ecosystem-stage/team-tasks/-/issues/154+
devopsverify
Stage-
grouppipeline authoring - Pipeline Authoring 15.4 Planning issue (gitlab-org/ci-cd/pipeline-authoring#68 - closed) -
grouppipeline execution - Pipeline Execution 15.4 Planning issue (gitlab-org/ci-cd/pipeline-execution#107 - closed) -
~"group::pipeline insights" - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/ci-cd/pipeline-insights-group/-/issues/97+ -
grouprunner - gitlab-runner#28943 (closed)
devopspackage
Stage-
~"group::package" - Board
Stage ~"devops::release"
-
~"group::release" - Release 15.4 Planning Issue (gitlab-org/ci-cd/release-group/release#153 - closed)
Stage ~"devops::configure"
-
~"group::configure" - Board
devopsmonitor
Stagedevopssecure
Stage-
groupstatic analysis - 15.4 Planning - Static Analysis (gitlab#370389 - closed) -
groupdynamic analysis - 📐 Dynamic Analysis - 15.4 Planning (gitlab#367727 - closed) -
groupcomposition analysis - 15.4 planning - Composition Analysis (August-Se... (gitlab-org/secure/general#232 - closed) -
groupthreat insights - gitlab#370391 (closed) - Board -
groupvulnerability research - Board
Stage ~"devops::protect"
-
~"group::container security" - gitlab#222791 (closed)
Stage ~"devops::analytics"
-
~"group::product intelligence" - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/product-intelligence/-/issues/601
devopsgrowth
Stagedevopsfulfillment
Stage-
~"group::purchase" - Board -
groupprovision - Board -
grouputilization - BE board and FE board with TW filter. -
~"group::billing and subscription management" - Board
devopssystems
Stage-
~"Distribution:Build" - board -
~"Distribution:Deploy" - board -
groupgeo - gitlab-org/geo-team/discussions#5041 (closed) -
groupgitaly - gitlab-org/gitaly-planning/release-planning#2 (closed)
Stage ~devops::data_stores
-
~"group::application performance" - https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/application-performance-team/team-tasks/-/issues/119 -
groupglobal search - board, issue -
groupdatabase - board, planning issue
-
~"group::pods" - group board
devopsanti-abuse
StageOther events and team efforts this milestone
-
Managers (@kpaizee, @dianalogan) check the Developer Evangelism calendar for Hackathons and other events that may impact team velocity this milestone. List the events and dates, and let the team know in the tw-team
Slack channel, and as a read-only in the TW Team meeting.
Events
- Write The Docs Prague 2022-09-11 - 2022-09-13. Writing Day is 2022-09-11. Sign-up issue.
- GitLab Commit (New York) 2022-09-22
TW recurring tasks
- Release Post structural check: @fneill
- Monthly doc version: @sselhorn (with @kpaizee as backup if needed)
- Docs project maintenance tasks: @aqualls
TW team KRs
- Q3FY23 KR: Improve findability, organization, and learnability of GitLab content by refactoring docs pages - team
- Q3FY23 KR: Improve the Cloud Native install documentation to support teams that want to run GitLab in Kubernetes - Suzanne, Axil, Diana
-
Q3 FY23 UX KR: 100% completion of MECC (Diana's Directs)
✅ -
Q3 FY23 UX KR: 100% completion of MECC (Kati's Directs)
✅