Understand user need for Terraform plan output in MRs
What's this issue all about?
In gitlab#39402 (closed), we are looking into how we can present information from the terraform plan
job log within the context of a merge request.
An example of a terraform pipeline can be seen here: https://gitlab.com/nicholasklick/hashiconf-pci-2019/pipelines/81200328
What are the overarching goals for the research?
In this study, we want to discover how DevOps engineers are consuming the terraform plan
output, if they are communicating about it with other engineers, and how we can display the information in a way that is easily consumable and usable.
What hypotheses and/or assumptions do you have?
- DevOps engineers want to be able to comment on individual lines of a
terraform plan
job log.
What questions are you trying to answer?
Core questions
- Do DevOps engineers want to discuss a
terraform plan
output with other engineers? If so, what are they discussing (individual line items?)? - Does the job log for
terraform plan
provide enough information for DevOps engineers? Do DevOps engineers want a breakdown and/or overview of theterraform plan
output? - Do DevOps engineers find it inconvenient to have to navigate away from a merge request to the job log to see the full output of the
terraform plan
job log?
Additional questions
- Do DevOps engineers want to see the
terraform apply
output? If so, is this of the same importance asterraform plan
? If not, why? - Is there useful information from
terraform apply
that users would like to see after merge/deployment?
What persona, persona segment, or customer type experiences the problem most acutely?
What business decisions will be made based on this information?
Answering the above questions will allow us to form an MVC that is in line with the direction we want to take Terraform within GitLab.
What timescales do you have in mind for the research?
@tauriedavis would like to take ownership of this research and complete it as part of %12.9
Who will be leading the research?
What is the link to your opportunity canvas? (Optional)
https://docs.google.com/document/d/19HFHgsHhL09lewv5VNdqBQXtq0XxT7Kaj8RtTie1_yM/edit
Survey
WIP https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KTt95S2NCHRyMvMJ0C0amG9IxwA_rmyOO_sGE7DC9Uo/edit