[lsb-discuss] Time-based release for LSB 5.0 (sorta)

[Robert Schweikert]

On 06/07/2011 12:07 PM, Jeff Licquia wrote:
> On the call last week, we talked very shortly about the release schedule
> for LSB 5.0.  I proposed something like a time-based release ("work on
> stuff until a certain date, then freeze and release").  There were some
> concerns, but we ran out of time on the call before we could get into
> those concerns.
>
> The main concern, I think, was in understanding what things are
> important, and making sure they get done.  Since we're at a big
> inflection point, it's important to make sure we get the deprecations,
> removals, and additions right; if we end up not having time to do that,
> it's not good to just say "well, too bad, we're out of time; gotta wait
> another few years for the rest".
>
> The implication is that we won't do any kind of project planning for the
> items on the list: prioritization, time estimates, etc.  We still need
> to do those things, in particular for the kinds of tasks we can only do
> at a "dot-zero" release.  Ideally, we would have a "time-based" date
> that takes those estimates into account, just like previous releases.
>

Confused, first you say "no planning" then you say "plan as in previous 
releases". These appear to be opposing statements.

IMHO we should go about it the following way.

1.) Make our list of priority 1 items that need to be in 5.0 or it's not 
worth releasing
2.) Prioritize a "nice to have list"
3.) Estimate the time it will take use to get all features in 1.) done 
plus some fudge factor to accommodate issues discovered along the way.

After step 3 is done we have our target release date.

 From here we have 4 options.

a.) If not everything on the list from 1.) is done by the target release 
date we slip the date (this should not be up for discussion at that time)
b.) I everything is done as planned we release as planned. That would be 
a very welcome first ;)
c.) If we get done early with everything on the list for 1 we can start 
on items from the item 2 list
d.) If we get done early with everything on the list for 1 we can 
release early.

Robert

-- 
Robert Schweikert                           MAY THE SOURCE BE WITH YOU
SUSE-IBM Software Integration Center                   LINUX
Tech Lead
rschweikert at novell.com
rschweikert at ca.ibm.com
781-464-8147