[Koha-devel] About Release process

[BWS Johnson]

Salvete!

    Perhaps no one will notice that I'm commenting from the wrong side of the marae. >.> <.<


    I know I tell this story all the bloody time, and I realise that this is the Developers' list so imagine me ducking rotten veg.

    I agree with Ian's observations. Also, he spelt "favour" correctly :)


  

  An Unacceptable Wait: A Cautionary Tale


    A long time ago, when animals could talk, I heard this tale from an older Librarian. This Librarian had a daughter. About the time that daughter was born, she asked her proprietary vendor to please code a bookmobile plug in. This was a keen Librarian. I would say that specifications were probably not an issue here. We Librarians are patient. Our fur is not so shiny as otter's. We are not so fast as horse. But we are patient.

    That said, every now and then, the Librarian would go back to the proprietary vendor and ask after this bookmobile plug in. "Oh no, we aren't done yet, you will just have to wait."

    So the Librarian did. Every now and then, she'd politely (and after many, many moons perhaps not so politely) inquire with the great white proprietary father about her plug in. The answer was always the same. Perhaps she was not praying hard enough.

    After a very long wait indeed, she was finally told that it was ready. It of course didn't do what it was meant to actually do. But, it was ready.

    "But Brooke what of her daughter?" You might ask. When the plug in was released, her daughter was married to a handsome man from the next village over.

    So. THAT is an unacceptable wait in Libraryland.



    Surely there is summat between that and our release cycle that can be settled on. 


    At first, six months was a matter of pride. We had taken a very long time on a given release. Everyone got frustrated. This was bad. We all agreed. It was great to get back to six months just to show the world that we could. 


    I have been very nervous about the 6 month cycle, and I have said several times that it could easily be 9 months or even a year. I worry enormously about Developer burnout. I also will say that I worry a whole lot about Library funding to upgrade every bloody year if one skips a version. 


    Not too terribly long ago, it was mentioned that perhaps we should consider alternating feature releases and bug fixing releases. Perhaps function should dictate the schedule. You all might feel like there's this giant pressure on you to do things and do them RIGHT NOW but as long as you tell us when you first sit down with us how long you think it will take, and why it might be taking longer if it is taking longer, perhaps this pressure wouldn't be there.


    It is the old good, fast, or cheap you can have any two equation. I would pick good and cheap.


    Anyway, I will shut up now and stop invading your listserv.

Cheers,
Brooke