Ideas for addressing challenges

Owned by Heather Greer Klein
Last updated: Jul 06, 2021
2 min read

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New processes:

  1. Automatic CLA Checker

  2. Timely PR Review

    1. Ensuring PR review is part of tech call

      1. Dashboard of all PRs across all Samvera repos, linked to the tech call template https://www.google.com/url?q=https://github.com/pulls?q%3Dis%253Aopen%2Bis%253Apr%2Buser%253Asamvera&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1625584047982000&usg=AOvVaw28s_d98s87jSWHo-JsyI4E

    2. Maintenance WG or other WGs regularly review one-off PRs, with an emphasis on welcoming new contributors

    3. Automation for the PR Checklist: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://samvera.github.io/pr-checklist.html&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1625584047979000&usg=AOvVaw1kZTVzdqqhsnUITWOci8X1

Build expertise and confidence:

  1. Grow the pool of confident PR reviewers

    1. clearly document two levels of review:

      1. first level review to capture obvious problems and provide feedback;

      2. second level review by product owners/tech leads and others with a lot of experience in the code

      3. Add tags for time expected for items that would contribute to maintenance

  2. Build a culture of welcome and positivity for new contributors: make PR review better by being more positive and going a little way out on a limb to get the first one or two in. Shift the mindset from "why should this be accepted" to "how can we help you get this accepted".

  3. identify the major functional areas (e.g. collections, search builders, presenters, etc.)? Then developers can build expertise in a functional area, allowing them to feel more comfortable reviewing PRs in that area. First step would be to list out the functional areas and then identify a 'functional lead' for each area. This would reduce the cognitive load of trying to understand all the components.

  4. Newbie group/office hours in 1/2 hour before the before the tech call: experienced Community technologists give a demo or lead a discussion on a topic

New documentation:

  1. Plug-in architecture - There are call-backs. Could this be leveraged for some extensions? May not be well known. Could documentation help with this?

  2. Documentation on code base patterns can help educate new contributors.

  3. An updated road map will help with communication. Perhaps the road map could include a list of organizations that have each item as a priority. This would help to identify resources and order of approach to complete each item.

Larger proposals:

  1. Get maintenance hours pledged well ahead of time; fall block, spring block, and summer block.

    1. If most planning for the next semester happens one month after the start of the current semester, then an updated road map will be presented at the partner meeting prior to that time period. Institutions prioritizing road map items can be updated, items for implementation selected, and resources can be committed during the institutions planning period.

  2. Get Repo Camp and other training up and running again