reflecting on 4.10

[Aaron J. Seigo]

ok, so finally my answers ... i deliberately waited until the discussion was 
done give my own answers as it's really hard to facilitate a discussion and 
participate at the same time. (well, i did poke my thoughts into the thread a 
few times .. :)

On Thursday, January 10, 2013 22:05:28 Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> so how do you think 4.10 went?

I think it was our least effective release in the 4.x series. It reminded me 
most of 3.x releases where there was simply no overall direction in KDE, but 
rather random people making various changes.

It was also the most stress-free and in many ways enjoyable releases for me 
since 3.5, so it wasn't entirely unpleasant for me :)
 
> what do you feel are the "defining" accomplishments for the desktop
> workspace in 4.10?

The new visual updates are really nice imho, from the theme changes to the 
kwin effects improvements (animated maximize/restore ftw!!!! :) to the new 
wallpaper. It's a really pretty release.

The progress on QML was very impressive all around and it fills me with 
confidence and hope about the upcoming QML-only Plasma Workspaces 2.

> what do you personally like about the results of 4.10?

I use master plus a few extras, like kio_mtp. I love how stable and functional 
the desktop is. Being able to put things on my phone with dolphin, relying on 
krunner to just work, the notifications spiffyness ... great stuff. It makes my 
experience as a user so much more compelling. Technically, this is not all 
4.10 stuff, but it is my experience as a user. Sample size of 1 ;)
 
> what, if anything, did you not like about the 4.10 development cycle?

The lack of of communication and coordination. I could highlight any number of 
technical stumbles in any number of components around the 4.10 code base, but 
it was break down in project structure and management that I found very sad.

In part this is because I worked hard for many years to introduce various 
project management and coordination ideas. From review board to the 
platform/workspaces/applications split to considering new workflows around git, 
I participated in and supported others in these kinds of efforts. So I have a 
personal investment here, and to see it go largely invisible for 4.10 was 
really disappointing.

My health was not great for parts of 2012, and I needed to take some time for 
myself to heal up. It was very hard to do that while watching that happen.

When I asked for a maintainer of the code in kde-workspaces/plasma/desktop/, 2 
people stepped up. One was already so overloaded, it was silly to ask them to 
take on even more, and they agreed. The other person only wanted to do so if 
it also meant that they would have design control over the desktop workspace 
as a whole. When I noted that the idea was code maintenance, not installing 
some director of Plasma Workspaces (which belongs to the team as a whole, not 
a single individual), they declined.

I *hate* just walking away from responsibilties. I feel very bad when doing 
so. It's one of the few thing that causes me to feel true guilt and regret. I 
really did not like that things I had been maintained went unmaintained in 
4.10.

I was further disapointed by the reactions people had to the results of lack 
of coordination. When the shadows and the screen locker issues came to light, 
it was handled in a way that did not, imho, lend itself to building up the 
community. A couple people stepped up in the end and saved our collective 
asses on those points, and we owe them thanks and gratitude.

In summary, it was the lack of process, not the lack of results, that left me 
unhappy with 4.10.

> what, if anything, would you like to be done the same way in 4.11?

I'd like to see QML progress continue at the current pace. It's wonderful.

I'd like to see another successful release, because in the end 4.10 has been, 
despite whatever missteps happened.

I'd like for 4.11 to be a peaceful release for me again. That may be wishful 
thinking, of course. ;)

> what, if anything, would you like to be done differently in 4.11?

I want to see project management and personal responsibility become visible 
again. Others suggested several good ways to do that:

* more maintainers for more components
* people who provide an active and interested coordination of the overall 
effort
* improved bugzilla triage

I'll add only one semi-new point:

* active, healthy communication between components teams. no more developing 
in caves. no more not talking to each other. broad, inter-component 
coordination.

Development plans and progress should be shared with others on this mailing 
list, recorded on the wiki, etc. We need irc meetings at important moments, we 
need more people blogging about what theya re working on, which may also help 
with our other goal of getting more people trying newer things. 

By letting each other know what we are doing, we can coordinate with each 
other effectively and produce a better end product together.

I am personally committing to put effort into helping define and reach our 
goals. I'm feeling better than I have in years, which is nice :), but I also 
think we've seen what happens when we all just sit back and hope "someone, 
anyone" will do what needs to be done in that vein. Lesson learned. 

Ultimate goal: let's get back to doing what we do well: great code, great 
technology, great community.

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
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