Based on my last check, the Project Applications queue is down to 134 modules currently sitting in 'Needs Review' status.
This is an amazing improvement over where it was a few weeks ago ... and a big kudos to everyone involved. However, I suspect that, without additional reviewers, the current progress will either stall out or lead to reviewer burnout ... neither of which are good options. Once the backlog has been cleared, it may be possible to stay on top of it and manage it with just a few bodies ... but first, we need to clear the backlog.
How? Well, here's a proposal ...
Looking through some of the CVS Review history, it's clear that there are a number of people willing to answer the call when it comes to code review ... glancing over http://groups.drupal.org/node/88599 would seem to reinforce this. Which got me wondering how we could now 'call in a favor' for those who posted they were willing to help ... and that led to the concept below.
An "Official" Drupal Project Application Review Week
The concept is simple ... designate an official 'Adopt an Application' week, promote it within the greater Drupal community, and leverage Planet Drupal and the 'News' section on the front page of Drupal.Org to provide a 'code review' call to action, with the goal of 'clearing the project application queue'.
While it's probably not likely that we could actually clear the queue in a week, the real goal of the proposal would be to generate a bit of much-needed buzz about the Project Application queue. Hopefully, the publicity associated with such an event would raise awareness of the current queue backlog, code review process, and (with luck) provide a few more bodies who stick around after the week is over. Also, this may also help bring in a few module specialists, who can more readily evaluate applications which provide plugins/extensions to their own modules ... as well as wake some of those folks who are still stuck in their post-Drupal 7 recovery slumber. ;)
What's needed
- A catchy 'name/slogan' for the call-to-action, which will inspire people to read further
- Pick a week ... one where we can make ourselves widely available to provide support to reviewers
- Socialize the concept with key members in the community, building support (and hopefully a little evangelism)
- Access to a couple folks with 'webmaster' accounts, who can get the concept into the 'News' queue (I think we already have these?)
- Finalize our discussion on 'gates/checklists', and document the results in a nice 'review checklist' that people can use in reviewing modules ... and perhaps a set of flags for those folks not willing/able to do a full code review
- Sanity check on the existing 'how to review' documentation ... I know that the 'module duplication' rationale could be more prominent in a number of places.
- Launch & Profit
Interested in hearing your thoughts/opinions/feedback ...
Comments
I'm in favor of this idea and
I'm in favor of this idea and can help with promotion of the news item and being on hand.
knaddison blog | Morris Animal Foundation
I like it
I like the idea but you've set out a lot of work to be done to prepare for this. You need organization to pull this off, a leader who can identify, prioritize and delegate tasks, and some others who are committed to getting it done. Who is going to be in charge?
Sure ... there's a fair bit
Sure ... there's a fair bit of work in my 'to-do' list that would be required to pull this off ... but I'd argue that, given the size of the queue, it's all work which needs to happen regardless.
As for 'Who's going to be in charge' ... I would be willing to step up and coordinate; but wouldn't take this on unless I knew I could dedicate enough time to truly do it right. Unfortunately, that time isn't available at the moment; but I'll be re-evaluating what I've got available after I wrap up a few projects (within the next few weeks).
awesome idea
This is a really great idea. I fully support this. I think all the to-dos are good. Though I am not sure how much we can finalize any concrete process steps in a short term (more thoughts on this soon), but can always improve the documentation.
I think the key thing is to ensure there are people available in IRC at a given time each day of that week to answer questions.
I can put in some time, but my time is really thin these days, so I could not really take the lead on this, but will happily help where I can and promote as much as possible.
--
zzolo