About: Ubuntu Development Releases Testing Team

About the team

Context

The Ubuntu+1 sub-forum at UbuntuForums.org

UbuntuForums.org hosts a sub-forum dedicated to Ubuntu Development Releases. This sub-forum is closed and has its contents archived at the end of every development release cycle. It is reopened when a new release cycle starts. The archived content can be accessed here.
From 2009 to 2011 (Intrepid Ibex to Precise Pangolin) users have gathered at this forum to report and discuss their experiences with Ubuntu+1: opinions, bugs found and even workarounds.

Some of these users gradually defined themselves as "testers" and engaged into tasks related to testing the development releases of Ubuntu. A Ubuntu+1 tester is typically an individual with some Linux and Ubuntu experience, and enough skills to understand and solve problems and challenges presented when running unstable software. Doing so, these testers create a knowledge base, spread into hundreds of threads and posts, regarding the specificities of the release under development. It's not unusual to see that, once a development cycle ends and a final version of Ubuntu is released, Ubuntu+1 testers jump into the common support areas of UbuntuForums (as well as other forums – including international ones) and share advanced knowledge about the new release. Having used, tested and discussed such releases since day one of alpha stage, their expertise on its particularities is not unexpected.

Changes at Ubuntu+1 during the Precise Pangolin development cycle

Up to the Oneiric Ocelot development cycle, the Ubuntu+1 area of UbuntuForums had hardly changed, if not for higher traffic and number of users. It had no official leadership, processes, objectives or integration with other Ubuntu teams. Change started to happen during the Precise Pangolin development cycle. Some moves towards consolidating Ubuntu+1 as a community and improving its integration to other teams and to Ubuntu processes were taken to the Community Team. One of the first actions towards publicizing Ubuntu+1 was its participations at UDW a session named “Running the Development Release”.

Changes at Ubuntu during the Precise Pangolin development cycle

Also during the PP cycle, a new goal of keeping the development releases usable and buildable was defined (see '"Priorities for development release maintenance"' and '"Priorities"'). That was triggered by Mark Shuttleworth as described here.

Indirectly, these changes created new Development Release users (not properly testers) and thus a need to support them, as well as an opportunity to get new people involved in testing. The Ubuntu+1 forum section started receiving threads moved from other support areas and had to provide support to those users.

A naturally formed community

Ubuntu+1 has lost a few good testers in past cycles. Some felt like they should find other ways to contribute to Ubuntu, as Ubuntu+1 had no feedback from other Ubuntu areas and teams and was loosely integrated to Ubuntu structure. As a way to offer proper Ubuntu and community recognition to the work of those testers, enhance the integration of their work to Ubuntu, retain current talents and attract new ones, it became clear that it was time to make it an official team.

In order to do so, goals, responsibilities, processes and leadership must be defined. The U+1 Team initial plan for those is detailed in next sections.

The U+1 Team creation

The proposal for the creation of the U+1 team (including its initial view on goals, processes, roadmap, leadership, etc) was drafted in a document and submit to Ubuntu Community Coordination. The team can operate as it is with no need of approval of the Ubuntu Community Council. In the future, if its contributions to the community prove valid and useful, the team can pledge the CC to be considered an Official Team.

The U+1 Team plan and processes

Team responsibilities

The U+1 Team will engage into activities related exclusively to the Development Releases of Ubuntu. Such activities may include:

• Intra-day updates testing and reporting;
• Milestone releases testing and reporting;

• Custom Testing (e.g. CheckPoint, TestDrive, as well as answering to direct requests from developers);

• Creating high value-added Launchpad Bug Reports and working with triagers and developers to solve such bugs, if requested;
• Supporting new Development Release users;
• Attracting new talents to the team, retaining and motivating skilled testers;
• Developing, documenting and sharing testing procedures and techniques;
• Documenting its organizational and technical information and making it publicly accessible via Ubuntu Wiki;

• Supporting other teams in activities that relate to the Development Releases (QA, learning, documentation, etc).
  

U+1 members will sign and follow the Code of Conduct, being respectful and responsible in all of its Ubuntu-related activities.

Team governance

The U+1 Team is self-managed, meaning its members define the team goals, plan and regular activities. Members get a chance to propose changes and have their ideas voted by the others. Conflicts are handled internally and, only in punctual situations, taken to the Community Council (by the team leader).

Team membership

Any Ubuntu user may apply for a 1-year U+1 Team Membership. In order to do so, the user must:

• Sign Ubuntu Code of Conduct and act according to it;
• Provide valuable contributions to the team activities and discussions;
• Engage productively into the team activities;

• Be accepted by other members in a U+1 Team Meeting. Current members that attend to the meeting will vote for or against the membership application.
  

Observations:

• U+1 activities require some degree of technical knowledge. Team memberships will not be granted to users that don't actively contribute to the team activities and/or that have no technical skills to assume a role in the team;

• The U+1 Team is submit to the Community Council governance. It can not offer Ubuntu Memberships to it's members.

Recognition memberships

Team memberships will immediately be granted to all the Ubuntu+1 regulars that have clearly contributed to its development and provided support to Development Releases users. As many Ubuntu Team Memberships, its length term is of one year (this is preset in the team settings in Launchpad as a way of tracking active members). Members automatically receive renewal requests via mail when their membership is about to expire.

Ubuntu Membership

U+1 Team Memberships are not the same as Ubuntu Memberships. Every Ubuntu user can apply for an Ubuntu Membership by following the procedures described here.

Team Founder / Ownership

The team founder (which automatically is granted "ownership" of it in Launchpad) will have no special rights. Ownership will transition to other member, as defined by the team council if the founder resigns from the team or leaves the Ubuntu community.

Leadership

• U+1 will be lead by one of its members for the period of one development cycle;

• The current leader will communicate all members the start of new elections up to three (3) weeks before the end of the current development cycle. This will be posted in the team Mailing List;
• Proponents for the team leader position will manifest also in the mailing list;
• Applicants for the team leadership will provide links to:
  • A Launchpad page (to check if the Ubuntu CoC was signed)
  • A Ubuntu Wiki page containing a full description of his ideas for the U+1 Team.

• A voting session via U+1 IRC Channel will be held up to one (1) week before the beginning of the new development cycle;

• The selected member will assume the leadership position immediately in day one of the new development cycle;

• Once elected, the team leader must communicate all members the start of new elections for two (2) new council positions;

• Previous team leaders will automatically assume the position of Team Council members;
• Previous team leaders are allowed to run for re-election;
• If a team leader refuses the leadership role or resigns, an IRC session for voting on a new leader will be scheduled. Proponents (team members only) will announce their will to fill the position through the team mailing-list. This process will be managed by the team council members;

• All team leaders are expected to have read and accepted the Ubuntu Code of Conduct, as well as the Leadership Code of Conduct.

Team Council

Besides previous team leaders, the team council will hopefully be composed of other experienced members. It will be responsible for:

• Making sure the team and its members are operating accordingly to its roadmap and to the Ubuntu Code of Conduct;
• Evaluating membership applications, before they are available for members voting;
• Managing team conflicts;
• Representation to the broader community;
• Managing delegation and division of labour;
• Organizing the team reports and making sure to keep its quality and flow;
• Recognition of competence and contribution of members;
• Providing advice to team leaders;
• The council has the power to veto decisions of the members, as long as all council members and the current team leader unanimously and publicly agree on this decision;
• If a team council member refuses the council position or resigns, an IRC session for voting on a new council member will be scheduled. Proponents (team members only) will announce their will to fill the position through the team mailing-list. This process will be managed by the team council members;

• All members of the council are expected to have read and accepted the Ubuntu Code of Conduct, as well as the Leadership Code of Conduct.

Composition of the team council

• By the start of every new development cycle, the team leader and the current council members will open elections for up to two (2) new council members;

• Current council members and the team leader may open up to one (1) additional position for council member once per development cycle;

• If a council member resigns, new elections will be held to elect a member for the open position;
• Previous council members are allowed to run for re-election. The term length of council members is of two (2) development cycles;
• As a new team leader is selected, the previous team leader may be re-elected or automatically become an additional Council Member;
• There will be no more than 6 simultaneous council members. If such condition is met, no election will be held.

Current (PP) Leadership

• For the remaining days of the Precise Pangolin development cycle, team leadership will be held by Cariboo907. As an Ubuntu Member and a Ubuntu Forum Council member, he has the seniority to conduct the team, as it approaches the new development cycle.

Current Council (PP)

• There will be no council during the remaining of the PP development cycle;
• U+1 team members that wish to occuppy a team council position must prepare for elections (to be held as soon as the new cycle team leader is elected)

Decision Making Processes

Decisions of minor importance, which adhere to the team goals and processes and do not require a change in its plan might (and likely will) be taken by the team leader and/or the council with no participation of its members. At this initial phases of the U+1 Team, members are expected to help its development, engaging more in its productive activities than in its internal management. However, some other decisions may affect the group and its members. In these cases, the propositions will be presented to all members via mailing list and a meeting (IRC) will be scheduled. All members present at the session will vote on the subject.

Delegation

Team members are expected to volunteer to its activities. Delegation will happen in an open and non-mandatory form during team meetings or via the team mailing list.

Dispute Resolution

All U+1 Team members are expected to have signed and to operate according to the Ubuntu Code of Conduct. Conflict should be avoid and, when not possible, rapidly managed by the Team Council, in a way that it does not interfere with the team work.

• The Team Council will designate one members to manage the conflict;
• This members will speak with each partie involved in the situation and gather the relevant details;
• A private session of the Team Council will be schedules to evaluate the information collected;
• The team council will come up with a solution and vote on it;
• The council has the authority to remove members from the Team, if needed;

• General guidelines proposed by the Ubuntu Community Council will be considered;

• If necessary, conflicts will be taken to the Community Council.

Team and Members Evaluation

• The team council is responsible for evaluating its members and, eventually, supporting their Ubuntu membership request for the Community Council or other boards of governance;
• In such cases, the team council will provide the governance board with precise and true information about the members' contributions and performance, as requested.

Team Technical Resources

Launchpad

The U+1 Team is registered at https://launchpad.net/~U+1. This page lists general information about the team and it's members.

Mailing-List

The U+1 Team Mailing-List is hosted at U+1@lists.launchpad.net. It's not targeted at end-user support and used exclusively for U+1 members discussions and interaction with other teams and developers. It is a moderated list and it requires subscription (see https://launchpad.net/~U+1).

Forum

The Ubuntu+1 sub-forum at UbuntuForums.org is the main channel for end-user support. Using the forum for support has some advantages, as it creates a searchable knowledge base, that can be accessed by other users (unlike IRC). However, the sub-forum is not managed by the U+1 Team, but by the Forum Council. All issues regarding the forum must be addressed to the forum staff and the focum council.

IRC Channel

U+1 uses an IRC channel for it's internal management, discussions and events.
There's currently not enough resources to use the IRC channel for end-user support. The Ubuntu+1 sub-forum at UbuntuForums.org is the main end-user support media. The channel is registered and moderated, and hosted at irc.ubuntu.com at #U+1.

Wiki

The wiki is hosted at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/U+1. Notice the uppercase letter 'U'.

Team Reports

• It is important to track the team developments and activities;
• The team council will be reponsible for keeping track of such information and reporting it;
• All team reports should be public and also directly provided to the Community Council.

Media

• Reports will be posted to the team reports wiki page;

• The information will also be posted to the Community Council Reporting Page;

• Additionally, the Team Council will participate in IRC meetings to report its work and the activities of its members to the Community Council and other governance boards;

Regularity

• Team reports will be monthly updated;
• The team council is responsible for delegating this task and verifying that it is being done properly.

International / Localized Content and Team Branches

• U+1 is a new team with limited human resources and experimental processes. It would be hard to spread its ideas to international groups (and to manage them).
• U+1 tests Ubuntu software, not its translations; It would be pointless to allocate efforts to localized software versions. The team language is English, although many of its members are foreign.

Roadmap

Initial activities

• Inform Ubuntu+1 regulars (currently available) of the team creation;
• Ask each of them to join the team, provide them team memberships, making sure all have signed the Ubuntu Code of Conduct;
• Make sure all members read and agree to the team plan and processes, in general. All requests for change will be discussed once all members are registered to the mailing list;
• Stimulate members to get to knoe each other better, participate in IRC sessions and work together in problems;
• Delegate: Locate old members and invite them to come back to testing via U+1 Team;
• Delegate: Detect talented potential members and present them to the team;
• Delegate: Wiki review and english spelling / grammar check;

• Team Leader: Open elections for New Team Leader and two (2) Council members;

• Evaluate and hopefully absorb members suggestions for changes in the team processes and plan.

Current priorities

• Directly support QA and answer to its requests for testing during the remaining of the PP cycle;
• Teach and motivate other talented users to get involved in U+1 and QA activities;
• Collectively develop the U+1 Tech Wiki as a set of "Basic and Advanced knowledge of use for Ubuntu testers";
• Delegate: Update the team "Staff" and "Contacts" areas in the team Wiki;
• Delegate: Map the team members hardware (what will effectively be available for testing) in the wiki;
• Delegate: Map the team members skills and interest (VMs, other Ubuntu flavors, etc);
• Delegate: Communicate other Ubuntu communities and groups of interest about the creation of the team;
• Ask the team to provide insight and suggestions for improvement, but separate high-priority and coherently organized requests for immediate voting in the first online meetings.

This wiki is under Development. Check https://launchpad.net/~U+1
Contact u+1@lists.launchpad.net or Effenberg0x0@GMail.com for further info.