Open Roadmaps for YOUR
Open Communities
Oleg Nenashev
@oleg_nenashev
* Not a success story, but you may have one
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> whoami
@oleg_nenashev
oleg-nenashev
Dr. Nenashev / Mr. Jenkins
Developer tools hacker
Community builder & DevRel consultant
#RussiansAgainstPutin #StandWithUkraine
Credits: The first version of the talk was done together
with Mark Waite for cdCon 2021. Thanks to CloudBees
for sponsoring time for the roadmap work in Jenkins
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> whoami
Oleg Nenashev
“I am a beaver who
builds and maintains
the communities”
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My Open [and not so] Communities
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Time
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Growth challenges
• Isolated sub-communities
• Lack of transparency
• Perceived lack of focus
• Perceived or real vendor lock-in
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Growth challenges
• Isolated sub-communities
• Lack of transparency
• Perceived lack of focus
• Perceived or real vendor lock-in
• Hard to get enough contributors
behind big initiatives
• Hard to join initiatives
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Growth challenges
• Isolated sub-communities
• Lack of transparency
• Perceived lack of focus
• Perceived or real vendor lock-in
• Hard to get enough contributors
behind big initiatives
• Hard to join initiatives
• Not enough company contributors
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Time to become more public
about our plans?
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Our Roadmap
jenkins.io/project/roadmap
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RELEASED PREVIEW CURRENT NEAR-TERM FUTURE
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Stories where Our Roadmap helped
● Contributor Onboarding Flow
● Google Summer of Code and
self-funded internships
● Many Particular features
● Some publicity
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… and where it did not
● Attracting company contributors
● Advocacy and Outreach efforts
● Community marketing
● The roadmap itself
● … anything else in longer term
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Challenges we experienced
1. Bus factor
2. Inconsistencies
3. Stalled progress
4. Roadmap bloat
5. Off-roadmap initiatives
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Source: impactplus.com/blog/7-cant-miss-ways-to-overcome-any-creative-roadblock
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github.com/jenkins-infra/jenkins.io/
commits/master/content/_data/roa
dmap/roadmap.yml
NOW:
Jenkins Roadmap
is stale and outdated
* and this is nobody’s fault
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No content
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What is roadmap?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_roadmap
A technology roadmap is a flexible planning technique to support
strategic and long-range planning, by matching short-term and
long-term goals with specific technology solutions
Keywords:
● flexible planning
● support strategic and long-range planning
● matching short-term and long-term goals
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Roadmaps take different forms
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// Visual & Slides - CDF SIG Interoperability
cd.foundation/blog/2021/01/19/cdf-sig-interoperability-2020-year-in-review
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github.com/tektoncd/pipeline/blob/main/roadmap.md
NOTE: Actual Roadmap is on GitHub Projects
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//Just Text
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// DYI Roadmap
jenkins.io/project/roadmap
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RELEASED PREVIEW CURRENT NEAR-TERM FUTURE
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Defining target audience
● End users
● End user companies
● Community Contributors
● Downstream projects/communities
● Vendors
github.com/jenkinsci/jep/tree/master/jep/14
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Setting guiding principles
● Community-driven
● Open and transparent process
● Open data
● No commitment on delivery
github.com/jenkinsci/jep/tree/master/jep/14
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Setting timeline
● Dates/quarters are good for consumers
● It’s rarely good for a community-driven project
● NEVER commit on dates
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Roadmap is NOT
just about features!
Roadmap is used by the community
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+ All Community Initiatives
●
Developer tools and services
●
Contributor onboarding and
outreach programs
●
Open Governance
●
Community Events
●
Outreach Programs
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No content
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Challenges we experienced
1. Bus factor
2. Inconsistencies
3. Stalled progress
4. Roadmap bloat
5. Off-roadmap initiatives
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Source: impactplus.com/blog/7-cant-miss-ways-to-overcome-any-creative-roadblock
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Bus factor
It is not enough to
have one champion
of the roadmap
“It’s me, hi, I’m the
problem, it’s me”.gif
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Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHZBMjnF6-4
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Challenge:
Roadmap Inconsistencies
Solution(s)
● Regular roadmap reviews
● Regular status reviews at
SIG meetings
● Issue tracker as a source
of truth
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Challenge:
Stalled progress
Solution(s)
● More publicity
● SIGs leading initiatives
● Outreach programs to
facilitate roadmap
● Ask for help
● Removing things is okay
Image source:
https://eu.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2019/02/22/hamtramck-pothole
-car-stuck/2948865002/
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Challenge:
Roadmap Bloat
Solution(s)
● Categories
● Filters
● Policy on number of items
per category
Image source:
https://www.thrillist.com/cars/nation/the-worst-interstate-systems-in-america-washingt
on-dc-new-orleans-houston
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Challenge:
Roadmap Bloat
Solution(s)
● Categories
● Filters
● Policy on number of items
per category
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Challenge:
Off-roadmap initiatives
Solution(s)
● Embrace initiatives
● Include to the roadmap when
possible
● Invite initiatives to join SIGs and
sub-projects
Source:
https://www.amazon.com/Russian-Truck-Offroad-Jeep-Simulator/
dp/B08VDLP9M9
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What could one do in 2023?
● K.I.S.S.
● Bring the roadmap right into the
issue tracker
● Make issues the roadmap content
● Avoid duplication
● Avoid -as-code, use WYSIWIG
Source: knowyourmeme.com/photos/
2401265-wholesome-memes
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The Octocat
in the Room
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Use your own
project platform
Default solution for GitHub ecosystem
● Solves many issues by direct integration
with GitHub
● Good UX for small projects
● Publicly visible w/o GitHub auth
● GitHub Automation Capabilities
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Projects
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Limitations of GitHub Projects
● Bad UX beyond 5 columns
● No Mobile mode
● Gets cluttered by labels & Co
● GitHub QL does not support complex
expressions
GitHub
Projects 2.0+
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Limitations of GitHub Projects
● Tied to a single organization, no support
for multiple orgs
● No support for migrating repositories
between orgs
● “Roadmap View” is tied to dates and not
advised for open source
● [Even more lock-in]?
GitHub
Projects 2.0+
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NEW: GitHub “Roadmap View”
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Dates or Iterations,
but still time “commitments”
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No content
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• Roadmaps coordinate effort
• Roadmaps share vision
• Roadmaps != schedules
What we learned
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Takeaways
● Public roadmap may help
● Keep it simple
● Ensure sustainability of your
community… and the roadmap
● Consider your social coding
platform by default
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It’s [always] a great time to contribute ;)
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jenkins.io/participate
Credits
● All Jenkins contributors
● Mark Waite, CloudBees
○ For the original version we did together at cdCon 2021
● OpenMoji project
○ https://openmoji.org/
● Online comics, all of them