Hi folks,
I took an initial cut at the framework/outline for a PRD, and started filling in... some
bits of it, mostly in an "example" type format so people can get an idea of
context, other parts in a more "this is a description of what should be here,"
etc.
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Cloud_PRD
This is about as "traditional" of a PRD as I have gotten it to at this point -
given that typically, in a proprietary-type company setting, one group might do a MRD
(marketing), then product managers would do a PRD, and then engineers might dive in and do
a more detailed requirements document, and then Dilbert-type things start happening
(Engineers inform the product managers that they are living in a dream world, the product
managers tell them that is nice but it needs to be finished by next week, etc..
http://garbuz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/dilbert-agile-user-stor... :D ) And
we're trying to cover most of those bases in one document, and also be realistic (i
hope) in the process.
There is still plenty of basic explanatory stuff that can be filled in here, so I hope
that people can bear with the fact that more is coming along that might give them better
context, but I wanted to get this out for a few reasons:
* Validate that this is even remotely on the right track - I wanted basic framework but...
at some point release early/often kicks in.
...hmm, okay, maybe there aren't any more reasons. There are clearly some sections
where I'm questioning which way might be the better way to do things (user stories vs.
primary use cases, for example), feedback welcome on that or anything else, obv.
Other things I'd just like to put on the table as food for thought:
* There are likely a lot of cases for overlap with the other working groups. I would still
prefer to list them out explicitly, just so we can track / ensure that any dependencies
are being coordinated / worked through (with our help, or not, or whatever) with the other
teams, and also so people don't come along and say "OMG YOU FORGOT XYZ" and
we don't have to explain that we already thought through this and decided it would be
best passed on to another team.
* In line with that, it would probably be useful to explicitly describe somewhere towards
the beginning of the document what we expect is *within* our scope, vs. outside of it,
particularly when it comes to server WG / cloud WG things; and also ensure that we have
mutual agreement with the other WGs on that, so that we don't get into some situation
of questioning whose call it is, or worse, just assuming that another working group has
those bases covered. (Johann's mail that he sent just a bit ago to the list,
https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/cloud/2013-October/002837.html more or less
illustrates the need for this, IMO.)
Also: I realize that there is often times a desire to just think about all the cool things
we could add in in terms of packages but I do think it is useful for us to actually think
through the use cases or user profiles, to ensure we have something that is useful in a
variety of environments, for multiple purposes, user types, etc. If you're a sysadmin
or developer, or know people who are, by all means, share what would make a cloud
"product" useful for you in your day to day work, or ask people what would make
it useful. If you know people who are explicitly avoiding Fedora like the plague for cloud
usage, ask them why. This is the kind of stuff that helps us ensure that we are not just
talking to ourselves, more or less ;)
Anyway: I know some folks are going to want to dive in and start filling things out - and
perhaps I should have maybe put this in a separate file as a "template" and then
have the actual filled-out thing on in the Cloud_PRD spot, but ... maybe we can take a
snapshot of it at some point soon and save that as the template. In any case: I'd like
to make sure that we make sure that this is an effective way to format a PRD that will
allow us to produce useful results before we go filling it all in, so that we don't
wind up making a bunch of folks all sadfaced that they spent a bunch of time writing stuff
before we decided that this sucks and we should do it some other way. :)
Finally (I'm wordy today, sorry) - I have no idea what the other WGs are planning
offhand for their PRDs. I don't know if it would be useful for everyone to standardize
on one template, or have each WG decide what works best for them, and I'm not going to
try and sort that out here :) but it might be useful to keep an eye on what the other
teams are putting together so that we can make sure anything that does need
cross-coordination can be captured appropriately.
-robyn