Reminder: Guides due to be branched on 2 October

[Ben Cotton]

Guide owners,

Just a friendly reminder that guides are scheduled to be branched and
POT files generated on 2 October. The full schedule is at:

http://jreznik.fedorapeople.org/schedules/f-18/f-18-docs-tree-tasks.html

[Jack Reed]

Hi Ben,

I'm a bit unclear on this. I'm surprised this is still scheduled so 
soon, since beta has been delayed until the 23rd and so we won't have 
the ISO to test our books against.

Plus, the Installation Guide and Installation Quick Start Guide, for 
instance, can't be ready until after beta because the new UI is still 
being worked on. Does the October 2 date apply more to books with 
minimal changes for F18?

Thanks,

Jack

On 09/28/2012 06:05 AM, Ben Cotton wrote:
> Guide owners,
>
> Just a friendly reminder that guides are scheduled to be branched and
> POT files generated on 2 October. The full schedule is at:
>
> http://jreznik.fedorapeople.org/schedules/f-18/f-18-docs-tree-tasks.html

[Ben Cotton]

Jack,

You raise some good questions. The schedule is set by the Fedora
Program Manager, generally based on the last release's schedule. I've
cc'ed jreznik (and included the rest of the thread below) so he can
speak more about how that happens if needed. The branching of guides
is scheduled to happen fairly early in the release cycle so that the
translators have plenty of time to do their magic. The unspoken
assumption is that there are rarely super-drastic changes needed in a
guide.

That, of course, is a totally false assumption with respect to the IG
and IQSG this time around. So I'd say that the branches are still due
on October 2, but I wouldn't expect them to come in on time. It's
actually a fairly rare occurrence that most (any?) guides get branched
on time, anyway. Wrangling the guides and guide owners is one of the
more difficult parts of being the Docs leader, and I've learned to
trust that the owners will get things done as soon as they can.

At the risk of making my project management professor cry, I say don't
worry about the schedule too much. If a guide isn't ready to be
branched when it is due, then it's not ready. Keep working on it as
you can, and please feel free to solicit help from the group when
needed.

I hope this answers your questions well enough.

Thanks for your effort!
BC

On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 7:19 PM, Jack Reed  wrote:
> Hi Ben,
>
> I'm a bit unclear on this. I'm surprised this is still scheduled so soon,
> since beta has been delayed until the 23rd and so we won't have the ISO to
> test our books against.
>
> Plus, the Installation Guide and Installation Quick Start Guide, for
> instance, can't be ready until after beta because the new UI is still being
> worked on. Does the October 2 date apply more to books with minimal changes
> for F18?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jack
>
> On 09/28/2012 06:05 AM, Ben Cotton wrote:
> > Guide owners,
> >
> > Just a friendly reminder that guides are scheduled to be branched and
> > POT files generated on 2 October. The full schedule is at:
> >
> > http://jreznik.fedorapeople.org/schedules/f-18/f-18-docs-tree-tasks.html

[Jack Reed]

Ben,

That's hugely helpful - thanks very much. You've given me a strong sense 
of what the expectations are and they match what I'd assumed would have 
to be the case: that we all work to get the guides branched as soon as 
possible to give the translators as much time as possible, but that 
we're ultimately beholden to how Fedora development itself progresses.

Yes, updating the Installation Guides will be a much bigger undertaking 
this time around. I'll certainly be doing my utmost to give localization 
as much breathing room as possible though.

Onward and upward!

Thanks again,

Jack

On 09/28/2012 11:09 AM, Ben Cotton wrote:
> Jack,
>
> You raise some good questions. The schedule is set by the Fedora
> Program Manager, generally based on the last release's schedule. I've
> cc'ed jreznik (and included the rest of the thread below) so he can
> speak more about how that happens if needed. The branching of guides
> is scheduled to happen fairly early in the release cycle so that the
> translators have plenty of time to do their magic. The unspoken
> assumption is that there are rarely super-drastic changes needed in a
> guide.
>
> That, of course, is a totally false assumption with respect to the IG
> and IQSG this time around. So I'd say that the branches are still due
> on October 2, but I wouldn't expect them to come in on time. It's
> actually a fairly rare occurrence that most (any?) guides get branched
> on time, anyway. Wrangling the guides and guide owners is one of the
> more difficult parts of being the Docs leader, and I've learned to
> trust that the owners will get things done as soon as they can.
>
> At the risk of making my project management professor cry, I say don't
> worry about the schedule too much. If a guide isn't ready to be
> branched when it is due, then it's not ready. Keep working on it as
> you can, and please feel free to solicit help from the group when
> needed.
>
> I hope this answers your questions well enough.
>
> Thanks for your effort!
> BC
>
> On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 7:19 PM, Jack Reed  wrote:
> > Hi Ben,
> >
> > I'm a bit unclear on this. I'm surprised this is still scheduled so soon,
> > since beta has been delayed until the 23rd and so we won't have the ISO to
> > test our books against.
> >
> > Plus, the Installation Guide and Installation Quick Start Guide, for
> > instance, can't be ready until after beta because the new UI is still being
> > worked on. Does the October 2 date apply more to books with minimal changes
> > for F18?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > Jack
> >
> > On 09/28/2012 06:05 AM, Ben Cotton wrote:
> > > Guide owners,
> > >
> > > Just a friendly reminder that guides are scheduled to be branched and
> > > POT files generated on 2 October. The full schedule is at:
> > >
> > > http://jreznik.fedorapeople.org/schedules/f-18/f-18-docs-tree-tasks.html