Volunteer contribution, which the GovStack project relies upon for success, is usually on the basis that it is given according to the timetable and resources of the Contributor. To ensure that the project is able to accommodate and support that contribution, the following processes are implemented:
Proposing a new building block or significant updates to a current building block
A Contributor or group of Contributors may well have a desire to create new content and this should always be encouraged. The following process gets that work started:
The Triage Lead discusses the plan with the Contributor (or Contributors collaborating. We will use Contributor below) and sets their expectations according to this process
When starting a new building block, there is no guarantee that the building block will be included in a published GovStack release. The final decision for this always lies with the Product Owner and managed through the Commit Leads
All work on a new building block takes place using the processes defined here and on GovStack platforms, like Jira, GitBook, and GitHub. This ensures that the project leadership can follow the direction the Contributor is taking and help steer it towards something suitable for inclusion in a published release.
The Contributor is encouraged to attend the Technical Committee and Product Committee
The Triage Lead creates resources on GovStack platforms, like Jira, GitBook, and GitHub, to support their work
The Product Owner and Triage Lead provide guidance on what makes a great building block specification, with support from the Product and Technical Committees
The Contributor works at their chosen pace, developing the specification to a point at which they believe it is approaching the requirements for inclusion in a published GovStack release.
The Product Owner can facilitate this work in two ways:
By appointing one or more of the voluntary Contributors that have proposed the new building block to act as Triage Leads just within that building block (under supervision of the project-supplied Triage Lead)
By appointing one or more of the voluntary Contributors that have proposed the new building block to act as Commit Leads just within that building block (under supervision of the project-supplied Commit Leads). They will only have commit access to that building block’s resources and will be the only Contributors in that building block with commit access.
The Contributor must now decide when they wish the enter the publication cycle.
The publication cycle
Every six months, the GovStack project runs a publication cycle, where they take updates made to previously published building blocks and, optionally, add new building blocks that are declared ready to enter the cycle.
The publication cycle is a 12 week fixed-time event where all those changes and additions that have met the project’s Quality Criteria can be included in a published release of the specifications. Changes and additions that don’t meet the Quality Criteria by the end of the cycle are not included.
For a new building block to enter a publication cycle, the Contributor must agree with the Product Owner that:
They will respond to all questions posed in Jira issues on the building block project within one week
They will attend the Technical Committee every week during the publication cycle, or send a representative on their behalf
The final building block content will meet all of the project Quality Criteria (and this is why the Commit Lead checks these as they commit each small change - it makes this phase so much easier when we get to the time-limited phases of publication!)
Once the Product Owner is satisfied that all of the parts of a release are in place, they publish the release. Where building blocks who have entered the publication cycle but not met the Quality Criteria by publication date, they are dropped from this release publication and invited to return for the next cycle.