AB/2014-2015 Priorities/w3c synchro consistency plan

From W3C Wiki

This document is the home page for people that are interested in improving the W3C's coordination regarding technical work.

See Also:


Raison d'être

The number of initiatives and activities in W3C is increasing. This is a good thing for the open web platform as it demonstrates it is attractive. Nevertheless, this implies the development of technology pieces in parallel, in different working group, involving different eco-system and this may increase the risks for breaking the open web platform consistency. We have some structures intended to ensure consistency and technical coordination. TAG, several groups who do horizontal review, and the inclusion of dependencies in the charter are among these mechanisms. The mission of the Task Force should be to determine whether these mechanisms are working optimally, and if not what practical steps could improve the situation.

Problem Statement and Considerations

The group identifies the following problems and issues and aspires to either directly address them and/or to make recommendations on how to address them:

  • How do we make sure that the work going on in W3C is correctly propagated across the W3C stake holders (WG contributors, chairs, editors, W3C domain leaders, W3C members, the public)
  • How do we make sure the Horizontal Groups are proactively reviewing specs with respect to their technical domain?
  • Which blocker can we identify in the information from specification to public (going through the different stake holders)

Considerations for this project include:

  • Audience - what is the audience? For this project actors could be some set of: Web (application) developers, technical work participants, group Chairs, TAG, members of the Advisory Committee, members of the Consortium staff, etc.

Basic of the project

The project will work in public. The project will involve any volunteer (AB, AC, any W3C participant experienced in specification delivery), it will target interaction with WG/IG chairs, W3C domain leaders, W3C communication team. The project will suggest during AC meeting in May 2015 a plan. The project will be working closely with TAG.

Scope

The scope of this effort includes technical work being done by:

  • Working Groups
  • Technical Architecture Group (TAG)
  • Interest Groups
  • Community Groups working on technical specifications, especially if the work is expected to eventually become a deliverable for a Working Group

Methodology : audit and propose

The team will gather ideas related to improve synchronization and communication when technical feature is under development.

  • Identify past coordination failures i.e. what has worked well versus previous failures
    • Potential audience: ask the Chairs list about past coordination failures
    • Potential audience: ask the Advisory Committee for feedback about past coordination failures
  • Identify successful initiatives in W3C or individuals level
  • Create an inventory of tools used by the different W3C contributors
  • Interview people involved in specification creation and reviews,
  • Identify the mandatory requirements to keep W3C value high (e.g. archive for ever are required)

The team will prioritize possible process improvement, new working method, tool adaptation, keeping in mind to minimize workload on chairs and W3C team.

Milestones

  • Sept 2014 : setup wiki and mailing list, call for participation, establishing monthly call calendar
  • October/November/December 2014 : interviews, collection of improvement
  • January 2015 : prioritization of suggested improvements
  • February 2015 : Presentation of a straw-man proposal to AB and AC rep
  • March/April 2015 : treating feedbacks, evaluating impact on W3C process
  • May 2015 : Recommendations and action plan

Team member

  • Virginie Galindo, gemalto
  • Chaals
  • Jeff
  • Dan A.
  • [please add your name here]

Communication

The project will operate using the public-coord-mechanisms @ w3.org mail list.

This wiki will be updated to include findings and possible action plan.

Meetings and Minutes

Calls are 16:00 UTC; Zakim Bridge +1.617.761.6200, PIN= 2277# ("ABPR"), irc #ab)

meeting :

Project follow up

The project progress can be tracked under the following page