Proposed Features for Launchpad Bugs 3.0 - call for help!

[Jordan Mantha]

On Sat, Aug 23, 2008 at 6:57 AM, Christian Robottom Reis
<kiko at canonical.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 06, 2008 at 05:15:21PM +0200, Reinhard Tartler wrote:
>> My current impression is that the list of specs is too long.
>
> Thanks for following up and providing us with input. The point you make
> above is dear to me -- we do really have lots of work to do. This ties
> into another point you make:
>
>> Having said this, I have a urgent plea: If you implement a spec, please,
>> pretty please think about who is going to be affected by a change, and
>> talk to them before starting to change launchpad. Any change that has
>> the potential to have an effect on workflows we already agreed on is
>> very likely to cause confusion and anti-sentiments. This already has
>> happened in the past, unfortunately. And the answers I received so far
>> support these observations.
>
> I've struggled with this over the past two years, and in less than a
> year we will be open sourced. I understand that existing end-users are
> very much affected by changes, but on the other hand, we need to change
> Launchpad in order to make it better. On top of that, when we do get
> feedback it is very varied -- some users really like the changes, but
> others, not that much. Additionally, if you've read `Don't Shoot the
> Dog', you'll understand me when I say that the negative feedback we do
> get doesn't encourage us to seek out more!

I'd like to reiterate what Reinhard has said about Ubuntu developer's
needing consistency. Almost *every* aspect of Ubuntu development uses
Launchpad to some extent and many processes rely completely on
consistent usage of Launchpad. For us Launchpad is a *critical* tool
to our work, so in a lot of respects we're more interesting with
existing feature working well than adding new features. I'm personally
be more interested in getting Launchpad to do the basics/fundamentals
(uploading, bugs, speed) correctly before adding any new features.
Basically put, it's annoying and disruptive for  Ubuntu to be the beta
testers/guinea pigs for Launchpad development.

The second thing I think needs to be brought up is that it seems like
we're being consulted at the wrong time and that the feedback is
acquired at the wrong time. What Reinhard's talking about, I think, is
that it would be good if Launchpad devs interacted with us at the
design level. Sure, we can see what's going to be released, and we're
able to give prioritization of existing lists, but that's not really
the main issue. The main issue is that the feedback is much too late,
so much so as to make it virtually impossible for our feedback to make
any significant dent in the development momentum. Even when things
we'd like to see are getting implemented, often enough the
implementation is not consistent with how we'd like to use Launchpad.

-Jordan