• Name: Feature Development Checkpoint

• Owner: Launchpad Product Strategist

• Effective: ???

• Review: 2011-07-31

Process Overview

During the development of a feature, we have regular checkpoints to make sure that it's going well and to see whether we should keep doing it.

This is the main interface between the Product team and the Feature Squads of Launchpad. The idea is that every two weeks during development, the Feature Squads approach the Product Team with their most recent user-visible changes, and then the Product Team makes what they've done better.

Process Description

Feature Squad

• Email the Product team with a description of what user-visible work is available on which servers.
  • In order of preference: lpnet, qastaging, staging, dogfood

• Possibly update the relevant Projects page

Communications Manager

• Review user research needs:
  • Are there mock-ups that need to be tested?
  • Is there anything of which the developers are unsure and that can be answered by speaking to users?
• Review documentation and UI text:
  • Has anything changed that needs to be reflected in the help wiki now and/or on feature release?
  • Is the UI text clear, does it meet our guidelines?
  • Is it ready for us to make a screencast?
• Promotion:
  • How the past fortnight's work affected what the feature promotion will look like?
  • Do we need to schedule anyone else's time (marketers, journalists, etc.) yet?

Testers

• Exploratory testing

• Talk to stakeholders:
  • Does this meet their expectations?
  • Have their needs changed?
• Look at the metrics for the feature in development
• Review bugs filed during previous exploratory testing and check if they're being worked on.

UI Wizard

• Review the UI work

Product Strategist

• Review the feature vs the LEP, and update one or the other
• Negotiate with Feature Squad what we should aim for for next checkpoint

• Review the plans for future cycles using the page on Projects

• Contact key stakeholders, update Stakeholders section on the LEP.

All

• Update the relevant project page, linked from Projects

Triggers

The Product Team, according to a two week cycle.

Inputs

• Meeting between the Feature Squad lead and a representative of the Product Team
• Meetings between squad memebers and Product Team members

Outputs

• Updated Projects page

• Bug reports
• Exploratory testing reports
• User research reports
• Stakeholder UAT reports
• Documentation
• Promotional planning
• Revised UI
• Reviewed LEP and other plans

Participants

Product team and feature squads

Notes

• It's kind of hard to map from the QA notes to the LEP to see which requirements, user stories and success criteria have been met. -- jml, 2011-06-17
• Need to add something about sending an email at the end of the checkpoint -- jml, 2011-06-17