List of features already requested
goob
Public
Seen by 41
Thinking around how features are requested via the #features hashtag, I'm wondering whether it would be a good idea to publish somewhere (perhaps on the git wiki, or on the new diaspora-project site) a list of features which have been requested, and group them according to their status. Something like:
- Already implemented in the code base
- In testing (have been coded, just waiting for confirmation that they work before they are published)
- In development, with someone allocated to work on them
- Approved the idea, now need someone to code them
- Want to implement but low priority, so will get done some time in the future
- Maybe one day
- Rejected for inclusion in Diaspora for some reason.
(Note, I haven't spent any time thinking of good wording for this - just wrote it down as it came to me!)
That way, community members could check the list to see how their desired features are getting along, or to see if a feature has been requested before and acknowledged (whether or not it has been accepted for inclusion in the Diaspora codebase) before making the request themselves.
I don't know whether it would be easier to create and update such a page manually, or to code it so that when a feature progresses from one stage to another (eg a dev picks up a feature from the 'to do' pile and starts to work on it), they change its status in Github which updates this page automatically.
I realise it's possible to check on the progress of various features via the Github issues list, but that's very confusing for those of us who aren't coders. I can barely understand it at all. This page could be far simpler, and in plain English - so, for instance, 'Instant chat' - with status, rather than detailing the specific development issues in a technical way as Github has to do.
I think it would help people to see that good progress is being made by the community devs, and get a snapshot of the direction that Diaspora is taking.
(I made this suggestion to Sean & Dan a few months ago, but I guess it got lost in all the upheaval at the time.)
Hope that helps.
Poll Created Tue 9 Oct 2012 9:03AM
Create a page of features previously requested Closed Thu 18 Oct 2012 9:10PM
See discussion proposal for details. I think this would help general (non-dev) community members to understand where Diaspora is heading and that good progress is being made by community devs, and why their desired feature isn't currently available, and whether it might be in the future.
Results
| Results | Option | % of points | Voters | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
Agree | 100.0% | 2 |
|
| Abstain | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Disagree | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Block | 0.0% | 0 | ||
| Undecided | 0% | 51 |
|
2 of 53 people have participated (3%)
Flaburgan
Tue 9 Oct 2012 9:05AM
"Maybe one day" seems useless to me.
Jason Robinson Tue 9 Oct 2012 9:24AM
Like the idea = think mapping features and roadmap is important
goob Tue 9 Oct 2012 10:06AM
Jason, I thought a discussion and vote on whether it was a good idea in principle before starting the lots of work part.
Wasn't sure whether to place it here or in documentation, as it relates to development as well as documentation. It can be moved if Sean feels necessary.
Sean Tilley Wed 10 Oct 2012 4:38PM
I've actually been thinking about this quite a bit as of recently, so it's nice to hear it being brought up.
I think a good starting point is to tally up all the user-facing features Diaspora already has, and evaluate where we might want to take them in the future.
Some of the feature requests, like posting to StatusNet instances, are something that would be relatively simple to do. This example could leverage the existing feature of cross-network posting in order to be extended.
Larger features (chat, Per-Aspect Profiles, User data migration, etc) are obviously going to take longer discussions, with more people getting involved as necessary.
I don't think it's too unrealistic to map out a set of features we want to have for a release-sized version bump, with fixes and improvements to existing features coming in alongside new features and designs. If anything, it might help steer newcomers to join in and work on some of the smaller features and improvements as more experienced devs work together on the larger ones.
goob Wed 10 Oct 2012 5:29PM
That's good to hear, Sean.
I suppose now that we have a proper versioning system, and it's being used for milestones on Github, this could be added as well (e.g. 'chat - aim for 0.1.0.0').
I'd be happy to help collate a starter list if I can. What would be the best forum on which to do this collaboratively? We could prepare a draft list out of all the features which we've seen requested over time (those that we can remember), including issues on Github, and then the devs can comment about technical feasibility, likely amount of work, and we can discuss desirability of each feature as well, and then decide along with devs about where to place the feature on the list of priorities, or which release to aim for with each feature.
As you say, encouraging new devs to join in and work with the more established devs will be great, so if we can use the list to encourage that further, that will be a good outcome.
Jason Robinson · Tue 9 Oct 2012 9:23AM
I like the idea but I'm not sure what there is to vote since this really requires discussion and lots of work :) I guess this should really belong to the documentation team (separate group here)?