launchpad-dev team mailing list archive

[Robert Collins <robert.collins@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

So, when I started this role, I put performance and continuous
deployment - release features when they are done - as my kanban cards.
These things are where I've been putting all my ongoing-project focus
(vs day to day stuff like helping with design and code discussions).

It seems to me that our continuous deployment project is nearly
complete, and its time to start thinking about what I should take on
to replace it.

I've a few candidates already, and I'm interested in what all of you
think would help you most. Thanks go to Gary who I've already run this
past.

The candidates I have already are:
 - fixing a bunch of baseline issues - like: overuse of interfaces,
scripts not establishing participations, sqlbase migration. Time
consuming, tricky things that need some attention to detail, but which
when done will significantly simplify much of our code base.
 - test suite parallelisation: parallelisation initially, then
parallelisation in our CI/landing robot
 - data mapping layer: Build and deploy across the whole code base a
dedicated persistence layer.
   This would be a choke point through which all database access goes,
would include the group based idiom I've been rabbiting on about, and
to be successful would define an iron-clad contract which we can
confidently replace with a testable test double. I'd be looking to
form a working-group for this - a group of interested folk seconded
from their regular team to work with me on developing and deploying
this project wide.
 - faster/easier stock page creation: Suggested by Gary, this would
aim to massively reduce the overhead in the non-ajax form development,
so that we can focus on ajax form development. For instance, perhaps
we'd get rid of generated forms and use node.js to render pages server
side when working with a javascriptless browser.

For now, I'm going to stay mum on which option I think has the best
cost/reward tradeoff for us at the moment, and I'm sure I've missed a
brilliant idea that will obsolete all of these :)

I await your suggestions!

-Rob