Matt Mullenweg 8:42 pm on April 20, 2010

Deadlines are not arbritrary, they’re a…

Deadlines are not arbitrary, they’re a promise we make to ourselves and our users that helps us rein in the endless possibilities of things that could be a part of every release. We aspire to release 3 major versions a year because through trial and error we’ve found that to be a good balance between getting cool stuff in each release and but not too much that we end up breaking more than we add.

Good deadlines almost always make you trim something from a release. This is not a bad thing, it’s what they’re supposed to do.

The route of delaying a release for that one-more-feature is a rabbit hole. We did that for over a year once, and it wasn’t pleasant for anybody.

Matt 8:44 pm on April 20, 2010

Also, the more frequent and regular releases are, the less important it is for any particular feature to be in this release. If it doesn’t make it for this one, it’ll just be a few months before the next one. When releases become unpredictable or few and far between, there’s more pressure to try and squeeze in that one more thing because it’s going to be so long before the next one. Delay begets delay.
- Michelwppi 12:39 pm on April 21, 2010
  
  As creator and developer of a series (trilogy around xili-language) of plugins for realtime multilingual CMS website based on wp taxonomies, I begin tests with 3.0-alpha mid of march. Globally and confirmed with recent betas, results are very very good – The trilogy runs with previous themes and new twentyten for both wp and wpmu. For me, the very main improvement of 3.0 is that the code is the same for mono and multisitemultisite Used to describe a WordPress installation with a network of multiple blogs, grouped by sites. This installation type has shared users tables, and creates separate database tables for each blog (wp_posts becomes wp_0_posts). See also network, blog, site (wpmu). In the past, I never test wpmu because too different. Because this, tests now are simultaneous done on 2 localhost svn servers (wp and wpmu – mamp not necessary connected to internet) and 2 on ISP servers. According duration and planning to do these tests and to explore new code to fix modifications and tickets in tracs; A delay of two weeks in WP roadmap is microscopic (RCrelease candidate One of the final stages in the version release cycle, this version signals the potential to be a final release to the public. Also see alpha (beta). in May).
  It is far better that final release WP 3.0 will be the most stable as possible for end users after good tests done by webmasters and themes or plugins developers.
  Congratulations for the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. developers.
  
  Michel – dev.xiligroup.com
  Note: On twentyten and wp_nav_menu, I had opened tracs #13050.
Amy 8:49 pm on April 20, 2010

Is this why we did not get a RCrelease candidate One of the final stages in the version release cycle, this version signals the potential to be a final release to the public. Also see alpha (beta). release on April 16th like the Poject Scedule says?
- Matt 8:52 pm on April 20, 2010
  
  We can review what worked well and what didn’t in the 3.0 cycle post-mortem, it’s not productive to focus on now. There was some expected stuff and some unexpected stuff. In general I’m just trying to spell out our philosophy here.
  - Amy 9:04 pm on April 20, 2010
    
    I fully understand was just wondering if that was why you posted this.
    On my own site I plan changes for a specified date so when it comes around to that every one is prepared for it. My forum it self will not be upgraded to IPB 3 until the first part of July.
Nathan Rice 8:53 pm on April 20, 2010

I totally understand avoiding the perpetual feature-creep, but isn’t that what feature-freeze was for?
Ed Gray 8:58 pm on April 20, 2010

You have a good pragmatic release philosophy which I appreciate, however, in the case of 3.0 it is not simply a matter of one more thing or one more feature to squeeze into the release -it is the custom navigation menuNavigation Menu A theme feature introduced with Version 3.0. WordPress includes an easy to use mechanism for giving various control options to get users to click from one place to another on a site. – one of the key new features promoted early on for 3.0 that a lot of users are looking forward to. It had options added to it that increased it’s complexity. I think if it was scaled back to it’s original specifications it would be more manageable and make it in 3.0.
bentrem 9:28 pm on April 20, 2010

Has someone lashed together some sort of chart? It doesn’t have to be PERT/Gant … just something to show what relies on what. (Maybe critical path would be obvious.)
- bentrem 9:29 pm on April 20, 2010
  
  And yes, http://wpdevel.wordpress.com/version-3-0-project-schedule/ is a start.
  - bentrem 6:24 pm on April 21, 2010
    
    15APR10 20:49 – BrianLayman: “I know recruitment drives for coders don’t always produce results, but describing where we are at and linking to how to fix bugs in a post on the WordPress Dev might be a way to get people into it.” > http://bit.ly/axnu5j <
  - bentrem 6:26 pm on April 21, 2010
    
    15APR10 20:50 janewells: “i can do a post, but new devs traditionally complain that our documentation on how to contribute is lacking” > http://bit.ly/dB5IG4 <
  - bentrem 7:03 pm on April 21, 2010
    
    “Information about what the tracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. is actually about should be in the ticket as I was browsing for tickets on things to help with, saw this, and just had to guess as to the purpose.
    So, I would recommend that if this is such a large blockerblocker A bug which is so severe that it blocks a release., that some links should be provided to help those that might want to help the project rather than keeping that information for those in the know. ”
    comment in Trac 16APR10
  - bentrem 9:35 pm on April 22, 2010
    
    “geez.. looking through the bugs list on the tracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. system – thinking there’s a lot i need to catch up on before i can help in that section effectively”
    comment in IRCIRC Internet Relay Chat, a network where users can have conversations online. IRC channels are used widely by open source projects, and by WordPress. The primary WordPress channels are #wordpress and #wordpress-dev, on irc.freenode.net. 22APR10
Banago 9:28 pm on April 20, 2010

What will be missing in WordPress 3.0 from the features that were listed to be part of it?
- MichaelH 9:36 pm on April 20, 2010
  
  Banago – Menus are the thing that caused developers to slip the schedule. Read all about it at http://wpdevel.wordpress.com/2010/04/15/meeting-summary-for-april-15-2010-dev-chat/
  - Banago 9:28 pm on May 1, 2010
    
    Yes, but I thought you would trade them for a quicker release. That’s at least what I could deduce from Matt’s post.
- Carl Hancock 2:11 pm on April 21, 2010
  
  Probably one of the most useful features for the average end user… MENUS.
Ryan Duff 9:48 pm on April 20, 2010

When something is in but not 100% working before feature freeze, it should be considered committed to that version. If it wasn’t working enough, it never should have been committed as a feature until the time was right… avoiding this whole issue. Getting said feature working should be a bugbug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority. fix process at this point and not just exclude it.

What would have happened if the delay was because of MultiSitemultisite Used to describe a WordPress installation with a network of multiple blogs, grouped by sites. This installation type has shared users tables, and creates separate database tables for each blog (wp_posts becomes wp_0_posts). See also network, blog, site and not Menus? Would you have just excluded all the MultiSite code until 3.1? I think not. It would have been decided to bump the release back or throw a ton of resources at it to complete the task at hand.

With menus being the most anticipated feature for 3.0 (Not MultiSite), there are a ton in the community with the know how and willingness to make this happen. Why a decision was made to skip it at this point is senseless. Solicit the community and people will step forward and donate their time to make it happen.
- Peter Westwood 3:01 pm on April 21, 2010
  
  We have been soliciting the community.
  
  I would have had no qualms in chopping any feature that was pushing the release out this much.
  
  The real win with Menus is we can take all the code we have so far a put it into a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party so that 3.0 can go without it but development and usage can continue – with the plugin then being rolled back into 3.1
  - Justin Tadlock 8:39 pm on April 21, 2010
    
    Funny. Some people were basically told to shove off and let others handle it:
    https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/12713#comment:17
Xavier 10:01 pm on April 20, 2010

I understand the “delay begets delay” thing. In the “3 releases per year” mantra, pushing 3.0 further would mean squeezing 3.1 and 3.2 in a 6-months window, which might not yield the best of releases.

I also understand that, 5 months after 2.9, 3.0 will not bring any significant lambda-user feature (I’m afraid TwentyTen is only significant to newcomers — and themers, of course).
Sure, a lot of people will be happy (devs, themers, hosts), but if there’s not particular incentive for lambda-users to upgrade, it’ll take longer for all the shiny new 3.0 dev toys to reach the majority of bloggers.

Also, I have to agree with Nathan, that feature-freeze was the time when this should have been properly, well, frozen. Now that it’s (supposedly) frozen, the next open-source move is to say “it’s ready when it’s ready”. Sadly, the inclusion of the menus was so last-minute, and it seemed so awesome, that some caution might have been thrown off for the occasion.

That being said, I know of WP professionals who just cannot wait to have 3.0 released, menus or not, and who are already getting their clients to use 3.0, exactly because of the shiny new 3.0 pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party/theme toys (and the whole custom post types/taxonomies goodies, which indeed are gooooooooood!).

In the end: make for the best, and keep up the good work, guys!
- Amy 10:15 pm on April 20, 2010
  
  “it’s ready when it’s ready” IPB uses that all the time. I for one do not mind the delay as long as they create a good product in the end. I have only been using WP for around a year as both a blogblog (versus network, site) and a cms and wow I am super impressed with it. Simple yet very powerful. I have yet to find a better cms that fits my needs better then wordpress.
Xavier 10:27 pm on April 20, 2010

Most open-source projects use that answer when asked when the next release is – it’s one of the freedom that FOSS affords you: not to be tied to market needs and marketing powerpoints for a given release.

Still, the issue seems to be tied to a lack of helping hands. Let’s say the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.-devs agree on pushing 3.0 a month later; what happens if happens said month, 3.0 is still not quite yet ready for prime-time? Should they push another month (and, as Matt wrote, deepen the delay), or drop the guilty feature altogether?

We are lucky, at this point, to understand that 3.0 could be hard to release on schedule because of one specific feature. Sure, it’s awesome, but so are the other (maybe less noticeable) features – and they’re just as much worth of being highlights of 3.0.

3.0 was already push almost a month later in order to cater for menu devs (first two weeks, and new again two weeks). Pushing it more with no clear focus on when the job will be done as one way to lead to another brick wall.

In short, even though I would have loved to see menus get in 3.0, I understand the reasons cited by Matt, and agree to support them (as small as my voice can be).
Amy 10:35 pm on April 20, 2010

I agree with you Xavier. Maybe they should just let the menu thing be part of 3.1 so they do not have any more delays.
- Xavier 10:44 pm on April 20, 2010
  
  As I understand it, the idea is to take the current code and turn it into a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party, so that it can be used while being worked on (therefore released separately to 3.0), until it is sturdy enough to be merged into coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. (hopefully for 3.1 then). Sounds sensible.
Mike Schinkel 7:43 am on April 21, 2010

Matt, I applaud the WordPress communities use of deadlines and the relatively consistent 4 month release schedule.

While there can always little hiccups in every releases the deadlines and 3x per year release schedule show a level of project maturity that few projects ever reach, OSS or commercial, and it instills a great deal of confidence in the project among those who decide to use WordPress for their web presence and for those who stake their livelihood on WordPress.

In a word, “Kudos!”
Carl Hancock 2:16 pm on April 21, 2010

Deadlines are understandable. But I don’t think you realize how highly anticipated the Menu functionality was to the community. If you did, 3.0 wouldn’t be released without it. It would be like Apple releasing iPhone OS 4.0 without the highly anticipated multi-tasking feature. People want it. Badly.
- Lee Doel 2:31 pm on April 21, 2010
  
  I totally agree Carl, the menu functionality is so important for this release, it allows a user to manage their menu in a far more flexible way – what more could be important?
  - Japh 2:41 pm on April 21, 2010
    
    How about, getting it right before releasing it? That seems important to me.
  - Lee Doel 3:01 pm on April 21, 2010
    
    @Japh I could not agree more but id rather they delay the release and get it right with the new menu functionality than release it earlier without them.
- Tammy Hart 2:46 pm on April 21, 2010
  
  I’ve already been evangelizing 3.0 with the menus being my top highlight, next to custom content types. I’m even developing a new blogblog (versus network, site) for myself that I hope to release at the end of May using WP 3.0 betaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process., and in fact using the new menus. I’d almost be tempted to leave it running on the beta install (I know it’s a no-no, don’t flog me), just because I love menus!
- Tammie Lister 2:50 pm on April 21, 2010
  
  I have to agree with Carl on this one. I actually know 2 people who are making the move onto WordPress just because of that feature now going to be in the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. To me and I’m sure to many others a minor delay versus having that functionality in surely is worth it. Whilst I do not mean to make light of what time it would take or even know why / how long it would take to implement it to me it seems like cutting off your nose to spite your face not releasing with that feature.
  
  If you look at many posts about WordPress 3.0 they were covering that and the buzz that one feature created in and out of the community simply can’t be ignored. I feel sure you’d be hard pushed to find anyone complain if there was a delay to keep it in but you’re going to see countless voices over it being released without it – there in lies the indication of how important it indeed is to many.
  - Tammy Hart 3:00 pm on April 21, 2010
    
    Yes, and the weirdest part to me is that it seems to be fully operational, just not all that pretty.
Japh 2:23 pm on April 21, 2010

Good call, Matt. Better to release on time and push features that are delaying the process off til the next release.
Grant Griffiths 2:27 pm on April 21, 2010

We were disappointed to see the Menu featured pulled. At Headway Themes we had already implemented this into our latest release.
Cory Miller 2:29 pm on April 21, 2010

As has been said, totally understand deadlines and can’t imagine the project management that goes on with open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. software … but yes, we at iThemes were VERY MUCH looking forward to the menus in 3.0 … and had already been preparing for this amazing new feature idea.

It solves a fundamental customer need we’ve seen in the past two years.

We’re pushing for the advancement of using WordPress as a powerful CMS (it already is) … and the Menu functionality is a key component of that.

Just my two cents as part of the bigger WP community and relaying our day-to-day interaction with WordPress users.
arena 2:39 pm on April 21, 2010

@Matt, @Jane any chance to reopen ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. #9579 ?
https://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/9579/profile.jpg
- arena 2:52 pm on April 21, 2010
  
  the global idea is to be able to create custom fileds and/or user taxonomies. things like that
Matt Danner 2:39 pm on April 21, 2010

I have to agree with Carl. The menu system was an exciting and important feature to the community. There are many other great features that developers can take advantage of, but the menus were the best tangible feature to the average user. Pulling them because someone decided the UIUI User interface needed to change last minute is ridiculous.
Jeff Lee 2:42 pm on April 21, 2010

Really bummed about the WordPress/Woo Menu system delay. WP+WPMU was inevitable. A PROPER menu system is THE killer feature everyone wanted and would most benefit users. I’ve been testing with it. I want it. I’ll take it as a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party for now if you’ll let me.
Dustin Bolton 2:47 pm on April 21, 2010

Menu functionality is THE top reason normal users have been excited about 3.0 from what I’ve seen. Now it’s being pushed off to redesign the user interface design. The user interface in place in the betaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. version is completely usable and provides continuity with the rest of the WordPress interface (ie. Widgets). From the extremely sparse TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. on the UIUI User interface redesign ( https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/12713 ) it appears that those on the inside basically decided “Hey, I don’t like this.” and it was made so, pushing back the most anticipated feature without serious consideration or input from the community. As you can see from the Trac ticket there is next to no information in the ticket on pushing back such a major feature aside from a PDF of the ‘new and improved’ redesign which honestly seems like a downgrade as it pushes two menus side by side and breaks continuity with the way other pages are presented to the user (ie Widgets).
Jayvie Canono 2:56 pm on April 21, 2010

I have to add to the number of voices expressing their regret about the Menus issue. The amount of time that one feature saves from the workflow of a themer and user is immense. Before Menus all we had was wp_list_pages, or lists into themes. This may seen inconsequential but it ties in to a growing encouragement to child-theme off of TwentyTen. Despite the many changes in WP3.0 was introducing, it’s the one that was added last that got the most praise and anticipation. I understand that 3.0 is Not Just The Menus, but the buzz around it was undeniable.

I think it all comes down to message handling. One side says “okay well, no, we won’t have it as part of the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. release” while the other says “look, we’ll help!” I can’t tell you *how* to resolve this dilemma, but Matt, I won’t assume it was an easy decision, either.
Chris Jean 3:13 pm on April 21, 2010

Overall, 3.0 is going to be an incredible release, but I’m sure that many devs will agree with me that the whole situation with menus stinks. Matt, you make a great point about keeping to deadlines, but what has fallen by the wayside with this whole topic is something very important: what role does the community truly play in crucial final developments for releases?

I don’t want to make a big stink, but I do think we honestly and openly need to discuss exactly how the inclusion of menus for 3.0 was decided, how the course of development of the feature was decided, and why there is so little transparency on the whole process. Maybe the full details on all of this are readily available, but even with all my interest on topic, I still don’t know exactly where the feature development stands nor do I understand what needs to be addressed with the design/implementation.

I caught the tail-end of last week’s IRCIRC Internet Relay Chat, a network where users can have conversations online. IRC channels are used widely by open source projects, and by WordPress. The primary WordPress channels are #wordpress and #wordpress-dev, on irc.freenode.net. dev chat, and someone had mentioned that people interested in helping get menus ready by this Monday should help with this tracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. (https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/12713). I looked at the ticket, but all that was provided was a UIUI User interface design concept that made it look like all that was needed was flipping the positioning of a couple elements.

After waiting a day for more helpful information to start flowing in, I posted an update to the ticket to try to find out what was going on.

Nacin quickly responded and helped shed some light on the situation. I was told that if I wanted to know what is happening with menus, Trac is the last place I should look. I suggested that information pertinent to a ticket should be in the ticket, and got some helpful information along with the candid confession that coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. devs can easily forget that others don’t necessarily follow or have access to all their conversations. It’s interesting that he mentions “the UI team, the core team, the UXUX User experience lead” but does not mention any community involvement in the decision. He then mentions that filosofo is working on some changes and that the entire feature is more or less in limbo until he sends his changes in. At this point, I still had no idea what the numerous teams had decided needed to be done nor did I know what filosofo was actually working on. So I essentially had no way of contributing anything even if I wanted to.

The followup post by Jane was most troubling however. She basically suggested that I take my efforts and interests elsewhere as menus already have plenty of dev attention. It would seem to me that menus did not have sufficient attention as this past Monday was the soft deadline set (also not present in the Trac ticket) to get menus to a development point where they could be considered for inclusion in the 3.0 launch, and even now, the ticket has not been updated past my queries. So while I have no doubt that work has been done, I still have no clue where the feature stands nor if I have any means to contribute towards its release.

While community is often held up as the driving wind behind WordPress, I have to ask, who exactly is this community? Because I certainly don’t feel like I’m part of it.

I think the most crucial change that needs to happen is that Trac should not be just about code. While all conversations don’t have to be in Trac, the resulting decisions from outside conversations must be added to the relevant tickets to in Trac. Doing this creates a central authority for information, allows for devs that don’t care about the politics but want to contribute code to easily do so, and will reduce non-core dev frustration as everyone will have rapid access to the latest information.
- JohnONolan 12:39 am on May 6, 2010
  
  Chris, you know what the biggest problem with coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. WordPress development is? People who come in at the last minute and say “Woah, what the hell is going on here? This is all wrong, I don’t understand why anything would ever be done this way.”
  
  A lot of people here seem to think that they have some sort of right to demand things from the core devs at the last minute like its owed to them. If a feature (like menus) means so much to you, then get involved. Don’t get involved 5 minutes from the end, get involved from the start. Maybe seeing things from the inside might change your perspective 😉
  
  WordPress is like a cake for: Everyone else is baking it and you’re just complaining that there’s not enough icing.
Aaron Brazell 3:36 pm on April 21, 2010

While I agree that menus should be in and this particular feature is important enough to sacrifice the all-important release schedule, I will disagree on the lack of community input.

We talked about this – publicly – as a community – at last weeks IRCIRC Internet Relay Chat, a network where users can have conversations online. IRC channels are used widely by open source projects, and by WordPress. The primary WordPress channels are #wordpress and #wordpress-dev, on irc.freenode.net. meeting. For almost 45 minutes. Starts around 20:30 UTC. I know, I was there and participated.

So while I agree that menus really need to be here, I’m not willing to call this a subversive process.
Matt 3:59 pm on April 21, 2010

Any future replies about 3.0 will be deleted — this is not about 3.0. Not about 3.0. Thank you.
- miqrogroove 4:06 pm on April 21, 2010
  
  Thanks for clarifying. I had the impression the train has already left the station for these other topics.
  
  Setting and following a release schedule definitely should take precedent over feature sets for project coordination in open sourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. communities. There is not much room for adjustment before a milestone becomes stale and chaotic.
- Xavier 4:10 pm on April 21, 2010
  
  I was just about to post about asking for a less cryptic message. Your initial post didn’t give any specific details about what and when, and therefore the crowd was left to extrapolate (I never thought I’d see the US wake up, but I did just by ticking the notification box on this post 😉 ).
  
  So thanks for the clarification about your post not being about 3.0 (or menus, I take?) It would still be nice to know what it was specifically about 🙂
- tom 4:19 pm on April 21, 2010
  
  ‘Any future replies about 3.0 will be deleted’
  
  Sounds like the general WP coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress./team behavior, delete/remove what you don’t like… #nice
Amy 5:07 pm on April 21, 2010

Thank you for clearing it up. I personally thought it was only about the delay (although did ask to make sure as you saw above) that I was seeing which to me was not that big a deal as it does happen and some times thing do go against our plans. The menu stuff didn’t even know about until a I read a few replies.

Any way keep up the good work. I still think wordpress is the most impressive cms and blogblog (versus network, site) software avalable today. ^_^
Danny G Smith 9:42 pm on April 21, 2010

The menus was the top thing I was looking forward to followed by post types. I hope it can be worked in.
Mark. 3:18 am on April 22, 2010

In the end you’re going to have people on one side saying that you rushed your last release (whatever release that is, of whatever application it may be) and that it should have been slowed down to allow for more time fixing features. On the other side, you’re going to have people who complain that they had to wait on you for what they expected to be in their hands so long ago.

No matter what, this is a battle that can never be won with all parties ultimately satisfied. It occurs to me that this could be an epilogue of your other post here: http://wpdevel.wordpress.com/2010/04/12/i-dont-know-the-key-to-success-but/
- bentrem 3:47 am on April 22, 2010
  
  This reminds me of why I push tech_docs the way I do: explicate every good argument at least once and thereafter refer to it as required. “Write once; write right” was my tagtag A directory in Subversion. WordPress uses tags to store a single snapshot of a version (3.6, 3.6.1, etc.), the common convention of tags in version control systems. (Not to be confused with post tags.) in R&D. Here I’d say “Write once; cite often”.
Marie-Aude 2:19 pm on April 26, 2010

Imho menus are one of the most exciting features of this new release for “mid level users”, .ie the ones who have some abilities to code, but not so much, the ones who are also comparing WordPress with other CMS, saying it’s just a blogblog (versus network, site) tool. I had use it as an argument to convince one of my customers to use WordPress, and that would be a real pity if it would be left out, after having been so widely communicated.
Stephen R 6:46 pm on May 12, 2010

Matt — I hesitate to say this, but it really just makes my brain itch when I see this. So first off, I’ll just say that I entirely agree with your post. You have to draw the line somewhere, especially when dealing with a large group, or there will always be at least one person wanting *just one more thing* added.

That being said:
“The route of delaying a release for that one-more-feature is, literally, a rabbit hole.”

A hole occupied by rabbits is, literally, a rabbit hole. I know “grammar police” tend to piss people off, but this isn’t a subtle point. If “literally” can be used to indicate figurative speech then the word has absolutely no meaning. It means “not figuratively” and cannot have any other meaning without destroying its purpose.

P.S. — I love Bentram’s “Write once; cite often”. The caveat of course is “revise as needed”. 😉
- bentrem 7:01 pm on May 12, 2010
  
  FWIW: I came up with that in an R&D setting (avionics) where MIL-SPEC change management was a big part of my job. So all “revisionsRevisions The WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision.” were preceded by formal change requests. Multiple versions of anything was a strict no-no. (BTW it’s BenTrem … Ben Tremblay)
- Matt 7:06 pm on May 12, 2010
  
  Fair enough, I edited it.

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