Hey kids. You might have noticed I haven’t been as vocal as usual since we started 3.5, and I wanted to update you on why that is. I’m going to be taking a leave of absence from Automattic for a couple of months, and stepping back from coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. UIUI User interface work in 3.5 at the same time. Though normally a leave would mean unplugging completely, I’m going to be continuing to work on bringing together the various contributor groups, and have an upper limit of 10 hours per week for this. (If I start edging into more time than that, my HR person will be severely disappointed in me!)

As core is also a contributor group (obviously), I’ll be available within that 10-hour limit to consult on ux/ui matters. What this means is that I won’t be doing wireframes, coming up with original designs, or project managing the dev group as I have in the past. What I will be doing is providing perspective and gut checks when asked on the designs and decisions that others come up with. I’ve talked with Koop about this, and I thought about making a flow chart for “Should we pingPing The act of sending a very small amount of data to an end point. Ping is used in computer science to illicit a response from a target server to test it’s connection. Ping is also a term used by Slack users to @ someone or send them a direct message (DM). Users might say something along the lines of “Ping me when the meeting starts.” Jane?” but decided not to bother (even though it would have been funny).

Basically, if you want me to look and give an opinion (sometimes that opinion might come with a design suggestion, sometimes not) and/or a “Did you think about this?” check to be sure you haven’t overlooked any repercussions the new design may have, go ahead and ping me. I won’t be online as much as usual, so my response time likely won’t be immediate. Also, I will not be reading the firehose of TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. emails (gasp!) or checking the ux-feedback report or hanging out by default in the 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. channels while I’m on leave, so if there’s a ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. you want me to weigh in on, a ping would be good since I won’t catch it on my own.

Timing: the leave starts right after WCSF in early August, and ends October shortly before the community summit (of which the need to start planning is part of why I’m stepping back from core for a bit). So if you need to nab me during that time, email jane at wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ or hit me on Skype if it says I’m online. Thanks, and have a great dev cycle!

#3-5, #availability