Sprint Planning Meeting 2019 05 30

Sprint Planning Meeting, SecureDrop, May 30, 2019

What we said we would do:

1. Ensure a smooth release of SecureDrop 0.13.0 (high risk areas include migration towards sha256 calculation of file checksums)

Sprint goal met:

2. Create first WIP implementation of SecureDrop Client queue

Sprint goal exceeded:

3. Complete transition to RPM for SecureDrop Workstation config packaging

Sprint goal partially met:

Next step: securedrop-admin equivalent for managing install: securedrop-vm-manager https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop-workstation/issues/51

Release feedback:

i18n PR was merged late in the game, causing delays - when this happens this also introduces additional risk as we could not wait for full CI runs on a few PRs that we otherwise would have (e.g. we signed the tag when the release commit changes were still in the PR stage, though it was approved) + 1
We can bring the translation done date to 2 days before the actual release as now we have 2 weeks of string freeze. That will give enough time for the PR to be reviewed and merged.
CI queue and CI runtimes causing further delays
Optimization suggestions:
- Only run lint, deb-tests CI jobs on builder image updates: https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/4484
- CI branch filtering logic doesn't work from forks: https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/4479
- We are using pytest fixtures almost everywhere now, progressing the work on pytest-xdist will enable us to parallelize the tests and remove the circle ci parallelism which will relieve the significant consumption of CI resources for the app tests and python 3 app test jobs: https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/2535
- Run i18n tests weekly or so, to catch problems prior to release day - (this change is in a pending PR)+1
Strong coordination on QA. Even with a release eve bug found, fix was fast, and team was aware to test in pre-flight +1 this was one of the smoother pre-release periods (only one bug found wow)

Actions:

(Kushal) Follow up with Localization Lab to coordinate on earlier "Pencils Down" time for translations

Notes:

2019-06-03              : PTO: John (half day)
2019-06-05 to 2019-07-10: Mike on leave (tentative dates)
2019-06-06              : PTO: John

After sprint dates:

2019-06-25              : SecureDrop 0.14.0 QA & String Freeze Begins
2019-07-09              : SecureDrop 0.14.0 Release

SecureDrop Workstation: Solidify queue operation and transition to it for core client operations (replies, message downloads)
SecureDrop Core: Significantly lower CI footprint by eliminating unnecessary jobs and optimizing resources
SecureDrop Core: Address mod_wsgi blocker for Python 3 migration: https://github.com/freedomofpress/securedrop/issues/4292