Moving forward with 1.2

[Robert D Anderson <robander@us.ibm.com>]

Just wanted to let everybody know that the 1.2 requirements list was
updated with all of the categorizations from Tuesday:
http://wiki.oasis-open.org/dita/DITA_Specification_1%2e2_Requirements

Now the question is - what next? It would be nice to have some kind of plan
in place, so here are a few ideas to work with.

We have not yet gone through the list of "Easy" items -- aside from those
that already say 1.2 in the status column. I'd suggest going thru those
first on Tuesday. Any that do not seem simple go to the main list (if we
want them in 1.2) or to 1.3 (if nobody finds them critical).

Next we should probably do a pass at the TBD items to decide if they are
easy, hard but containable in 1.2, worth investigating further (move to 1.2
list), or should be deferred.

At this point I think trying to pare down the main list will probably be
contentious and not necessarily worth the effort. That is - early in 1.1,
several items that looked critical never got any design work; I will not be
surprised if many 1.2 items drop out in the same way. So I'd suggest that
we go ahead and ask for one or more champions for each item. At that point,
we can actually set a schedule:
* Give one or two weeks to get designs proposals on the easy items. If they
are truly easy, this should not be a problem.
* Start reviewing those items at TC meetings (will be interrupted some by
1.1 public review comments).
* Alan and Jen, as 1.2 release managers, can set a schedule for going over
the big item proposals once the small ones are done, based on when the
leads think they can be finished.
* By the time the small stuff is done, we should be able to get started on
the big ones.
* If a lead does not have any design by the date for their item, it moves
to 1.3 unless the TC votes otherwise. There would probably be exceptions
for items where discussion is still active, though that itself could
indicate an item too big for 1.2.

Realistically, some items will require more TC discussion than others, and
new items will require time at the meetings, so I don't expect Alan and
Jen's schedule to be set in stone. However, if we establish and keep to a
schedule, we could optimistically expect to finish with TC work on DITA 1.2
by the end of the year. That would lead us through the OASIS review cycles
next spring, and put DITA 1.2 out about one year after DITA 1.1.

Any thoughts or suggestions? If we can get all of the ideas out on the list
before Tuesday, we should be able to spend less meeting time deciding what
to do at our meeting.

Thanks,

Robert D Anderson
IBM Authoring Tools Development
Chief Architect, DITA Open Toolkit
(507) 253-8787, T/L 553-8787