Triage Training

Used for training new triagers and upskilling existing project developers on a group basis, rather than individually (scale!).

Use in combination with Bugzilla do's and don'ts, The Perfect Ports Issue and Bugzilla Keywords

Specific examples demonstrating each will be added in future iterations

Field names and values are in italics

Introduction

Don't Panic!

This is a lot to take in, but there's a method to our madness!

Rationale

Issue triage and management, and those that participate in that space, sits broadly at the intersection, and in-between, users and project members. Fundamentally, this means it:

Accordingly, the raison d'être (1) of issue triage and management is ostensibly about enabling and facilitating others, focusing on creating and improving clarity and promoting understanding and encouraging action.

With outcomes in mind, the following high-level elements are critical to consider:

More concretely, issue triagers should:

On-boarding Process

This on-boarding process is designed to be as self-directed and flexible as possible, to minimise "blocking" steps, synchronous communication, and enabling you to determine how you achieve your goals.

Triage team candidates should be proactive, communicating with other team members or their mentors if and when you need advice, support or knowledge to progress.

The overall process for bringing on triage team members is as follows:

  1. Email Bugmeister to express your interest in joining the Triage Team (thanks!)

    • You don't necessarily have to be a FreeBSD committer!
  2. Orient yourself and get ready (knowledge!)
  3. Join the team (yay!)
  4. Practice (experience!)
  5. Mentor someone else (skills!)

Frequently Asked Questions

Orientation: On your marks…

The goal of Orientation is understanding of purpose, expectations and laying a solid foundation knowledge to build and expand on.

  1. Read and take notes on Bugzilla guides and resource documents to familiarise yourself with terminology, processes and expectations.

    • These notes will form the basis of your first contribution in the last step.
    • Don't worry if you don't understand all of this at one go!
  2. Schedule a catch-up with your mentor on IRC.
    • Review and discuss your notes and any questions you have.
  3. Let your mentor know if you'd like to proceed or how we can help you make a decision.
  4. If you're happy to proceed, make at least one improvement to existing issue management guides and documents, based on your notes and discussion (easy quick win!).

Setup: Get set...

The goal of Setup is You are part of a team.

  1. Join #freebsd-bugs on Libera Chat IRC

  2. Create a Bugzilla account if you don't already have one (email is public, recommend: use a dedicated account)
  3. Set your Real Name in Bugzilla User Preferences

  4. Get added to the Bugzilla Triager Group (freebsd_triage), which adds the editbugs permission.

    • Ask on IRC if this hasn't been done yet.
  5. Get added to the Bugzilla Triage Team list on the Wiki.

  6. Optional: Subscribe to Bugzilla/* Wiki pages to get updates on changes to them

  7. Let the community know you've joined the team
    • This could be an email to a mailing list cc Bugmeister or similar.

Free Practice: Go!

The goal of Free Practice is: demonstrate what has been learned and participate consistently with confidence.

This stage is where you put what you have learned in Orientation into practice in a low pressure way. The idea is not necessarily to triage all the things completely and perfectly, but rather to build confidence and habits, and becoming familiar with the different kinds and forms that issues take.

Completion of the Practice stage has no strict minimum time or how many issues triaged requirement, can take as long as needed, but we anticipate a consistent practice period of 1-2 months should be sufficient.

Key: Demonstrating regular progress and proactive communication.

Practice should focus on:

Your primary resource during practice is this document and the guides read during orientation and your team/mentor on IRC or elsewhere.

Set aside a regular and consistent amount of time to practice triaging issues. Some good (but optional) places to start are:

General

High Signal, Low Noise

Basics

Statuses

Resolutions

Metadata: Correct and Complete

These items apply to all issues, in all (any) state.

Notify Relevant/Interested Contributors

Examples

Closed/Closing Issues

Ports Specific

Base Specific

Resources

Notes

For bugs matching the following conditions:
- Status == In Progress
- Assignee == "bugs@FreeBSD.org"
- Last Modified Year <= 2017

Do
- Set Status to "Open"

This was not long after 215258 was filed.


CategoryContributing CategoryHowTo

Bugzilla/TriageTraining (last edited 2024-06-16T00:55:47+0000 by MarkLinimon)