BitOps Meeting (31 Aug 2022): v2.0.0 release, Roadmap, Ongoing Development

[arm4b]

Join the bi-weekly BitOps Community 1 hour Meeting on 31 Aug 2022, 12:00 PM US East to discuss the ongoing project discussions, updates and plans.

See #288 for more info how to join.

Agenda

v2.0.0 Release

Recap on the completed v2.0.0 release. Retro, what went wrong, what went well?

Social Networks for BitOps: Twitter/LinkedIn?

Do we need a dedicated Twitter/LinkedIn to aggregate the project updates on a more regular basis?

BitOps 101 Intro Video

Per feedback, having a short video we can place on a BitOps landing page or docs would be helpful to get.
What's needed, any ideas what to cover in the video, other examples, etc.

Release Cadence?

This is part of the project KPIs. What's the desired release frequency we want to go with?
Once per approx ~1,2,3 months? Planned minor releases with a quick spontaneous patch releases?
Or just releasing as fast as we can without blocking the timeline (ex: got a new complete feature? Cut a version).

WIP Blog: Getting Started with BitOps v2.0 - Terraform (by @ccapell)

Recap on the upcoming blog state, review and plans.

Roadmap & Development Discussions

• BitOps Plugin support for private repos #60
• Parse passwords / creditentials out of logging output #208
• Project Quality as KPI
  • Documentation:
    • Refactor: Development & Plugins & About sections in the Docs #282
    • Plugins configuration docs: format parameters as a table #280
    • Cleanup docs from TODOs, remove unimplemented features
  • Testing
    • BitOps Unit Tests #286
    • Code Linting (Python) #271
    • Setup Code Coverage % #287
  • CI/CD
    • CI/CD Refactoring & Release pipeline #293
    • Plugins: Testing / Validation and CI/CD #224
  • Stability/bugfixes
  • Feature consistency
• Ops Repo Composability (needs a dedicated issue w description)
• Default folder support follow-up

[arm4b]

Attendees
@mickmcgrath13 @armab @ccapell @dylan-bitovi @ConnorGraham @PhillypHenning and @heatherveva.

Meeting Minutes

v2.0.0 Release Retrospective: What went well, and what could be improved?

• @PhillypHenning feedback:
  • GOOD:
    • communication to the community
    • but still should be better planned, scheduled
  • BAD: Image name omnibus
• @ccapell feedback:
  • agrees that the omnibus image name is confusing
  • docs could be still improved more
  • Q: How do we determine how many people use BitOps?
• @ConnorGraham:
  • we should improve the intuitiveness, consistency of the BitOps overall:
    • messaging, marketing, docs -> everything
• @mickmcgrath13:
  • liked the effort on fixes, docs improvements
  • image name:
    • too many scattered on/off discussions: GH issues, GH discussions, slack
    • communicate better next time
  • Future idea:
    • BitOps CLI for generating an environment
      • TODO: Add to the ROADMAP!
• @dylan-bitovi:
  Marketing Idea:
  • use the BitOvi Twitch account
  • do a BitOps demo, webinar

Social Networks for BitOps: Do we need a dedicated Twitter/LinkedIn for BitOps?

• Eugen:
  • As a user I want to follow all the BitOps project updates in one place
    • we can't overuse Bitovi schedule rate-limited channels for all the BitOps tiny things
  • Use Twitter/LinkedIn as an additional stream of BitOps activity
    • bi-weekly community meeting updates
    • release announcements, plans
    • setting dialog w users, build the community:
      • asking questions, provoking folks to participate in the Discussions, Decision making
      • sharing “good first issues”, feature highlights
    • co-marketing with Bitovi Twitter/LN: retweets, likes, shares, etc
      • use as a force multiplier
• Heather:
  • dedicated accounts: splitting the attention of the audience
  • let’s use the things that exist
  • we can be more active
    • can try to use the Bitovi Twitter channels first
• Mick:
  • nothing stops releasing content outside of Bitovi
  • long term: makes sense a dedicated Twitter/LN
    • not yet, too soon
• Dylan:
  • fragmentation could be an issue
  • dedicated accounts are good:
    • for SEO
    • having a BitOps name in more places as possible
    • makes things searchable

DECIDED:
- Register and park Twitter/LinkedIn accounts
- leave it for now
- gain some momentum, audience in the BitOps community
- use Bitovi Twitter more
- collaborate with the marketing on the schedule/updates

BitOps 101 Intro Video

Feedback from many interviews is to create a quick start BitOps video, position it on the landing page.

Mick & Heather:

• Video script idea
  • Here’s a problem:
    • a lot of environments: terraform, ansible, etc
    • hard to navigate and manage
• Here’s a solution:
  • BitOps
• Nice video with animation, can cost additional $
• We can do next a series of Videos:
  • needs scripting/content
  • can be based on the tutorials
• Create a BitOps Playlist on Youtube. Lots of ideas:
  • plugins
  • usage howto: default directories
  • terraform
  • ansible
  • secrets management
  • etc

DECIDED

• DO BOTH
  • FIRST: a short video
    • BitOps overview + quick CLI example
    • host it on YouTube
    • BitOps landing page
    • owner: @PhillypHenning
      • initially based on his BitOps presentation/slides
      • +Mick shared his BitOps slides
  • NEXT: a series of videos
    • based on how the first video goes
    • owner: Heather + needs help
      • will need a script
      • could be based on existing blogs, tutorials, use cases
      • or a dedicated topic/problem

Release Cadence?

Part of the project KPIs. What's the desired/balanced release frequency we want to go with?

• Releases are like a project heartbeat
• Showing the constant improvement
  • adding new features
  • updating the community
• Building trust
  • via signals that the project is maintained
  • up to date, has the plan/future
• This way users can invest in it:
  • by spending time, trying BitOps
  • eventually moving the production pipeline to BitOps

Finding the right release cadence balance:

• Releases are tied to the development
  • sometimes there are fewer or more dev resources
• Release Cadence:
  • Mick: it forces us to prioritise the BitOps work if there wasn't activity for a while

DECISION:
- Release something ASAP that's worthwhile to release
- features-based releases (minor releases)
- bug fixes (patch releases)
- tie it to the social media updates
- Try to guarantee:
- at least once a quarter (3mo)

Blog: Getting Started with BitOps v2.0

• The blog is planned to be published on 9th September
• WHAT’S NEXT: Other BitOps blogs after that?
• Content:
  • Do a blog once per month?
  • Let’s update Update the v1.0 -> v2.0
    • StackStorm blog
    • HeyEmoji blog

Roadmap & Development Discussions

Outside of time left. To be discussed in the next meetings.

TODO: Actionable Items

Add to the Next Agenda

• Roadmap & Development Discussions ^^ (missed in this meeting, out of time)
• @mickmcgrath13 Proposal: Discuss BitOps CLI generator, add to the Roadmap
  • BitOps CLI: Ops Repo Generator #173
• @ccapell Question: How do we determine how many people use BitOps?
• @dylan-bitovi Idea: Organize a BitOps demo/webinar on Twitch

Tasks

• Register and park BitOps Twitter/LinkedIn accounts for the future (@mickmcgrath13)
  • Use Bitovi Twitter more, collaborate w Marketing on posting schedule
• Now: 101 BitOps Video for landing page (@PhillypHenning)
  • Future: a series of BitOps videos (Heather) (+ needs help)
• Add BitOps Videos effort to the Roadmap
• Update the BitOps StackStorm blog to v2
• Update the BitOps HeyEmoji blog to v2