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It has been about 4 months since I joined IB and became responsible for vBulletin. I have to say that it has been both, exciting and interesting. Exciting because it is great software with incredible opportunities and an even more incredible future. Interesting because there are good set of challenges to overcome at many levels. We are really excited about the recent process changes, as they are beginning to bear some fruits, as well as the current development and the future of the product. At the same time we want to address a number of concerns raised by the community:
And for my final point ...
I hope this post answers some of your concerns. But most importantly, I hope this post is eliciting a ton of new questions.
In closing, I will make a promise: I will post more information more often.
Thank you!
Fabian Schonholz
- “Internet Brands does not listen to customers.” Of course we do. While I do not spend all my day reading forum posts because I have to look after vBulletin as a whole, I do spend time reading your input and feedback. As a matter of fact, we all do. Developers do, QA does, I do and the rest of management as well. Fair enough, sometimes it may seem that we do not. We do and while not always well represented, we take actions. One example is the fact that we are making our process little by little more transparent, something the community asked for. Hopefully our transition to Jira has assisted with that; furthermore, 4.1 developments consists of items that we see questions asked about the most.
- “People come people go.” A forum member put it in more eloquent words than I can even attempt, however, I will try to paraphrase and expand: in general and somewhat unfortunately, not everyone is going to want to be on the same project forever. People lose interest and move on. That is the norm. There are exceptions just like to any other rule where developers will stay for much longer or much shorter. Is there risk with people moving on? Absolutely, but well established companies like IB mitigate that risk by cross-training personnel. On a personal level, we miss people we work with, especially when they are nice folks to work with and you have established a relationship; in my current tenure I have already developed some of those relationships; as a mature manager, I make sure that I take the fact of people moving on into consideration as I plot my course.
- “Fast release cycles.” Our intent is to not only accelerate release cycles but also make them more predictable and more transparent. It will take a while to develop the cadence we want, but it will get done in due course as the new process matures and evolves. While you can, you do not need to upgrade with every release, and with added documentation you will be able to decide if and when to upgrade. So, why accelerate then? Three reasons: improve quality by having well defined and scoped releases, provide faster bug fixes and finally, evolve the product faster. We are the leaders in the space and we want to continue to stretch our lead even further.
- I admit it, “Jira is a mess.” We are working on cleaning it up, but we need your help. Currently we are going bug by bug and deciding in which bucket each bug belongs. It is going too slow for our liking. The QA team however, is making some real good progress. It may come as a last resort that we decide to close bugs based on some pattern - for example: anything before March. Now, taking that approach is not ideal because many valid and critical bugs will be artificially closed. We will need your help in bringing back some of those bugs.
- “Where’s the road-map.” We can understand people wanting to know the roadmap. Knowing the road-map will add the predictability we all want. I wish I could be VERY precise but I cannot as I do not want to make promises that we may not be able to fully deliver. I am a stickler for keeping up promises. But ... Here is a little preview:
• We just released 4.0.6 and we have begun work on 4.1. Will there be a 4.0.7? Maybe. The changes we made to the development process allow us to move code from one track to a different one. We might package a 4.0.7 release based on how 4.1 progresses.
• 4.1 is coming mid September to mid October. It will contain as cornerstones an improved and re-factored stylevar system with an easier way to customize your board and will also make it easier to upgrade without breaking customized styles. Additionally, we will release a profile customization tool. And finally, a means to better configure your boards and the entry points to it. And no, we are not forgetting bug fixes, including fixes outside of the described features.
• There will be a series of maintenance releases for the 4.1 series. We want these to come fast. They will include bugs at the center of each release, but each will also contain enhancements and features.
• 4.2 is currently intended – but not promised - for mid December to mid January. We have a few features we want to add for that release, however, we are still working on it. And again, it will contain more bug fixes.
For the critics: it is a short term road-map. We have lots of big ideas for upcoming releases, but we are also going to polish the core pieces we already have.
- “What about re-factoring?” YES, YES, YES!!!! We are re-factoring. We are taking an incremental approach to it and in most releases you will see - or not - small parts of the re-factoring making it into the code and release. At some point we will make a big push to finish it up. Unfortunately during that last push we will not have a release. We intend to minimize the time without a release. Furthermore, part of the re-factoring will include the ability to support other databases besides MySQL.
And for my final point ...
- “What about vBulletin 5?” vBulletin 5 is underway. I wish I could disclose what it contains because I think it will be very cool and ground breaking. But I can not share with all of you yet what vB5 is. I am so tempted!! Yes ..you can call me a tease
I hope this post answers some of your concerns. But most importantly, I hope this post is eliciting a ton of new questions.
In closing, I will make a promise: I will post more information more often.
Thank you!
Fabian Schonholz
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