How to submit an open source contribution for Product Review

Owned by Jenna Makowski
Last updated: Dec 19, 2024 by Cassie Zamparini
8 min read

 

Introduction

The objective of this document is to define the product review process for advancing new features or changes to current functionality. All new product ideas must follow the product review procedure and align with the latest release to be considered. Pull requests submitted without a prior product proposal will not be reviewed, and individuals should pause reviewing or developing such PRs. The responsible team must create a proposal and adhere to the review process to save time for both reviewers and developers by ensuring only approved items move forward.

Does my contribution require Product Review?

If you answer “yes” to any of the following questions, a Product Review is required. Features developed behind a feature flag must still follow the Product Review Process. If not intended for the Core Product, consider developing it as a plugin.

  1. Does this change or impact a feature that learners interact with?

  2. Does this change or impact the authoring flow?

  3. Does this change or impact the experience of configuring content or managing a course run?

  4. Does this change or impact reporting?

  5. Will this change affect user-facing features in any of these ways: altering appearance, modifying behavior, removing functionality, or introducing new functionality in:

    1. LMS (including legacy LMS code and non-Studio MFEs)

    2. Studio (including Studio MFE)

    3. Content Libraries

    4. If unsure, gather more information or contact the Product Working Group.

  6. Will this change affect the initial installation or upgrade process?

  7. Will this change impact a course’s OLX?

Examples that DO require Product Review:

  1. Enhanced Course Card Design in Open edX Dashboard: changes learner-facing features in the Core Product.

  2. Make it easy to configure LTIs and reuse settings: changes both author and learner-facing features in the Core Product.

  3. Libraries Relaunch - Component Reuse and Improved UI: changes author-facing and content management features in the Core Product.

Examples that DO NOT require Product Review:

  1. Broken Skip Link in Learner Dashboard: This is a bug fix that restores existing behavior without altering it.

  2. Add Plugin Slots for Progress Page Components: Backend-only change that does not affect user-facing features.

Examples that DO require Product Review:

  1. Enhanced Course Card Design in Open edX Dashboard: changes learner-facing features in the Core Product.

  2. Make it easy to configure LTIs and reuse settings: changes both author and learner-facing features in the Core Product.

  3. Libraries Relaunch - Component Reuse and Improved UI: changes author-facing and content management features in the Core Product.

Examples that DO NOT require Product Review:

  1. Broken Skip Link in Learner Dashboard: This is a bug fix that restores existing behavior without altering it.

  2. Add Plugin Slots for Progress Page Components: Backend-only change that does not affect user-facing features.

Product Review Process

Anyone within the community can create a Product Proposal. To submit a Product Proposal, follow the steps outlined below:

Step 1. Product Submitter Creates Proposal

  1. Choose your template:

    1. Contribution solves a problem and includes a solution, or

    2. Contribution identifies a problem, but requires discovery

  2. Ensure your proposal is added to the Proposed section on the wiki

  3. Add early-stage concept wireframes to your proposal only if it has a strong likelihood of approval. This ensures UX/UI resources are utilized effectively

Skip adding a Proposal if the suggested change is minor, or if it reintroduces a missing legacy feature. Please still provide enough detail outlining the change (eg. mockups, screencasts etc).

Step 1. Product Submitter Creates Proposal

Step 2. Product Coordinator Coordinates Reviews

Step 2. Product Coordinator Coordinates Reviews

Step 3. Product Submitter Incorporates Review Feedback

Step 3. Product Submitter Incorporates Review Feedback

Step 4. Product Coordinator Manages Approval Process

Step 4. Product Coordinator Manages Approval Process

Step 5. Teams Execute Product Proposal

Step 5. Teams Execute Product Proposal

Definitions

Access to GitHub

Anybody can create a GitHub issue, but only Open edX organization members can assign themselves to tickets or manage tickets on project boards. Product / Project Managers, and Working Group Members can gain access by following these steps:

  • Open this link

  • Select “🔐 GitHub Request - Access/Config”

  • Complete the form: enter your GitHub username and specify that you need "Triage Access Level" to aid your contributions to the Product Working Group

  • Please be sure to promptly accept your invitation as it expires in 7 days