Re: [boost] A Remedy for the Review Manager Starvation

Subject: Re: [boost] A Remedy for the Review Manager Starvation
From: Stewart, Robert (Robert.Stewart_at_[hidden])
Date: 2010-05-17 14:15:38

Scott McMurray wrote:
> On 17 May 2010 17:01, Stewart, Robert <Robert.Stewart_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> >
> > I took Joachim's suggestion to be that the RMA would act as
> > an RM, up to the point of announcing a decision on the list,
> > instead passing collected and generated information to the RM
> > for consideration.  If the RM trusts the RMA's input, or the
> > RM has independently verified the RMA's input, the RM may
> > follow the RMA's decision, even going so far as to copy and
> > paste the RMA's suggested summary message to the list.
>
> This sounds substantially like promoting the current pool of RMs to
> RWs, and letting new people into the RM pool.

The RWs don't make review decisions and aren't required, so far as I know, to follow reviews.  RWs can intervene if something is amiss, of course.  The goal of this proposal is, however, to get more people into the RM pool to accelerate reviews (when the lack of an RM is the problem).

> What good would an untrusted RMA be?  If the RM has to independently
> verify everything said by the RMA, it seems like the RMA wasn't of any
> real use, since for a consensus issue, verification can't be done just
> by looking at the sources mentioned by an untrusted RMA.

Most likely, an RM will be reading much, if not all, of the review traffic and will be forming an impression of the review direction.  If the review is lopsided for or against a library, the RMA will have an easy job and the RM will likely not contradict the RMA's conclusions.  In that case, the RM will still evaluate the draft announcement the RMA will write in order to help the RMA improve in the future.  In that scenario, the RMA will reduce the RM's workload substantially.

If the review is less certain, the RM will likely have to spend the usual amount of time reading all of the message traffic and producing an independent decision and announcement.  If the RMA's decision or announcement differs substantially, then the RM can discuss the differences with the RMA in order to help the RMA improve.  In that scenario, the RMA can actually increase the RM's workload, of course.

This will help to increase the available pool of RMs while, it is hoped, leveraging the limited time of the current members of that pool.

_____
Rob Stewart                           robert.stewart_at_[hidden]
Software Engineer, Core Software      using std::disclaimer;
Susquehanna International Group, LLP  http://www.sig.com

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