As Drupal becomes more complex different people are updating different parts of the site/infrastructure. This can have unintended effects that others may have to troubleshoot and fix. If they don't know about the recent change then they are starting blind.

So we need something even if it's simple.

Proposed

  1. Before the change -
    • An email about the change to the Infrastructure list with an outline of
      what you are planning to do. (Maybe linked to an issue you created for this?)
    • when you will be doing this any check out/testing.
    • who is involved in doing the change.
    • maybe estimated impact to the users
  2. After the change -
    • follow up email on success / failure / outstanding issues
    • how long you or someone will be available / accessible in case something goes wrong

Just a starting point for further discussion.

Comments

gerhard killesreiter’s picture

gerhard killesreiter commented

Great start!

I think that creating an issue should be enough, it will get sent to the ML.

cliffdiver1’s picture

cliffdiver1 commented

If the Drupal community is discussing methods of change control management, wouldn't it make sense to *build* a change control module?

Reason I ask is, I'm looking to develop a community based site where there are, for example, 5 users that are permissioned for advanced configurations. Those five users may not even know each other but they have to have a majority vote before a change is made.

Here's how I envision it:

1. User1 thinks the next poll should be "Who likes green eggs and ham?"
2. User1 builds the entire poll and saves it
3. The poll doesn't get published until 3 of the 5 users vote "Yes" for the change.
4. User1 has the option to display the "pending poll" on the home page or somewhere else, for certain/all users to see.
4a. Any user can comment or even vote on the change, but only one of the 5 admin-type users really matter
5. After 3 of 5 admins approve, the change automatically publishes.

I'm pretty new, and to me, this sounds very hard to build. But I think it would be a great module and would add security and accountability.

eliza411’s picture

eliza411 commented
Status: Active » Closed (cannot reproduce)

Closing old issues. Please re-open if necessary.