From a8e247528cffb13ec519f49bad9fbde435e08c9d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: epriestley Date: Wed, 22 Jul 2015 07:14:56 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Document that hypothetical requests aren't helpful Summary: Fixes T8908. We sometimes receive hypothetical requests (usually when existing companies are thinking about adopting Phabricator) in the form of "No users have actually done this yet, but bad thing Y might happen". We can almost never move forward with these. Explain this in detail. Test Plan: Reading. Reviewers: btrahan, chad Reviewed By: chad Subscribers: epriestley Maniphest Tasks: T8908 Differential Revision: https://secure.phabricator.com/D13663 --- src/docs/contributor/feature_requests.diviner | 41 +++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 41 insertions(+) diff --git a/src/docs/contributor/feature_requests.diviner b/src/docs/contributor/feature_requests.diviner index a64afee26e..9a1fd40c45 100644 --- a/src/docs/contributor/feature_requests.diviner +++ b/src/docs/contributor/feature_requests.diviner @@ -160,6 +160,47 @@ If you only describe the solution and not the problem, we can't generalize, contextualize, merge, reframe, or offer alternative solutions or workarounds. +Hypotheticals +============= + +We sometimes receive hypothetical feature requests about anticipated problems +or concerns which haven't actually occurred yet. We usually can't do much about +these until the problems actually occur, since the context required to +understand and properly fix the root issue won't exist. + +One situation where this happens is when installs are thinking about adopting +Phabricator and trying to guess what problems users might encounter during the +transition. More generally, this includes any request like "if users do **X**, +they might find **Y** confusing", where no actual users have encountered +confusion yet. + +These requests are necessarily missing important context, maybe including the +answers to questions like these: + + - Why did users do **X**? + - What were they trying to do? + - What did they expect to happen? + - How often do users do this? + +The answers to these questions are important in establishing that the issue is +really a problem, figuring out the best solution for it, and prioritizing the +issue relative to other issues. + +Without knowing this information, we can't be confident that we've found a good +solution to the problem, can't know if we've actually fixed the problem, and +can't even know if the issue was really a problem in the first place (some +hypothetical requests describe problems which no users ever encounter). + +We usually can't move forward without this information. In particular, we don't +want to spend time solving hypothetical problems which no real users will ever +encounter: the value of those changes is zero (or negative, by making the +product more complex without providing a benefit), but they consume development +time which could be better spent building much more valuable features. + +Generally, you should wait until a problem actually occurs before filing a +request about it. + + Create a Task in Maniphest ==========================