WAI/Group Coordination Procedures

WAI Group Coordination DRAFT Also see the AG fork of these procedures, which are intended for re-integration here.

Blockers

Generally, reviews aim to identify potential improvements in a document. Occasionally, an issue is serious enough that a tangible harm would come from publication in a document's current state; these issues are called blockers here.

A goal of these review procedures is to identify blockers early, and with modest impact on publication plans. A document should not be published with blockers identified, but to ensure this applies only to clear cases of harm, a proposed blocking issue must include:

• Clear description of how an aspect of the proposed publication leads to a tangible harm;
• Concrete proposal for changes (with specific wording suggested) that would address the potential harm and remove the block.

Chairs of the relevant WG will evaluate proposed blocking issues raised during the review period to determine if they meet both criteria. If so, they should delay publication until the issue is addressed. If not, they should process the issue as a normal (non-blocking) issue.

Chair decisions about whether to accept an issue as blocking are subject to normal appeal procedures on chair decisions. The process should begin with discussion in the WAI coordination forum.

Review stages

First editors' draft

Before publication

When preparing the initial draft for posting into a publication location, editors should advise the WAI CC that it is coming.

After publication

Send link to WAI CC, followed by agendum to briefly present the goals and approach of the document, and collect initial thoughts from participants.

First Public Working Draft

Before publication

Send review request to WAI CC at least 1 month before planned publication. During this period the focus is on blocker issues; other issues raised may be addressed now or later.

After publication

Groups that wish to continue reviewing the document advise the WAI CC and provide a timeline for their review. The timeline may be negotiated, seeking to ensure both sufficient review time and a predictable publication schedule. Issues raised through this process must be addressed prior to the wide review draft. However, issues raised after the negotiated timeline are not required to be addressed by that time.

Wide review draft

Before publication

Send review request to WAI CC at least 1 month before planned publication. During this period the focus is on blocker issues; other issues raised may be addressed now or later.

After publication

Send link to WAI CC, followed by agendum to discuss the current state and completion path of the document. WAI groups, along with horizontal review groups, have 3 months to submit comments (or 1 month if a wide review was conducted in the past year). It is expected that there are no blocker issues, as they should have been raised and addressed in earlier stages.

CR

Before publication

Inform WAI CC 1 week in advance and invite implementation and testing.

After publication

Invite implementation from general WAI community

PR

No requirements, this AC-focused.

Rec / Note / Statement / Registry

Before publication

Inform WAI CC 1 week in advance, as a courtesy.