This document outlines the process for creating and managing internal engineering initiatives.
What is an engineering initiative?
An internal engineering initiative is a project that requires multiple teams to implement a shared solution to a shared problem. They are internal projects, which is to say that they are not tied to a business requirement. An example of the difference might be a project implementing tracing across all services vs adding new credit card controls.
Who can create an engineering initiative?
Any engineer can create an engineering initiative. Any engineer can edit and comment on engineering initiatives, but only the engineering leadership group can transition or close them. The person that creates the initiative should be prepared to participate with all of the teams involved to discuss and champion the initiative.
How are engineering initiatives created?
Engineering initiatives are created and managed on the Engineering Jira board. Create an issue on that board under the Proposed column. Please ensure that your initiative is not already created by someone else. You will need to provide a Summary and a Description for your initiative. In your description, be concise about exactly what problem you’re trying to solve, why the problem should be solved and what teams you believe may be involved. The Assignee will be the initative sponsor/owner. For all initiatives the effort type will be Engineering.
How are engineering initiatives selected for development?
The engineering leadership group will review proposed initiatives on a monthly schedule. Those selected for development will be moved to the Approved for Development. The initiative Assignee will work with the associated teams will be asked to create Epics for their work. Depending on the initiative a next step may be a discovery (or several) with the associated teams to better define the problem and potential strategies. When the Epics have been associated and the initiative owner will move the item from Approve for Development to In Progress.
Initiatives that are not approved will be closed by moving them to the Rejected column and providing a comment why the issue was not approved for development.
How are engineering initiatives managed?
Initiatives that are approved for development will have an Assignee that will act as the owner of the issue. The owner will most often be a member of the leadership group, but could be an engineer or other person depending on the needs of the project. It is the responsibility of the assignee/owner to ensure the appropriate epics are created and each team is aware of the project. Assignees/owners are expected to sweep the Engineering board regularly and update issues they own.
What indicates that an engineering initiative is complete?
An engineering initiative is complete when all of the team Epics are complete and the initiative has been moved to the Complete column.