The number of MITK tasks is increasing over time for various reasons. For example, we are not able to start a task because of missing information or feedback, task authors may lose interest in a topic but do not close associated tasks, or there are more new tasks over a period of time than we can process in that same period of time. The latter reason can be rather frustrating for users and developers, as there is probably a good reason for a task but it basically drowns in noise while other tasks may have precedence.
We introduced a simple life cycle management process as a countermeasure:
- We created the tags #missing_info and #cleared to help us identifying blocked tasks and tasks ready to work on right away in particular on workboards for upcoming releases.
- We will periodically scan for tasks that:
- [[/maniphest/query/1F1AUH7gzQlS/|were not updated for over 2 years]]
- [[/maniphest/query/xz3.2z40Tt_g/|were tagged with]] #missing_info [[/maniphest/query/xz3.2z40Tt_g/|and then not updated for over 6 months]]
These tasks will be bulk edited with a comment explaining the situation (see below), tagged with #auto-closed and closed as Wontfix.
We are aware that this strategy will close some valid tasks but task authors and subscribers are encouraged to re-open tasks. In fact, we figured out in early experiments that it is an effective trigger to revive zombie tasks that are still relevant.
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WARNING: Whoever is doing the auto-close bulk edit, make sure to add an "Assign to //<empty>//" action as last action. Otherwise, every single closed task (and hence probably most revived task) will be assigned to you by default. ๐ฑ
```name="Auto-close comment template"
Hi there! ๐
This task was auto-closed according to our {icon arrow-right} [[/w/mitk/dev/task-lifecycle|Task Lifecycle Management]].
Please follow this link for more information and don't forget that you are encouraged to reasonable re-open tasks to revive them. ๐
Best wishes,
The MITK devs```