SMT Development Update: Burn-Ups
Hello Steemians, as many of you know, SMT development has been underway for quite some time. While engineering resources had to be diverted toward HF20 development, we are now well on our way to returning total focus to SMTs. Two months ago we closely examined the work that has been done, and the work left to do, which enabled us to re-baseline and plan for a release date. Thanks to that work, we were able to develop an organization and tracking system for SMT development which we discussed in our post Tracking SMT Development Progress. In that system you will see every single work item our blockchain team has identified that needs to be completed in order to launch SMTs on the dates we have announced.
Invitation to Monitor Our Progress
We want to keep everyone as informed as possible with respect to ongoing development. To that end we plan to share the burn-up charts we use internally to monitor our progress in relation to our goal of releasing an SMT TestNet in January. We will do our best to update this chart and share it publicly every week. We will also list the work that was completed each week.
SMT work completed last week:
https://github.com/steemit/steem/issues/2696
The blue dots symbolize the number of points that we have completed for SMT development. For those who don’t know, assigning “Story Points” is part of Agile Software Development. They are a “unit of measure for expressing an estimate of the overall effort that will be required to fully implement a product backlog item or any other piece of work” and determined by using a Fibonacci Scale.
The red line symbolizes the rate at which we need to complete tasks and the point-values of those tasks. As you can see, the total number of points that need to be completed in order for SMTs to be ready for release are a bit over 300. The reason the blue line is flat is that most of our resources were dedicated to HF20-related development during that time.
As we return our focus to SMT development, the blue line must approach the red line, and even surpass it, if we are to deliver SMT TestNet on time. We have concluded our Post Mortem of HF20 (which we will share publicly) and believe we can still deliver SMTs on the planned release date. By publishing our burn-up charts every week, we hope to demonstrate the progress as it happens.
The Steem Blockchain Team
It's nice to see that you're willing to show you're behind schedule. Here's to hoping you guys can catch up!
This is what was promised long before HF20. The unlimited editing never happened. It then got pushed to HF20. Again, it never happened. Why don't we have unlimited editing as promised?
Reference: https://steemit.com/steem/@steemitblog/hardfork-20-what-to-expect-tomorrow
I don't know how the situation is after HF20, but a few weeks before everything crashed with HF20 - it was/is possible with the Steeditor app. I've already edited a few posts and can confirm that it worked! It might work after HF20 too.
I am glad you are being more open with the community and bringing everyone up to speed on the development.
We all learned a great deal from the situation with Hard Fork 20. One of the biggest lessons is that we all need to do everything we can to get on the same page. Most do not expect perfect or flawless upgrades. This is technology and there are apt to be bugs.
However, if people have a chance to monitor what is going on, then there will be few surprises. Getting everyone on the same page is vital to avoid the in-fighting and backstabbing we saw a few weeks ago.
After all, each of us has the same desire; Steem to become one of the leading blockchains.
Thanks for the update.
I have always been surprised at the low level of communication and engagement with the community from @steemit, specially considering steem is setup as a social media blockchain.
Anyway, it's good to see @steemitblog posting more regularly and keeping users informed.
Hopefully increased transparency will allow everyone that uses and builds on this great blockchain to be better prepared and plan accordingly.
I am looking forward to SMTs and I am sure we will get a few of those "Initial Community Offerings" that @ned is hinting at being airdropped.
I have packed my bags and am ready to go! Where's that rocket?
@kabir88
@kabir88
That is a really interesting way of tracking development! Thanks for being open about where the team is at currently. I know SMTs are your main priority, but what about Communities?
Much of Hivemind has been complete for a while, so current focus is mainly on SMTs. Just because we are focusing on one aspect of the stack at a given moment in time does not mean we are abandoning another. Typically, work in one area just slows as it becomes apparent that more resources need to be allocated to another.
Oh, yeah I wasn't implying that work there had stopped. More just wondering how that development fits into the work on SMTs: for example if it's something that would roll out before, simultaneously with, or after the next major fork?
Because Hivemind is non-consensus it doesn't have to be scheduled in that manner. These two products work very well together, so it is our goal to get them out around the same time. But Hivemind doesn't require hardforks or even the participation of witnesses. It's just regular software. That also means it is less challenging to develop.
Got it! Thanks for the explanation @andrarchy :-)
Hey, @andrarchy.
Yes, thanks for this. I've been looking for an update of some kind on hivemind and communities, so it's nice to know what intentions are, and that it's less challenging to produce. I think there are many of us here who are as excited about the prospects of communities as much as we are SMTs, so just the idea of both of them coming out around the same time is morale boosting. :)
@glenalbrethsen hey I was literally about to tag you here but you beat me to reading it. 😂
That's funny, because I was thinking I should do the same, but then wasn't remembering exactly who it was I was having the conversation with, because I've spoken to quite a few people about this. :)
Glad you remembered you and I had one of those conversations at least.
I'd like him to do some clarifying though. Hopefully he'll see what I said and have time to reply.
Lots of development being made in github I see! It’s good to see some solid progress being made, keep at it fellas :))
Great update, loving the accountibility.
Posted using Partiko Android
This is an awesome great step towards negating all comments regarding Steemit Inc’s lack of transparency.
We look forward to SMTs very much and hope that blue line will approach the red without any issues asap.
We’ll be keeping track of the burn-ups
Interesting project development update!
We have a feature called CoinGecko Beam where your team can "beam" updates such as these to the wider crypto community through our platform and API.
We're highly intrigued with SMT development and would love it if we can enable you give real time updates to those outside of the Steem Community.
Do contact us at [email protected] and we'll be more than happy to give you more info!
Thanks for the update. I look forward to seeing those lines converge. Exciting stuff.
Kudos! I always appreciate how the devs loop everyone in with regards to updates like these. Keep doing a great job for all of us. ^_^