AsyncAPI v3 retrospective

[jonaslagoni]

As the new year begins, it's time to do the last task from a spec perspective regarding AsyncAPI v3, the retrospective.

It is a time for us to reflect on the nearly 2-year process it took to get us here and the unknown we traveled during those times to improve the process for the next major version so we don't make the same mistakes twice.

Something like this can quickly become chaotic, so we will use a free retrospective tool called Parabol to keep the meeting going. If you have never participated in a retrospective before read more about the format we are using here: https://www.parabol.co/templates/sprint-retrospectives/original-4-retrospective/

That means that we will be writing down and discussing our reflections in the following areas:

• Wins 🏆 What did we do well, that we should discuss so we don’t forget?
• Learnings 🎓 What did we learn?
• Improvements ♻️ What should we do differently next time?
• Questions ❓ What still puzzles us?

The point is to discover actionable actions we can take to improve our major version release process through reflection on what happened. After the meeting I will post all of those in this issue so we can take action on them.

TLDR if you have never participated in one before; Dont take criticism personally, blame, keep things to yourself, interrupt people, or dominate the conversation. Do stay on topic, offer constructive feedback, come prepared, and join the discussion.

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Meeting info

• Meeting link: AsyncAPI v3 retrospective, 15:00 UTC Thursday February 8th 2024 community#1019
• Parabol link to join during the meeting: https://prbl.in/LNCZWEC1ZUHL
• Time and date for the meeting: Thursday, February 8th, 3 pm UTC
• Live streamed on all AsyncAPI platforms
• Video recording available after the meeting
• Join the meeting here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81929178791

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Although it is preferred that you attend live, there are of course circumstances that can prohibit that, in those cases please spend a few minutes writing down your reflection in the comment section so we can use it during the meeting 👇

[jonaslagoni]

Full video recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV6t-S2C5Yo

Here are the core points from the retrospective:

1. More maintainers are needed to push the effort both from the spec side and tooling
2. Too much to coordinate for a single release coordinator, needs to be split up in some way
3. Lack of ownership in tools to update them to new major versions, similar to the first point
4. The learning curve for contributing to the spec is way too steep and needs mentoring or other form of support structure
5. Huge win that we actually released it in the end 🎉
6. We need to figure out a way for the release process NOT to stall such as changing the release process, smaller release cycle, etc.

If I missed anything @fmvilas @peter-rr @smoya @AceTheCreator please comment below so I can add it to the summary list 👍

Lastly, @fmvilas mentioned the possibility of a brand new release process for the spec, so this retrospective and introducing the changes are now up to you folks @fmvilas @derberg @dalelane @smoya @char0n @GreenRover whether to improve what is there or directly start the conversation about a new process. The GitHub issue is still TBDT.