5.1 Development Organization

DGT is an open, community driven platform. Development policies and approaches are important disciplines that drive the delivery of a useful sustainable product.

The development of any distributed platform has several nuances associated with the presence of fuzzy success criteria and the multivariance of work scenarios. The main provisions of the development strategy are as follows:

  • Development is carried out according to the technological roadmap (see 1.7), assuming iterative development with a predictive listing of key features.

  • Development is conducted in the Lean Startup and Agile paradigm: working code and interesting capabilities for end users have priority in comparison with documentation and declarative plans.

  • The work is built iteratively, with each iteration (also called a sprint) estimated separately in terms of duration and the volume of implementation. The duration of each iteration is from 3 to 6 weeks, with the main versions delivered at least once a year.

  • The team conducts periodic video conferences (Pivot Meetings), which define or adjust the goals for the iteration, sets goals for the week and allows for the discussion of the results.

  • All decisions should be subordinated to a single goal - to present a complete product to the community.

  • The completion of an iteration is timed to coincide with a version release, which is accompanied by a simple description portraying new features and solved problems.

  • Development is carried out as openly as possible and implies the involvement, by agreement, of the necessary experts for the discussion of the product.

  • Mosaic development is allowed, which changes the order of implemented features from version to version. At the same time, the general line adheres to the technological map formulated in this document.

  • All other things being equal, preference is given to sustainable solutions, including third-party components. Within the product, there is focus on scalability, performance, and end-business opportunities.

  • If there are applied tasks (custom development) then possible upgrades of the main development line are discussed.

  • All development is carried out under the Apache 2.0 and AGPL licenses, however, the formation of forks requires coordination with the team (see 5.2.2).