User:Keegan (WMF)/Agreement1

Communication is crucial in any community or group; communication gaps create an environment of suspicion, gossip, and distrust. Product development without communication can and will cause problems for a community or communities. On the other hand, communication about product development is often viewed as a form of promise-making. This is problematic as plans for design, development, and implementation in an agile system constantly change. These changes are viewed as breaking a promise, which creates the same distrust and suspicion the communication was meant to prevent. It's a vicious cycle.

Plans/Roadmaps
Plans can be published publicly as they are being formulated. Plans should state that they are to be understood as subject to change, and take adequate care to communicate changes in the plan as they come about. This does not require lengthy prose, simple notices on the talk page often suffice. Community expectations from these plans should be to have an idea of where the project is headed - they should not be construed as promises to the community.

Plans and roadmaps can be published on mediawiki.org once a product is conceptualized.

Designs
Publishing early designs is problematic. Once designs are out in the wild their relation to the plan relies solely on the two being distributed together, and once the design is separated from the plan and concept it is too easy to take out of context and misunderstand. To alleviate this, design and plan or concept can be properly presented as their part of the narrative. Designs tell stories, and if the story is communicated clearly there is as little room left for interpretation as possible. Communities must understand that these designs are iterative, just like the plans and roadmaps, and should not be taken as promises for the future. Designs should influence and guide discussions, preferably not dominate them.