In preparation for WordPress 5.9 and after accepting Test Lead roles, @boniu91 and I got on the same page about how we plan to support this release. What follows is an overview of our approach. Feedback is always welcome, especially since we’re early enough in the release process to ensure we’re as high impact as possible. The hope in sharing this information is to both set expectations with the overall release team and to establish an early track record that can be used to enhance documentation for this role.

Goals: 

At a high level, the goal of this role is to ensure, through testing, that the next WordPress release delights users with stability and a bug free experience.  More specifically, this can be broken down into the following goals: 

• Coordinate and lead testing efforts for a major release in order to ensure a smoother release.
• Increase testing efforts and capacity.
• Ensure tickets needing testing are properly handled and escalated.

Responsibilities: 

• Continued calls for testing for the FSE outreach program.
• A round up of how to best help test for the program/anyone who wants to test for 5.9. Previous example here. 
• Help ensure any necessary testing for Gutenberg specific items, like the Gallery Block refactor.
• Amplify testing efforts and opportunities, including helping onboard folks who are interested in helping. 
• Attend and wrangle meetings (Tuesday triage + biweekly meetings, Friday testing). 
• Monitor Trac for incoming reports.
• Test as much as possible throughout the release cycle. 
• E2e test development (TBD with @justinahinon leading efforts there). 

The above is already underway and will continue through the release cycle.

#5-9