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 releaseMajor Release A set of releases or versions having the same major version number may be collectively referred to as “X.Y” -- for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, and all other versions in the 5.2. (five dot two dot) branch of that software. Major Releases often are the introduction of new major features and functionality. 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 GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ specific items, like the Gallery BlockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. 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