We have been using a slightly different release process for Active Social and it has proven to be successful.  We have learned quite a bit over the past couple months.  We know our strengths and identified our weaknesses.  Now we are in a position to make the process even better for Active Forums.  The biggest benefit is that it will greatly reduce the waiting time for new features.  We have been having a release for Active Social every 7 to 10 days.  I'm not saying that will be the case for Active Forums, but releases will be much more frequent than they are now.

Our two weaknesses are keeping documentation up to date and the QA process.  However, I don't see this as being a problem with Active Forums since it is a much more mature product.  The difference is that with Active Social, everything is completely new.  With each release we have to come up with new test plans and new documentation.  This will not be the case Active Forums since we have been doing this for so long already. 

If you are not an Active Social customer you are probably wondering how this will work.  It's actually fairly simple and we will keep you informed on a regular basis.  The first step is for us to post a road map for Active Forums, similar to the list below:

Active Forums

4.2.0
 - Performance updates
 - Improved Security Model
 - Digest Notification
 - Additional Option for Scheduled Tasks
 - Revised search layout.

4.3.0
 - Threaded View
 - Full theme support
 - Custom Fields (up to 3)


4.4.0
 - Custom views
 - Improved Blog/Articles support
 - Option for Q/A discussion format


Obviously, the roadmap is always subject to change.  With Active Social we will usually move a feature to the next release.  We have also had to insert additional point releases to make adjustments when necessary. 

Now you are probably wondering about time frames.  First, we will no longer post release dates until a package is 100% complete and tested.  This means that you usually won't know the release date until the day of release.  That doesn't mean you will be completely in the dark.  Our goal is to provide short daily updates on the ActiveDev Twitter feed.  In some cases we will have several updates throughout the day.  While we won't be giving exact dates, you should be able to have a pretty good idea of the release progress and schedule.  It will take some time, but eventually you will start to see a pattern and become more confident with the release process.


This new process will officially begin with the release of Active Forums 4.2.0.  When will it be released?  Keep checking our twitter feed for more details




Thanks,
Will