🕓 Backport window timeslot changes - Wikitech-l

1 Feb 2022

tl;dr: Backport windows will shift earlier in the (UTC) day starting on
Mon, Feb 14th.

*Problem*
Some backport windows have few deployers, and windows are not evenly
distributed for global users—the window times slant US-centric.

*Solution*
tl;dr: we made a spreadsheet
<https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1-bMfSzzzNxaOswFgqxkGVhfBnTenYL0Rw8XW-bHmolQ/edit?pli=1#gid=690147374>
(Antoine
did, actually).

After discussing with backport and train deployers, we're shifting backport
window timeslots to:

   1. Evenly distribute backport windows – the IST timezone had no good
   time to deploy
   2. Provide better deployer coverage – the late afternoon backport window
   (which previously happened at 4pm Pacific) often had few deployers (and few
   users)

Here's a schedule that will be live *Mon, Feb 14th *(my Valentine's day
present to you all)

   - 08:00 UTC 🔙 Early Backport
   - 14:00 UTC 🔙 Afternoon Backport
   - 21:00 UTC 🔙 Evening Backport

Train

   - 09:00 UTC 🚂 UTC-0 (Antoine) Train
   - 19:00 UTC 🚂 UTC-7 (US) Train

Big(ish) Changes

   - UTC-7 train is an hour earlier
      - Swapped with the backport window so backport is now after train
   - UTC-Early backport is much earlier
   - UTC-Late backport is pretty early, too

<3
Tyler Cipriani (he/him)
Engineering Manager, Release Engineering
Wikimedia Foundation