Healthy Backlog at GitLab

GitLab has a strong history of collaborating with our community through community contributions, and we continue to advocate that everyone can contribute to GitLab. These community contributions have helped strengthen the GitLab platform over the years, and as GitLab has grown, we have seen a corresponding growth in community participation via GitLab issues.

In light of this growing issue backlog, GitLab has launched the Healthy Backlog Initiative to refine our approach to managing contributed issues. The specific objectives of this initiative are to ensure:

• Issues with ongoing community engagement, recent activity, or a clear strategic alignment will remain open.
• Issues that are no longer relevant, lack community interest, or no longer fit our current product direction will be closed.

This focus will lead to increased innovation, better expectation setting, and faster development and delivery cycles of community-contributed capabilities. In support of this, our Product and Engineering teams will continue to conduct weekly assessments of the issues in the backlog to ensure we prioritize issues that align with our product strategy and roadmap.

Note: If the community believes a closed issue does align with GitLab’s product strategy and roadmap, or community members are actively contributing to the request, the recommendation is to comment on the issue with updated context and details. GitLab is committed to reviewing these updated issues as part of our regular assessment efforts.

How does this change benefit the community?

This streamlined approach means direct, tangible improvements for every GitLab user:

1. Sharper focus and faster delivery: By narrowing our backlog to strategically aligned features, GitLab can dedicate development resources more effectively. This means the community can expect shorter development cycles and more meaningful improvements to their GitLab experience.
2. Clearer expectations: GitLab is committed to providing transparent communication about what is on our roadmap and what is not, empowering the community to make informed decisions about their workflows and contributions.
3. Accelerated feedback loops: With a streamlined backlog, new feedback and feature requests will be reviewed and prioritized more efficiently, reducing overall triage time and ensuring timely issues receive the necessary attention. This creates a more responsive feedback loop for the entire community.

GitLab is embarking on this initiative to provide clarity around what GitLab Team Members can commit to delivering, and to ensure that all feedback receives proper consideration.

How does this initiative impact GitLab Team Members?

In addition to the details shared above that apply to the entire GitLab user and contributor community, as part of this initiative there is additional rigor that we are applying for GitLab team members as they pertain to backlog management.

The single source of truth (SSOT) for this additional rigor on backlog management is available to GitLab team members in the following confidential GitLab epic

Looking forward

GitLab’s Healthy Backlog Initiative reflects our commitment to being transparent and effective stewards of the GitLab platform.

Continued community participation and feedback help make GitLab stronger, as every comment, merge request, bug report, and feature suggestion contributes to our shared vision. The Healthy Backlog Initiative is one of the ways we collaborate with our community and customers to develop features and improvements that matter most and have the greatest impact on our user base.

To share feedback on this project, please add your comments on the following public GitLab epic

FAQ

1. Why are you closing issues that are not aligned with your product strategy? Who determines if the issue is not aligned?
   • Customer needs, community feedback, and the sustainability of our platform shape our roadmap. To help users set realistic expectations, we prioritize the work that GitLab team members will focus on through a collaborative process. This process involves the Product and Engineering teams reviewing the backlog, determining alignment with current priorities, analyzing the sustainability and impact of implementation, and aligning with guidance for triage and prioritization.
   • GitLab has evolved significantly, and so have the needs of our users and customers. GitLab’s issue backlog has grown to include thousands of issues: bugs, feature requests, and feedback items. This is a testament to our engaged community, but also a challenge that requires thoughtful management.
   • The GitLab team is implementing a more focused approach to managing the backlog. Our product and engineering teams will conduct weekly assessments of our backlog to ensure that we prioritize issues that align with our product strategy and roadmap. Issues with ongoing community engagement, recent activity, or clear strategic alignment will remain open. We’ll close issues that have become irrelevant, lack community interest, or no longer fit our current product direction.
   • When GitLab Team Members close issues, if there’s more context to share beyond what has been mentioned in the blog post, they will do their best to explain their reasoning.
   • Epic with detailed plan outline can be found in epic&18639.
2. If I have an old issue that still has recent activity and comments, will it still be closed as part of this cleanup?
   • If an issue is in active development or discussion, GitLab Team Members will review to determine if it aligns with our product strategy. We will consider closing issues that are not currently aligned with our priorities. If you are actively working on contributions, keep your issue up to date to ensure we make decisions with updated context on why it aligns with our product strategy and not closed.
   • GitLab Team Members value the time and energy our users invest in our community. Recent activity and engagement signals that an issue still matters to our users are an important element for how we steer the roadmap.
3. Will you be reviewing all product issues before closing them?
   • GitLab Team Members aim to review issues individually, but as they identify patterns, they may group issues that are closed together. Our team is committed to being thoughtful about this process while managing the scale of the backlog. If we have false positives, we ensure that any updated issue is re-triaged with the new context added to the closed issue.
4. Does closing old issues mean GitLab is no longer interested in the feedback or requests shared in them?
   • Feedback from customers and the community is taken seriously and is essential for improving our product.
   • The GitLab Healthy Backlog Initiative creates an opportunity for GitLab Team Members to actively revisit things that may have been overlooked but are important and aligned with our product strategy.
   • We are committed to transparent communication about what’s on our roadmap and what isn’t, empowering you to make informed decisions about your workflows and contributions.
   • Your feedback continues to help inform our long-term planning and enables GitLab Team Members to understand the wider community’s needs.
5. How will cleaning up old product issues help improve GitLab for the community?
   • GitLab Team Members have issues in the backlog that haven’t been addressed in years, but haven’t been closed. By clearing the backlog, GitLab Team Members aim to:
     • Gain a better understanding of what is most important to our community of users
     • Focus GitLab Team Member resources on the highest value contributions
     • Reduce triage time so new feedback gets faster attention from GitLab Team Members
     • Create more opportunities for community contributions on active issues that align with GitLab’s product strategy
     • Make it easier to accept community contributions when they align with the outlined direction for GitLab
     • This means shorter development cycles and more meaningful improvements to your GitLab experience.
   • Details on the approach can be found in epic&18639
6. I reported an issue more than three years ago, and it remains a problem today. What should I do?
   • Community contributions are still welcome and valued. If your issue remains relevant, please update it with current details and context. GitLab Team Members will review active issue engagement regularly.
   • GitLab Team Members will also work to identify alternative workflows, where possible, for feature requests they cannot address directly. Your contribution helps GitLab Team Members understand ongoing user needs and challenges.
7. Are product and engineering’s issue assessments indefinite, even once the backlog is addressed?
   • Yes, GitLab Team Members will continue to review backlog to maintain a line of sight on the most important issues. Contributions are welcome and rewarded through our GitLab Contributor Program. Closing issues or leaving detailed comments to close the issue will allow you to earn points and receive swag over time. See our Contribute to GitLab page for more details.
8. Will the process for handling new feedback change as a result of this cleanup effort?
   • GitLab Team Members aim to reduce the overall time required for triaging and prioritizing all incoming requests. With a cleaner backlog, new feedback will be reviewed and prioritized more effectively.
   • We are also leveraging AI and automation to assist with initial classification and identifying duplicates, so your new submissions get faster attention from the right GitLab Team Members.