Image Tammie Lister 9:33 am on September 29, 2025
Tags:   

This week in Core Program #2

Welcome to the second edition of this update. Each start of the week, there will be a summary post for this team sharing what happened last week and setting out some plans for the week ahead.

As with any process on this team, please give feedback for anything you would like to see improved, iterated or adjusted. This team is made better with each piece of feedback.

SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. happenings

These are focused on the #core-program team Slack itself as a summary, wider work is called out in the next section.

  • We had a lot of people join us and say hi, which was great.
  • @estelaris started a discussion around recognising contributions, specifically how and what is a contribution, that is continuing.
  • There was a discussion thread around paper cuts in team setup.
  • Several times Community Summit notes were shared in response to threads. This raised the point that these should be reviewed by this team for the points which could be actioned and learnt from.
  • Core Importers was brought to the team as needing a maintainer, this was taken to coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. to resolve. However, it’s worth noting the discovery here is some areas might not need a maintainer.
  • A roadmap was being sought for AI to help with workshops. This inspired the roadmap page in handbook.

If you don’t see anything mentioned here you would like called out please mention in comments.

Work done

Did you do something this week from this team? That’s awesome, please raise it up in the comments of this post.

Get involved

Things are just getting started but already there are some things you can help with:

Plans this week

These are the ones known about. As the team grows we can surface more people’s work within these teams.

  • Continue the team handbook.
    • Create a handbook page for Community Summit note collecting and sorting: this is specifically in response to how many have been shared so far as relevant to discussions.
    • Create a handbook page for ‘Resources’ that can include talks which might be relevant around this team. Potentially put the Community Summit notes under this also.
    • Look at where Guidelines for repo management should live.
  • Summarise the feedback and take next steps on communication post.
    • Ensure if we do decide on repo it meets the guidelines for management.

If you have any plans of things you are going to do please share them as a comment.

#this-week

Image Tammie Lister 10:52 am on September 27, 2025
Tags: feedback-wanted   

Proposal: team communication flows

This is a proposal that comes from a Slack discussion and now needs some more consideration here on the make site. To summarise, what is being looked for is feedback around how the CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Program team can start having some patterns for communication, including some processes.

1. Async not sync

At least initially the suggestion is to have all communication be asynchronous not sync – for example, meetings. What does this mean in practice?

  • Weekly check-in on Monday asking everyone to share what they are going to work on and any blockers.
  • Post on this site to share at the start of the week what has been going on within the team and the plans for week.

Why is this being proposed? The likelihood is that many who will end up on this team are also contributing across other teams that require meetings. The idea is also this helps others know more what is going no with a regular cadence. The post will summarise things such as SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. conversations and cross team collaborations.

What are your thoughts on this type of communication being proposed? Anything else you would like to see this team do?

2. Repo/Project board

In order to co-ordinate things a bit more in this team, setting up a project board might be helpful. This is something that needs feedback on. Will this distract people or will it help for example? A suggestion is to have a GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ repo and use issues perhaps also including discussions. There are a few things need to be done though if this happens:

  • Any topic put on an issue or discussion that requires feedback and input should also be posted on this make site. Silos of conversations are key to avoid. This make site can along with the weekly check-ins can hopefully also help bring visibility to anything.
  • Any project board also needs logging on this make site. This ensures contributors know where to find things.
  • Documentation around where to put topics and why needs to be made, to ensure people get to the right place with their awesome perspective.
  • One option could be to not have discussions at all on this repo and just stick to issues, boards. This could perhaps avoid having conversations in yet another place.

What do you think? Should this happen or what could be the issue with having a project board and repo? Should discussions be included or not? Is there a better option not considered? If this doesn’t happen how should goals and other discussions be logged, planned and co-ordinated with everyone having easy access to it? Your feedback is important and you might have a different idea could really help empower this.

3. Goals

Setting goals for this team feels important. The current recommendation is the following:

  • Set for each release of WordPress specific goals to get done.
  • Once the year rolls around have yearly goals split out into quarters.

By following this cadence just like the project within core shipping can be a focus. What these goals are yet is not decided, that will be done together and through public channels. To give some ideas, initially the goals will most likely propose to be aligned to what has been shared in the announcement post and perspectives shared over the first few weeks within the Slack channel.

What are your thoughts on this cadence for goals? Do you think this is the right path? What other ideas do you have for how this could work?

Next steps

Once feedback has been gathered here, the handbook can be updated with consensus and the team approach.

#feedback-wanted

Image Tammie Lister 9:21 am on September 22, 2025
Tags:   

This week in Core Program #1

Each Monday (or as close as possible), a summary of what happened last week across SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. and other communications will be posted here. The goal is simple, to make async communication and keeping up with this team easy and flow states improved as other teams are contributed to.

As with any process on this team, please give feedback for anything you would like to see improved, iterated or adjusted. This team is made better with each piece of feedback.

Slack happenings

These are focused on the #core-program team Slack itself as a summary, wider work is called out in the next section.

  • The new team was announced and got started by welcoming everyone into Slack. Introductions were started as everyone got settled in
  • A thread was started around communication patterns for the team. This will become a post (or posts) this week. In it the following were proposed:
    • Weekly async check-ins: starting on Monday and done within Slack.
    • Having a repo and project board to potentially also allow longer form discussions / ideas for the team.
    • To not have for now sync meetings unless requested.
    • For ideas around this make site and to find more voices that are doing this work to post on it.
    • To have very soon a list of goals for this team. However, being clear none are set yet.

If you don’t see anything mentioned here you would like called out please mention in comments.

Work done

  • The Core Program make site saw a number of rapid fixes along the way to get it up and running. Including being able to subscribe.
  • Collaboration with the WP Credits team to give feedback on potential labels within the a thread (and across multiple channels). Suggested using a label and learning from GSOC / Hacktoberfest. Will continue to collaborate where possible on this.
  • Documented how to add a subscription box to make sites (no documentation before).

Did you do something this week from this team? That’s awesome, please raise it up in the comments of this post.

Get involved

Things are just getting started but already there are some things you can help with:

  • The thread in Slack around the team’s proposed communication patterns is looking for feedback before being made into a post.
  • You can now sign up for email updates on this site using the subscribe option.
  • The team itself can be joined at #core-program on Slack.

Plans this week

These are the ones known about. As the team grows we can surface more people’s work within these teams.

  • Start the team handbook.
    • First section will be team communication and include the weekly post.
  • Finish setting up the make site for the team, including setting up the info section.
  • Post the Slack communication thread items on this make site for feedback before taking action.
  • Fix the hitches in the team not showing up yet for pledges and then find a place to document how to add a team for pledges (not documentation on this yet).

If you have any plans of things you are going to do please share them as a comment.

#this-week

Image Tammie Lister 7:17 pm on September 12, 2025
Tags: core-program   

Welcome to the Core Program Team

The new CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Program Team is strategically focused on the inter-dependencies between the many sub-teams that when combined, make up the overall Core Team as it exists today.

This includes (though is not limited to) efficient use of processes by contributors of all skill sets, levels, and backgrounds, lowering the barrier of entry for new contributors, and making it easier for everyone to contribute. For example, setting up a new handbook or project flows in GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/.

Why is a team necessary?

There’s a need for greater clarity, shared direction, and consistency across teams, as different approaches and undocumented processes can sometimes create friction or slow things down. Small issues often go unnoticed but add up over time, and starting new projects can be harder when much of the knowledge isn’t written down. Focusing on documenting and refining processes, while offering a clearer view of project direction will make collaboration smoother and help both existing and new contributors feel more supported.

What will this team do (and won’t it do)?

This team will not dictate where the project is going. Instead, it will aim to help all groups involved understand how any given direction affects them, how they can support other teams, and make it known when other teams can support them. Each team is doing things differently. And whilst unique differences are great, being able to unify some common processes helps contribution. In short, this team is about efficiency, focusing on empowering quicker work, shipping, and easier collaboration.

There are also a number of things this team won’t do, it won’t tell each team what to do. It will listen and work out impact before suggesting any changes. The clear goal is how to improve efficiency, make contribution easier through clarity and improve the experience for those looking to find work to engage in. The focus is on auditing, recommending, and not leading the outcomes.

Who should be here?

Everyone is welcome, but you probably have an interest in project or product management or other similar program roles. You might be doing this within a team already, you might be interested in getting involved.

What’s next?

That’s where you come in. This doesn’t happen without people joining. The start of the journey could be to:

  • Document the practices that work and share them across teams. Later this team can offer suggestions for improvements through auditing, but it starts with listening and documenting the good work being done.
  • Surface the roadmaps and milestones that are there within teams.

Above all it starts by providing a place for those doing the work and looking to do this work in core teams a place to belong. 

You can get involve by saying hi in the comments and also joining the SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. #core-program.

Thank you for the edits and feedback from @desrosj and @4thhubbard.