Update README pages for all repos included in vets.gov-write team

[shiragoodman]

User Story

As a Governance team member supporting Platform Orientation, I want to ensure that all teams and individuals requesting access to Platform repos are funneled through the same process (ie Platform Orientation) so that there is less confusion for VFS teams.

Assignee: @briandeconinck Peer Reviewer: @rferguson13

Description

Governance team was recently made aware of the VA GitHub Handbook . This is the guidance that the VA GitHub admins use for everything related to the VA GitHub Organization. There is guidance in the handbook that communicates how VA teams can gain access to the various repositories within VA GitHub. This guidance differs from the guidance that the VA.gov Platform crew provides to the VFS teams. The VA.gov Platform crew guidance communicates that repo access is managed through the vets.gov-write gh team and the only path for being added to the vets.gov-write gh team is through Platform Orientation. The GitHub handbook guidance communicates that individuals should review the README for the repo they'd like to gain access to for guidance on how to gain access. Currently, we do not believe that any of the repos associated with the vets.gov-write team have this messaging within their README files.

repos impacted

Impacted Artifacts

README text

Some quick notes on the thought process for the README text:

• The VA GitHub Handbook doesn't specify what should be in the README, just that it should include "how to get access."
• The repo for the GitHub handbook itself does include a "Not a member of the repository, but want to request content changes, updates, additions?" section. This doesn't map exactly to "want to be added to this repo" but it's close enough to be a decent template.

After some back-and-forth with Rebecca, I've landed on:

Not a member of the repository and want to be added?

• If you're on a VA.gov Platform team, contact your Program Manager.
• If you're on a VFS team, you must complete Platform Orientation to be added to this repository. This includes completing your Platform Orientation ticket(s) in GitHub.

This should send everyone to the right place, and makes explicit that VFS team members need to complete the orientation ticket (which could get lost if we just point them to the Platform website page).

Tasks

• [x] Since these repos are used by both Platform and VFS, there will need to be 2 paths. For Platform folks, they should be directed to contact their Program Manager. For VFS folks, they should be made aware that repo access is only given through Platform Orientation and then directed to Platform Orientation.
• [x] Review and update the README file for all repos impacted. If the README already has guidance for how to gain access, do nothing. If the README lacks guidance for how to gain access, provide instructions at the top of the page. Use a standard script for each repo.
  • [ ] /betamocks [read]
  • [ ] /breakers [read]
  • [x] /content-build
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/content-build/pull/1928
  • [ ] /covid19-chatbot [archive]
  • [x] /devops
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/devops/pull/14022
  • [x] /gibct-data-service
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/gibct-data-service/pull/1029
  • [x] /performance-dashboard
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/performance-dashboard/pull/4210
  • [ ] /platform-console-api [archive]
  • [x] /platform-pst-console-ui-configuration
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/platform-pst-console-ui-configuration/pull/192
  • [x] /react-jsonschema-form
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/react-jsonschema-form/pull/21
  • [x] /va-adr
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/va-adr/pull/2
  • [ ] /va.gov-cms-devops [archive] [read]
  • [x] /va.gov-research-repository
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-research-repository/pull/489
  • [ ] /va.gov-support-slackbot [archive]
  • [x] /va.gov-team
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/pull/77042
  • [x] /va.gov-team-sensitive [private]
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team-sensitive/pull/1527
  • [ ] /va.gov-vfs-teams [archive] [read]
  • [x] /vagov-content
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/vagov-content/pull/923
  • [x] /veteran-facing-services-tools
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/veteran-facing-services-tools/pull/1024
  • [x] /vets-api
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/vets-api/pull/15677
  • [x] /vets-api-mockdata [private]
    • Already has repo access instructions
  • [ ] /vets-contrib [archive]
  • [x] /vets-json-schema
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/vets-json-schema/pull/845
  • [x] /vets-website
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/vets-website/pull/28185
  • [ ] /vets.gov [archive]
  • [ ] /vsp-infra-demo [archive] [read]
  • [x] /vsp-platform-revproxy
    • department-of-veterans-affairs/vsp-platform-revproxy/pull/158
• [ ] All PRs merged

Peer Review

To be completed by peer reviewer

• [ ] User story and acceptance criteria are met

Acceptance Criteria

• [ ] Governance has addressed any gaps that may have existed for VFS teams to get repo access

Team Notification

• [ ] Slack post on #platform-governance-team
• [ ] Presentation at Weekly Initiative Meeting
• [x] No notification needed

How to prepare this issue

Refinement

• [x] Ticket has user story, description, tasks, and acceptance criteria
• [x] Ticket has been sized
• [x] Once all above items are checked, add the 'Ready' label.

  Planning

  If this ticket is picked up from the Backlog mid-sprint, connect with Shira to ensure the below items are completed correctly

• [x] Ticket has been discussed as a team at Planning
• [x] Ticket has been assigned to appropriate initiative or quarterly epic
• [x] Ticket has been assigned to a Sprint
• [x] Ticket has been moved to the Planned pipeline in the Governance team board
• [x] Ticket as an assignee and peer reviewer

[shiragoodman]

FYSA @jknipes - I think there's some other guidance in the VA GitHub Handbook that may also be communicated on Platform Website. I'm not sure we want to write our own guidance on VA Github policies for Platform Website if/when there is already guidance in the handbook. Let me know if you'd like to discuss further.

[jknipes]

@shiragoodman thank you for the heads up, let's discuss how this should be presented.

[briandeconinck]

Quick questions for @shiragoodman: Looking at the repos in the vets.gov-write team:

• 5 repos have Read permissions for the team. Read has some capabilities associated with it, but not the ability to make any code edits. Since these repos presumably have higher access requirements, should the message in their README file be different than the other repos?
• 8 repos are archived (either Public archive or Internal archive) and can't be edited even if you have Write permissions from vets.gov-write. Safe to skip those ones?

[briandeconinck]

I guess one more question @shiragoodman: Public repos are visible to everyone and Internal repos are visible to anyone in the VA GitHub Org. But Private repos won't be visible to anyone unless they're already members of vets.gov-write --- which means no one who would need to read the README instructions would be able to see them. There are 2 Private repos. Should these be handled differently?

[shiragoodman]

@briandeconinck all good questions -thank you for being so diligent!

• I think at this time, we can leave the message for the read and write repos the same. This is just a precautionary update we're making. Your README text says nothing about read/write, so I think it's safe to have the same messaging for the read repos.
• yes, definitely skip the archived repos.
• For the private repos, I would still add the same message. Even though we know that folks who aren't part of the vets.gov-write team won't be reading the README themselves, it is still possible that a peer or fellow team member could be reading and sharing information for the newcomer. Like many VFS folks, they might not know how they got access to the repo and might not always direct their peer to Platform Orientation.

[briandeconinck]

Discussed at 2/26 Governance stand-up. PRs now opened for all repos, except:

• Archived repos
• Repos where vets.gov-write only has read permissions (because I can't do anything more than that!)

@rferguson13 Some of these (like va.gov-team) you might be able to review and merge. Others have specific code owners who have to merge the PR.

[briandeconinck]

End-of-sprint status! Six of 16 repos are waiting on codeowner review. Can't move these forward until an authorized reviewer gives the thumbs up.

• department-of-veterans-affairs/content-build/pull/1928
• department-of-veterans-affairs/devops/pull/14022
• department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-research-repository/pull/489
• department-of-veterans-affairs/vagov-content/pull/923
• department-of-veterans-affairs/vets-api/pull/15677
• department-of-veterans-affairs/vsp-platform-revproxy/pull/158

The rest of the PRs have either been reviewed by a codeowner (thank you to Ian!) or don't have any specific reviewer requirements. I'll work with Rebecca to merge those over the next day or two. Carrying over into the next sprint.

[rferguson13]

https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/content-build/pull/1928 Was completed

[briandeconinck]

Down to one! Request posted to the #platform-cop-devops channel for someone to approve department-of-veterans-affairs/devops/pull/14022, waiting on that.

[briandeconinck]

Everything is merged, closing as complete!