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We are pausing upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases

blog.chromium.org

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Re: We are pausing upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases

#51

Post by yingw787 »

filoleg wrote: post #38
enitihas wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think this is similar to normal remote work though. Schools are closed, so people can't work on home in isolation. On top of that people must be anxious. When people are worried about lots of other stuff their output may not be the same. Even basecamp, which is highly remote, postponed their email service launch.

If everything works right now, then slowing feature-work down makes sense for products critical in the current situation (which is the case with ChromeOS for students doing school remotely, as you have described). Because imo the goal should be to keep things as stable as possible to avoid interruptions for people during critical periods and only issue hotfixes for bugs that break functionality and for security vulne…

This makes sense and sounds like an empathetic approach. Even if it wouldn't be an adjustment to remote-first teams, it should be assumed this is an adjustment to many others, and that new problems will be uncovered especially for critical services. It's also nice to have a constant in a sea of change.

Re: We are pausing upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases

#52

Post by robotnikman »

Fiveplus wrote: post #5

Are there any known security loopholes in the issues pipeline that are yet to be addressed? I'm interested in knowing if halting updates for a browser mean much to real world users?

sounds like they will be prioritizing security issues.

Less change for the sake of change is a good thin IMO

Re: We are pausing upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases

#54

Post by kinlan »

throwGuardian wrote: post #42
eyelidlessness wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're also considering the impact on developers targeting Chrome and Chrome OS platforms[1], which is a welcome consideration. Edit to add: this also has a follow-on effect of reducing the possibility that end users experience problems due to breaking changes or bugs, which is also important considering nearly everyone is depending on the internet at this time. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22620254

I don't understand. Regardless of COVID, they always need to consider the impact on developers. Like I said in my previous comment, the newly remote Chrome team may be facing many unseen roadblocks, but I expect that to be a temporal window of delay, after which the team should resume shipping, albeit at a slower cadence due to reduced productivity compared to normal-times WFH.

We always consider the needs of developers, but we also tend to ask a lot of them (new perf, security, capabilities etc etc) in more normal situations, but I'd add this is a highented situation for all users and develers where everyone is requiring information and access to services like never before it makes sense to be very prudent in all of our rollouts.

Whilst I love NFC API, it's not critical at this moment where as ensure there are no (or as rew as possible) regressions is.

Wrapping up, it's a massive mix of needs right now from our own teams and users alike.

Re: We are pausing upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases

#55

Post by eitally »

zeveb wrote: post #34
rcfw wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of obstacles for temps/contractors to gain remote access at google. I'd imagine a lot of testing is done by people who aren't FTEs. disclaimer: I am a Googler, but know nothing about how the Chrome team operates

> There are a lot of obstacles for temps/contractors to gain remote access at google. I thought that Google were all-in on BeyondCorp, which doesn't require a secure perimetre. Did they not actually convert everything, or is it still in progress? (edit: removed a non-constructive suggestion)

BeyondCorp gives you basic access to unprotected things on the network (intranet, google apps, etc), but not to secure systems, source code, etc.

Re: We are pausing upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases

#57

Post by munificent »

throwGuardian wrote: post #22

Remote work now is likely lower in productivity than normal-times WFH. If a software company cannot adjust to remote delivery, albeit at lower than normal productivity, the rest of the economy has no hope. I don't understand Google's decision here - I wish they simply predicted a longer than normal release cadence, versus none at all

> I don't understand Google's decision here - I wish they simply predicted a longer than normal release cadence, versus none at all

It's reasonable to not understand their decision, but it's also reasonable to give them the benefit of the doubt that they know what's best for their team and product (and in that order).

Googlers (like myself) are probably the least materially affected by COVID-19. We are well compensated and most aren't living paycheck to paycheck. We have great medical benefits. Our schedules are flexible and working from home is fairly feasible for most teams. Many are young enough to not have kids, or compensated well-enough to have a stay-at-home partner.

And technically, for many of us, working from home is fairly straightforward. Google already has much of that infrastructure in place. Many teams are already distributed across sites and used to working over email and VC. We all have laptops, etc. Some of us work on open source where it's trivial to have full access to source code when not on the corporate network.

Even so, my rough estimate is that my team is about 30% less effective right now. Like you say, it's not because working from home is hard. It's because staying focused on code during a global pandemic that will kill unknown people, is causing massive suffering for people who aren't as fortunate as we Googlers, and may lead to a depression the likes of which haven't been seen in a hundred years is really hard.

We're all trying to survive a monumentally catastrophic event with our health and wits intact the best way we know how. The history books are going to write about how millions low-risk young people self-quarantined to protect the older generation. They will remember the states and countries that suspended evictions and mortgages.

No one's going to give a damn that Chrome skipped a release or two. At the scale of shit the world is dealing with right now, it just doesn't matter.

Re: We are pausing upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases

#58

Post by untog »

enneff wrote: post #31
LanceH wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Local schools are leaning heavily on chromebooks. They have checked them out to students without computers. Adding an os update to this would contribute to the chaos.

OS updates on ChromeOS are seamless and mostly go unnoticed by the user, FWIW.

Provided they go right. If the entire team is adapting to a new way of working it makes sense to hold off on new releases while you make sure you've got everything working right.

Re: We are pausing upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases

#59

Post by steren »

dickeytk wrote: post #15

Without knowing much about the team I really doubt this has much to do with remote work. It seems like a smart move to take pressure off team deliverables in general right now for a host of reasons.

A lot of googlers are remote while caring for their children at home. This definitely reduces productivity.

Re: We are pausing upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases

#60

Post by uwuhn »

throwGuardian wrote: post #22

Remote work now is likely lower in productivity than normal-times WFH. If a software company cannot adjust to remote delivery, albeit at lower than normal productivity, the rest of the economy has no hope. I don't understand Google's decision here - I wish they simply predicted a longer than normal release cadence, versus none at all

My ideal mix is either 80/20 or 60/40 remote/in-office. I have been 20/80 my entire career up to the CV outbreak (1 day WFH minimum every week).

I prefer 100% WFH to that, but I dislike not going to the office at all. This is my first time being 100% WFH for this long -- my previous max was a full week.

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