Add SIG Architecture: Enhancements spotlight

content/en/blog/2024/sig-arch-enhancements-spotlight.md

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+---
+layout: blog
+title: "Spotlight on SIG Architecture: Enhancements"
+slug: sig-architecture-enhancements
+date: 2024-10-30
+author: "Frederico Muñoz (SAS Institute)"
+---
+
+_This is the fourth interview of a SIG Architecture Spotlight series that will cover the different
+subprojects, and we will be covering [SIG Architecture:
+Enhancements](https://github.com/kubernetes/community/blob/master/sig-architecture/README.md#enhancements)._
+
+In this SIG Architecture spotlight we talked with [Kirsten
+Garrison](https://github.com/kikisdeliveryservice), lead of the Enhancements subproject.
+
+## The Enhancements subproject
+
+**Frederico (FSM): Hi Kirsten, very happy to have the opportunity to talk about the Enhancements
+subproject. Let's start with some quick information about yourself and your role.**
+
+**Kirsten Garrison (KG)**: I’m a lead of the Enhancements subproject of SIG-Architecture and
+currently work at Google. I first got involved by contributing to the service-catalog project with
+the help of [Carolyn Van Slyck](https://github.com/carolynvs). With time, [I joined the Release
+team](https://github.com/kubernetes/sig-release/blob/master/releases/release-1.17/release_team.md),
+eventually becoming the Enhancements Lead and a Release Lead shadow. While on the release team, I
+worked on some ideas to make the process better for the SIGs and Enhancements team (the opt-in
+process) based on my team’s experiences. Eventually, I started attending Subproject meetings and
+contributing to the Subproject’s work.
+
+**FSM: You mentioned the Enhancements subproject: how would you describe its main goals and areas of
+intervention?**
+
+**KG**: The [Enhancements
+Subproject](https://github.com/kubernetes/community/blob/master/sig-architecture/README.md#enhancements)
+primarily concerns itself with the [Kubernetes Enhancement
+Proposal](https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/blob/master/keps/sig-architecture/0000-kep-process/README.md)
+(_KEP_ for short)—the "design" documents required for all features and significant changes
+to the Kubernetes project.
+
+## The KEP and its impact
+
+**FSM: The improvement of the KEP process was (and is) one in which SIG Architecture was heavily
+involved. Could you explain the process to those that aren’t aware of it?**
+
+**KG**: [Every release](https://kubernetes.io/releases/release/#the-release-cycle), the SIGs let the
+Release Team know which features they intend to work on to be put into the release. As mentioned
+above, the prerequisite for these changes is a KEP - a standardized design document that all authors
+must fill out and approve in the first weeks of the release cycle. Most features [will move
+through 3
+phases](https://kubernetes.io/docs/reference/command-line-tools-reference/feature-gates/#feature-stages):
+alpha, beta and finally GA so approving a feature represents a significant commitment for the SIG.
+
+The KEP serves as the full source of truth of a feature. The [KEP
+template](https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements/blob/master/keps/NNNN-kep-template/README.md)
+has different requirements based on what stage a feature is in, but it generally requires a detailed
+discussion of the design and the impact as well as providing artifacts of stability and
+performance. The KEP takes quite a bit of iterative work between authors, SIG reviewers, api review
+team and the Production Readiness Review team[^1] before it is approved. Each set of reviewers is
+looking to make sure that the proposal meets their standards in order to have a stable and
+performant Kubernetes release. Only after all approvals are secured, can an author go forth and
+merge their feature in the Kubernetes code base.
+
+
+**FSM: I see, quite a bit of additional structure was added. Looking back, what were the most
+significant improvements of that approach?**
+
+**KG**: In general, I think that the improvements with the most impact had to do with focusing on
+the core intent of the KEP. KEPs exist not just to memorialize designs, but provide a structured way
+to discuss and come to an agreement about different facets of the change. At the core of the KEP
+process is communication and consideration.
+
+To that end, some of the significant changes revolve around a more detailed and accessible KEP
+template. A significant amount of work was put in over time to get the
+[k/enhancements](https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements) repo into its current form -- a
+directory structure organized by SIG with the contours of the modern KEP template (with
+Proposal/Motivation/Design Details subsections). We might take that basic structure for granted
+today, but it really represents the work of many people trying to get the foundation of this process
+in place over time.
+
+As Kubernetes matures, we’ve needed to think about more than just the end goal of getting a single
+feature merged. We need to think about things like: stability, performance, setting and meeting user
+expectations. And as we’ve thought about those things the template has grown more detailed. The
+addition of the Production Readiness Review was major as well as the enhanced testing requirements
+(varying at different stages of a KEP’s lifecycle).
+
+## Current areas of focus
+
+**FSM: Speaking of maturing, we’ve [recently released Kubernetes
+v1.31](https://kubernetes.io/blog/2024/08/13/kubernetes-v1-31-release/), and work on v1.32 [has
+started](https://github.com/fsmunoz/sig-release/tree/release-1.32/releases/release-1.32). Are there
+any areas that the Enhancements sub-project is currently addressing that might change the way things
+are done?**
+
+**KG**: We’re currently working on two things:
+
+  1) _Creating a Process KEP template._ Sometimes people want to harness the KEP process for
+  significant changes that are more process oriented rather than feature oriented. We want to
+  support this because memorializing changes is important and giving people a better tool to do so
+  will only encourage more discussion and transparency.
+  2) _KEP versioning._ While our template changes aim to be as non-disruptive as possible, we
+  believe that it will be easier to track and communicate those changes to the community better with
+  a versioned KEP template and the policies that go alongside such versioning.
+
+Both features will take some time to get right and fully roll out (just like a KEP feature) but we
+believe that they will both provide improvements that will benefit the community at large.
+
+**FSM: You mentioned improvements: I remember when project boards for Enhancement tracking were
+introduced in recent releases, to great effect and unanimous applause from release team members. Was
+this a particular area of focus for the subproject?**
+
+**KG**: The Subproject provided support to the Release Team’s Enhancement team in the migration away
+from using the spreadsheet to a project board. The collection and tracking of enhancements has
+always been a logistical challenge. During my time on the Release Team, I helped with the transition
+to an opt-in system of enhancements, whereby the SIG leads "opt-in" KEPs for release tracking. This
+helped to enhance communication between authors and SIGs before any significant work was undertaken
+on a KEP and removed toil from the Enhancements team. This change used the existing tools to avoid
+introducing too many changes at once to the community. Later, the Release Team approached the
+Subproject with an idea of leveraging GitHub Project Boards to further improve the collection
+process. This was to be a move away from the use of complicated spreadsheets to using repo-native
+labels on [k/enhancement](https://github.com/kubernetes/enhancements) issues and project boards.
+
+**FSM: That surely adds an impact on simplifying the workflow...**
+
+**KG**: Removing sources of friction and promoting clear communication is very important to the
+Enhancements Subproject.  At the same time, it’s important to give careful consideration to
+decisions that impact the community as a whole. We want to make sure that changes are balanced to
+give an upside and while not causing any regressions and pain in the rollout. We supported the
+Release Team in ideation as well as through the actual migration to the project boards. It was a
+great success and exciting to see the team make high impact changes that helped everyone involved in
+the KEP process!
+
+## Getting involved
+
+**FSM: For those reading that might be curious and interested in helping, how would you describe the
+required skills for participating in the sub-project?**
+
+**KG**: Familiarity with KEPs either via experience or taking time to look through the
+kubernetes/enhancements repo is helpful. All are welcome to participate if interested - we can take
+it from there.
+
+**FSM: Excellent! Many thanks for your time and insight -- any final comments you would like to
+share with our readers?**
+
+**KG**: The Enhancements process is one of the most important parts of Kubernetes and requires
+enormous amounts of coordination and collaboration of people and teams across the project to make it
+successful. I’m thankful and inspired by everyone’s continued hard work and dedication to making the
+project great. This is truly a wonderful community.
+
+
+[^1]: For more information, check the [Production Readiness Review spotlight
+    interview](https://kubernetes.io/blog/2023/11/02/sig-architecture-production-readiness-spotlight-2023/)
+    in this series.