WikiWorkflow
In order to facilitate document mastery, this wiki is equipped with mechanisms for a complete document workflow, including draft, pending, and published stages. Each document that is to serve as canonical documentation should go through this complete process.
Pages of this wiki are marked with workflow states using tags. See HelpOnTags for more information about tags.
The Lifecycle of Documentation
The creation of high-quality documentation requires a workflow that gives each document proper review and editing, and allows reviewers and end-users to understand what stage of the process the document is in. All documents must begin as drafts, where the original writing takes place. They can then move to a pending status for peer review and final editing. Once they have endured thorough review, they can be moved to a published state, where the document is considered final and can be relied upon to contain accurate information.
The Draft State
A document in the draft state should be marked with the TagDraft wiki tag.
A document in the draft state is under the early writing stages. It may be inaccurate and can contain errors. This stage is where the bulk of the work on a document takes place. The writers of the document are able to change and expand the document freely to achieve the document's purpose. A document in draft state should not be considered ready for public consumption, though it may be open to the public to allow extra review and a preview of what is to come.
Once the writers feel that the document is ready, they can move it to the pending state for final review and publishing.
The Pending State
A document in the pending state should be marked with the TagPending wiki tag.
A document in the pending state has the bulk of its content complete, and is ready for thorough review by other editors. Changes from this point should be trivial and focused on making the document as accurate and error-free as possible. Like a draft document, and document in the pending state should not be considered ready for public consumption.
Once a senior editor has reviewed the document and feels that it is ready for publication, they can move it to the published state for public consumption.
The Published State
A document in the published state should be marked with the TagPublished wiki tag.
A document in the published state is complete and shouldn't be further edited in this state, except by senior editors to correct critical errors. Documents in this state are ideal targets for translation and distribution. They should be considered ready for public consumption.
If there is need to edit a published document further, it should be removed from the published state first, possibly back to the pending or draft states. If it is no longer a relevant document, it can be marked as deprecated. Such moves should only be conducted by senior editors.
The Deprecated State
A document in the deprecated state should be marked with the TagDeprecated wiki tag.
A document in the deprecated state is no longer relevant and should be considered legacy material. Like a published document, it should not see further edits and mostly exists as an archived document. They should still be considered valid for public consumption, but readers should be directed to more current documents, as applicable.
A document in the deprecated state may be removed if it is considered stale. If it should become relevant again, it can be moved back to the published state. These moves should only be conducted by senior editors.