Matt Mullenweg Publicly Ponders “Year of Iteration”  ## Metadata - Author: [[James Giroux]] - Full Title: Matt Mullenweg Publicly Ponders “Year of Iteration” - Category: #articles - Document Note: --- tags: - WordPress - YearOfIteration - MattMullenweg - Gutenberg Author: James Giroux Source: jamesgiroux.ca Reference: None date created: 2024-09-10 16:00 --- # Title: The Case for a ‘Year of Iteration’ in WordPress ## Table of Contents: - [Summary](#summary) - [Main Content](#main-content) - [Notes](#notes) - [References](#references) - [Paraphrase](#paraphrase) - [Newsletter](#newsletter) - [Action Items](#action-items) - [Hypotheses](#hypotheses) - [Methodology](#methodology) - [Questions](#questions) - [Future Research](#future-research) - [Implications](#implications) - [Logical validity](#logical-validity) - [Conclusion](#conclusion) ## 📝 Summary: James Giroux explores Matt Mullenweg’s proposal for a ‘Year of Iteration’ in WordPress development, which aims to focus on refining existing features, fixing bugs, and improving user experience rather than introducing new functionality. This idea emerged from a broader conversation about the complexity of the WordPress codebase, the challenges developers face with Gutenberg, and the decline in WordPress’s market share among top websites. Giroux discusses how such a year could impact various aspects of the ecosystem, from education and training to recruitment, extenders, and users. ## 📖 Main Content: In a recent discussion, Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress, hinted at the possibility of taking a "Year of Iteration" to focus on fixing and simplifying the current state of the WordPress codebase. This comes at a time when the WordPress ecosystem is facing challenges, with market share dropping and developers feeling the pressure of rapid changes brought on by Gutenberg. Giroux outlines the potential benefits of such a year, including improved onboarding, updated documentation, and a better experience for developers and users alike. Giroux argues that the rapid pace of development has left gaps in training, documentation, and contributor recruitment. With each new release, educators and trainers face the challenge of keeping materials up-to-date, while developers struggle to understand the changes in the codebase. A year dedicated to iteration would provide time to address these gaps, refine the WordPress experience, and allow extenders (plugin and theme developers) to adapt to the block-based future of WordPress. ### Key Impacts: 1. **Training and Education**: The fast pace of development has left educational resources outdated. A year of iteration would allow for the updating of tutorials, guides, and video content, making WordPress more accessible to new users. 2. **Documentation**: Developers, especially those unfamiliar with JavaScript or Gutenberg, struggle to keep up with WordPress’s evolving codebase. A year of iteration would help improve documentation, making it easier for developers to contribute to the project. 3. **Recruitment of Contributors**: WordPress has seen a decline in new contributors, with recruitment and onboarding lagging behind the pace of innovation. A year of iteration could focus on mentorship and new contributor pathways, helping to grow the community. 4. **Extenders**: Many developers who built their businesses around Classic themes and plugins need time to transition to a block-based future. A year of iteration would allow them to solidify their business models and explore new opportunities with blocks. 5. **Users**: Simplifying the WordPress experience, particularly the admin interface and user experience, would benefit the wide range of WordPress users, from small businesses to enterprises. ## 🗒️ Notes: - Matt Mullenweg proposed the idea of a “Year of Iteration” during a conversation about the state of Gutenberg and WordPress development. - WordPress is losing market share among top websites. - A year of iteration would focus on refining existing features, improving documentation, and simplifying the user experience. - This initiative would benefit developers, trainers, educators, extenders, and users alike. - Giroux believes a Year of Iteration could help onboard new contributors, update outdated training materials, and solidify the foundation of WordPress as it pushes into enterprise and government sectors. ## 📖 References: - Giroux, James. "The Case for a Year of Iteration in WordPress." https://jamesgiroux.ca ## 🗣️ Paraphrase: 1. James Giroux reflects on the possibility of a Year of Iteration in WordPress, proposed by Matt Mullenweg. Giroux suggests that the rapid pace of development has left behind gaps in training, documentation, and contributor recruitment, and a dedicated year could address these issues by focusing on refining the platform rather than introducing new features. 2. Giroux points out that the WordPress ecosystem, particularly for developers and users, would greatly benefit from a year focused on iteration. This would give plugin and theme developers time to adapt to Gutenberg, while also simplifying the experience for end-users through improvements to the user interface and educational resources. ## 📰 Newsletter: 📢 Big news in the WordPress community! Matt Mullenweg recently floated the idea of a ‘Year of Iteration’—a period where the focus would shift to refining existing features, fixing bugs, and improving the user experience, rather than pushing out new functionality. This could be a game-changer for developers, trainers, and users alike, allowing for updated training materials, better documentation, and a more user-friendly experience. Keep an eye on the WordPress roadmap as this conversation unfolds! #WordPress #Gutenberg #YearOfIteration ## ✅ Action Items: This article aligns closely with my work in WordPress advocacy and education. A Year of Iteration would provide a valuable opportunity to update and improve training materials, which is crucial for onboarding new contributors and supporting educators. The focus on simplifying WordPress would also make it more accessible, which aligns with my goal of fostering a more inclusive and sustainable open-source community. As I pursue an OSPO director role, this concept could serve as a model for balancing innovation with long-term support and community building. ## 🧪 Hypotheses: - A Year of Iteration would lead to a measurable increase in new WordPress contributors as educational and documentation gaps are filled. - Extenders (plugin and theme developers) would benefit from a more stable foundation, leading to more block-based products in the WordPress marketplace. ### 📊 Methodology: To explore these hypotheses, a study could analyze contributor activity before and after the Year of Iteration, measuring the number of new contributors and the quality of contributions. For extenders, tracking the adoption of block-based themes and plugins over time could offer insights into the impact of this initiative. ### ❓ Questions: - How would a Year of Iteration affect the overall pace of innovation in WordPress? - Would simplifying the WordPress user interface lead to a higher adoption rate among small businesses and enterprises? ### 🔮 Future Research: Future research could focus on the long-term effects of a Year of Iteration on WordPress’s market share, particularly among top websites. Additionally, studying the recruitment and retention of new contributors during this period could provide valuable insights for future open-source projects. ### 💡 Implications: A Year of Iteration could set a precedent for balancing innovation with sustainability in open-source projects. If successful, it could inform how other projects approach long-term planning, community support, and recruitment. ### ✅ Logical validity: The article presents a well-reasoned argument for why a Year of Iteration would benefit WordPress. Giroux supports his claims with evidence of WordPress’s declining market share and the challenges developers face with the rapid pace of innovation. The article provides sound reasoning for focusing on refining existing features before pushing new functionality. **Strong Reasoning Identified**: - **Causal Reasoning**: The connection between rapid innovation and the challenges faced by educators and developers is clearly established. - **Balanced and Nu - Document Tags: [[careerdevelopment]] [[wordpress]] - Summary: Matt Mullenweg is considering a "Year of Iteration" for WordPress to focus on bug fixes and simplification before adding new features. The proposal aims to address challenges in WordPress development, documentation, recruitment of new contributors, and improving user experience. The initiative could lead to a more stable and user-friendly WordPress ecosystem. - URL: https://jamesgiroux.ca/matt-mullenweg-publicly-ponders-year-of-iteration/ Woman holding a pile of clothes. #### Summary On the heels of an emotional conversation about the state of Gutenberg and the growing divide between the WordPress codebase and the developers able to understand it, Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress and overall project lead, took to X himself to discuss the 2025 roadmap of releases. This article explores how a ‘Year of Iteration’ could benefit the Project and WordPress ecosystem. Last week [we all got to participate in a conversation](https://jamesgiroux.ca/when-assuming-positive-intent-gets-lost-in-translation/) about the current state of the WordPress editor (Gutenberg as it’s colloquially known). I think it was a really healthy (and possibly cathartic) discussion about the pace of innovation, the technology the project is using and where some of our most active contributors are feeling the tension between new technology and current expertise. Amidst all of the text flying around X, there was one comment Matt Mullenweg (co-founder of WordPress, key decision-maker in the project as a whole) made that I found particularly interesting. > Now the focus is on Release Leads, and 2 of the 3 in 6.5 were non-A8C. > > More broadly, I really dislike the trend of calling what was once just everybody "non-sponsored" contributors, defining what should be the default as a non-something. This also creates unusual fixation, as in… > > In his tweet, Mullenweg begins with commentary about release leads, priorities of the project and the perception folx have of his level of control. That wasn’t the juicy part. The juicy part was what he said just after that where he openly mused about the project potentially needing “…a year to loop back on already implemented things and iterate, bug-fix, and simplify before moving onto a ton of new functionality.” This is an X post so let’s remember that what is said there isn’t necessarily meant to be directive. It is, however, informative about where Matt and likely the circle he collaborates with on the roadmap are moving toward with their thinking. I don’t want to put words in his mouth but I thought it might be worthwhile running through some of the implications I see if the release group and those with influence over the roadmap decided to greenlight a ‘year of iteration’. #### The Current State of WordPress I did a bit of snooping around BuiltWith Trend Reports to see how WordPress has been doing. I know that relying exclusively on this list is problematic as [Alex Denning has so eloquently pointed out](https://getellipsis.com/blog/wordpress-shrinking-maybe/). However, it does highlight a macro trend that we are seeing play out with the economics of WordPress. Top 10k Sites Top 100k Sites Top 1M Sites WordPress is losing steam amongst the top 10k, 100k and 1M websites. It has been for several years now. The trend line is clear and the impact is felt across the ecosystem. There are job redundancies, flatlining revenue and fewer developers onboarding into the ecosystem. With increased competition at the DIY end of the WordPress spectrum, it’s no wonder that at the project leadership level, the push into enterprise, education and government has been picking up steam. There are fewer players at this level and, if we’re all honest (maybe a little biased), WordPress can perform well for customers and clients in these verticals. With all this in mind, we start to see how a business case for a ‘year of iteration’ might take shape. So what might the impact of a year like this be? I have some thoughts. #### The Impact on Training and Education One of the most common things experienced WordPress users hear from new users is how hard it is to get started with WordPress. With fires burning in literally every corner of WordPress (the reality of a big open-source project, not a critique of said project), this is one that doesn’t necessarily require developers to fix but would benefit immensely from a year of iteration and simplification. Consider the WordPress education ecosystem. As the project has changed so rapidly, educational content around the changes has naturally lagged. If you’ve got a library of 100 tutorials and WordPress introduces major changes three times a year, that’s potentially three hundred tutorials you need to create/update just to be current. That’s just existing content and doesn’t include any new tutorial content that needs to be created for brand-new features and workflows. So, necessarily, folks prioritize. We eliminate edge cases and lower-traffic tutorial content in favour of our big hitters. A year of iteration would allow for updating tutorial and video content that in some areas may be quite legacy at this point. I wonder how much more approachable WordPress could be, and how much less friction would be experienced by users with access to great (and getting better) training material. As we push into enterprise, education and government more intentionally, think of all those office workers who can barely open a spreadsheet. They’ll have a multitude of video walkthroughs, step-by-step guides and printable instructions they can keep in a binder on their desk. #### The Impact on Documentation We’re dipping into an area I’m not as familiar with but I think it’s likely similar to education and training. Where those areas are focused on users, documentation is particularly valuable to developers. It’s the instruction manual for the code that helps them make changes and fix things. If I can sum up the situation (as I understand it), WordPress development has been moving so fast that it is challenging for experienced developers and new developers alike to make sense of what is going on. Imagine having a car where the windshield wiper fluid cap has been blue for ten years. In the last year, it’s been changed to black, green, red and finally yellow. The yellow cap makes it easier to find but the location has also changed, the icon has changed and the type of fluid used is different but none of this has been written down anywhere. If you’ve been around for these progressive changes, you might know what’s going on but if you step out at any point and then try to jump in, you’re now lost without an idea of what changes have been made and you now need to spend a lot of time just trying to figure out what they are, why, and adjust to them. If you’re coming from a different car model (or CMS or coding language, etc.), you won’t have any context around why the wiper fluid cap is yellow instead of blue. You also have no guide to quickly catch up so you can contribute to the future of wiper fluid cap development. A year of iteration, in particular for Gutenberg (the windshield wiper fluid cap in our example), would allow for the catch-up of documentation in a way that would make the next few years of development more approachable to developers. Especially those with less experience in Javascript. Get the latest articles delivered to your inbox. Type your email… #### The Impact on Recruitment of New Contributors The pace of innovation has been fast. It has had to be. We’ve had to make compromises and push through to get it done. Many folks have matured out, moved on or burned out of contributing. While the innovation pace has been fast, our recruitment, onboarding and training of new core contributors haven’t kept pace. The systems that worked pre-COVID have not fully recovered and our relationship with work and projects like WordPress has also gone through change. I know for me, pre-COVID I was in the ‘it’ generation of WordPress. Somehow I’ve grown older and now there’s a generation behind me. But I’ve been so focused on how I did WordPress that I haven’t figured out how to adapt to a new generation of contributors. A year of iteration would allow us to investigate and build new models for contributing that speak to younger folks. We can elevate the role of mentorship, invest in higher education pathways into WordPress and renew energy in preparation for the next phase of innovation for WordPress. #### The Impact on Extenders Block-based themes are still relatively new. [Mike McAllister has done a great summary](https://twitter.com/mikemcalister/status/1782569496042938587) of the current state, and the complexities of building them. That said, it is the future. Extenders who have earned from Classic themes and plugins need time to experiment and establish their own relationship with a block-based future. I get it though. In some respects, the WordPress editor has come a long way and in others, it still has a long way to go. The fact that Block Bindings and the Interactivity API are only just now becoming available showcases some of that tension. As a business owner and product developer, how do you build and earn on shifting sand? The answer is, you don’t. The WordPress Editor, for many folks in business, has been shifting sand for a while. A year of iteration could help those foundations solidify a little more and provide extenders with the space they need to develop profitable models around blocks. We need to see more Classic products go block-first and that takes time and investment. The more Classic products are transitioned, the more patterns and examples current and prospective users will have of how WordPress really is their preferred future. #### The Impact on Users The whole [OllieWP onboarding thing](https://wptavern.com/contentious-review-process-leads-ollie-theme-to-remove-innovative-onboarding-features-amid-stagnating-block-theme-adoption) we contended with last year is a shining example of why we need to focus more on users. In Matt’s musing, he used the word “simplify” which I think captures the heart of what is going to have the most impact on users. The admin interface needs a complete redesign. We, as extenders and contributors need to get serious about UX. Like, truly serious. I don’t mean lip service, I mean we need to sponsor UX designers, commission user research, push back on convenience and allow for the time it takes to get UX and UI right. For too long we’ve had a laissez-faire attitude toward users in favour of building cool stuff. This isn’t going to win for a generation that had Instagram accounts before they were even born. They are truly digital natives and have been interacting with digital experiences since their parents switched off the TVs and put iPads in their hands. A year of iteration would allow for UX and UI improvements that while not necessarily ‘new features’ would improve the overall experience and quality of life for users across the spectrum (from straight up .commers to agencies, small businesses and enterprises). #### Next Steps for a ‘Year of Iteration’ Matt has opened the door to this conversation and I’ve probably taken a mile where he gave an inch. So what comes next? There are a few things I think we might want to consider: 1. What information are key decision-makers missing that could help them prioritize a year of iteration? 2. How can folks not in the development stream assist in building a case for the kind of iterative cycle the project needs? 3. What decisions need to be made now, to begin laying the groundwork for a year of iteration and recruiting sponsored and non-sponsored contributors into the mix? Now it’s your turn. What do you think about a ‘Year of Iteration’? We’re dreaming a bit, this is extremely high level, but can you imagine it? What’s on your wishlist for things to tackle in a year like this? **Author** James Giroux James is the CEO at Groundwork, a digital marketing agency and the co-founder of TeamWP. He is the former Director of Brand & Product Marketing at StellarWP of the Liquid Family of Brands and previously worked at Rocketgenius (makers of Gravity Forms) and Envato., Matt Mullenweg Publicly Ponders “Year of Iteration”, James Giroux, 01hwn8myenxm7p0jj8e4fnszpj.