Improving Collaboration and Transparency in the Development of the eIDAS Architecture Concept

The current development process of the eIDAS architecture concept presents several barriers that limit the efficiency and motivation of developers and all participants, especially external and volunteer contributors. This negatively affects both the quality and speed of the project's development.

I would like to highlight the following points and propose improvements:

1. Promoting Innovation and Open-Source Principles

The current process slows down contributions from external experts and volunteer developers due to restrictive and slow merge and review processes. In important and time limited projects like this one, it's crucial to foster innovation by enabling fast, collaborative progress. External contributors should be highly motivated to share their expertise and ideas freely.

Proposal:
An open and more transparent model for pull requests on our OpenCode GitLab should be implemented. Peer reviews conducted by all participants to ensure that valuable changes and improvements are integrated into all aspects of our information, with the Architecture Concept being a crucial component. An easy-to-use collaborative review process with real-time, versioned information flow that involves both internal and external contributors would improve overall quality and accelerate the development process.

2. Motivation for Proactive Contribution

Currently, the barriers to contributions from external participants are demotivating because changes often do not directly influence the main information in GitLab and are integrated only after long delays, without transparent and versioned information flows. This is a well-known and proven issue in the open-source world, which always leads to the loss of valuable information and contributors.

Proposal:
Mechanisms should be developed to integrate pull requests faster and give developers more direct influence on the progress of the project. Motivation among external and volunteer contributors will significantly increase if they feel that their contributions are taken seriously and promptly integrated into the development process.

3. Transparency and Efficiency

The current process lacks transparency, as changes are discussed and implemented internally for long periods before being made publicly available and documented. This contradicts the philosophy of continuous development and open collaboration, which is typical of modern open-source projects.

Proposal:
The processes for integrating changes should be made more transparent. Changes should be publicly accessible and clearly documented in a timely manner so that all participants can track the project's progress. Peer reviews should play a stronger role in the process to ensure the quality of the final version.

4. The Need for Agile Development and Continuous Adaptation

The development of the eIDAS wallet architecture requires an agile and adaptive approach to remain competitive and meet the evolving demands of the digital identity ecosystem. In today’s fast-paced technological landscape, the ability to quickly iterate and integrate feedback is essential for maintaining relevance and ensuring the system's robustness.

Faster iterations: Agile processes are essential for projects like the eIDAS Wallet, as requirements can change quickly and new regulatory requirements can arise. By involving a lagre number experts efficient at an early stage, many obstacles can be avoided later on.

Responsibility and security: My proposals do not contradict to the responsibility towards the BMI or other stakeholder. Quite the opposite: Transparent processes and peer reviews ensure higher quality and traceability, allowing potential errors to be identified and rectified at an early stage.

Motivation of external experts: External contributors will be more willing to contribute their expertise if they have the feeling that their contributions will be incorporated into the project in a timely and valued manner as they are used to and if this methods ensure real time information flow, versioning and tooling developers and technical stakeholders are used to. Git is a established tool and we also do use it with GitLab on opencode, but the functions of participation are strictly limited without sustainable reason. Changes are needed, doing so we could even accelerate the project in the long term, as more resources are used more efficiently.

Long-term flexibility: Through more open collaboration with clearly documented changes, the project remains flexible to new requirements without losing control. This underlines the alredeady mentioned possibilities offered by GitLab, which is optimized for precisely this purpose.

Proposal:
The project must adopt agile development principles, enabling continuous improvement through regular iterations and fast response to new challenges or requirements. This approach fosters a more resilient and adaptable architecture, which is crucial for keeping pace with technological advancements and regulatory changes in the digital identity space. By streamlining the integration of changes and fostering collaboration, the eIDAS wallet architecture will be better equipped to handle future demands, ensuring long-term sustainability and success.

To facilitate this, GitLab should be fully leveraged for its versioning, transparency, and collaborative tools. Specifically:

• Real-time versioned information flow: Changes should be tracked transparently through GitLab’s version control, allowing both internal and external contributors to see and review updates in real time.
• Collaborative peer reviews: Peer review processes should be open and inclusive, involving both internal team members and external experts. This will ensure that valuable contributions are integrated promptly.
• Streamlined merge processes: The current delays in merging changes into the main codebase should be addressed. A more agile process, utilizing GitLab’s automated pipelines and feedback loops, will significantly reduce integration time and increase overall development efficiency.

By implementing these GitLab-driven processes, the eIDAS wallet architecture will become more adaptable, ensuring faster iteration cycles and continuous improvement. This approach will not only enhance the system’s quality but also maintain engagement from valuable external contributors, ensuring the project’s long-term success.