The plans for Firefox in 2012 are huge. However, hacking on Firefox has a huge learning curve, and requires specialists with experiential knowledge of a sea of undocumented code and familiarity with a host of implicit behaviors that are impossible to predict. The risk of regression, even after years of requiring tests, is still quite high. New features continue to take far longer than we expect, and we continually rely on the same small group of people to develop them, and an even smaller group to review them. How can we make the development of Firefox easier for new contributors, as well as ourselves? I'll talk about new approaches towards feature development and contributor interaction that can reduce the time required and risk involved in Firefox development.
