Reading/Multimedia/Retrospectives/2017-09-14
2017-09-14
[edit]What aspect of process is going well?
[edit]- We've held on to our daily standup meetings, which are helpful. It's kept me sane through a tumultuous time. A good practice to keep going anyway, keeps the team together and lets us talk about things.
- And they are on time! :)
- I also really like that they are written down, for posterity as well as transparency and focus.
- The backlog curation meeting also helps, especially on this team where bugs have sat for a long time without attention
- Could we do with more of that? It doesn't feel to me like we're making a huge impact on the backlog (though maybe we're not supposed to be) <-- This sounds like "improved" :)
- We seem to actually like each other...most of the time. :)+1
- Communication seems to happen freely+1
- We have a very good "alpha" which portends good things
- Early release or transparency, we have both
What aspect of process could be improved?
[edit]- Do we have a place for UI specs? Can we?
- Ramsey: Not sure that MM has done before. When new designer shows, we will have a new process. Will it be Google? Maybe. Maybe InVision. A lot of design research stuff to happen first, too. Google Drive will have a flat, non-directive set of results.
- Amanda: New designer is SDoC-committed, with heavy emphasis on MM, but the design process they have for that will likely mirror what is on MM.
- Is this specific to 3D?
- Yes, and a spec exists, but it is prelim and needs to be changed.
- Ramsey: Not sure that MM has done before. When new designer shows, we will have a new process. Will it be Google? Maybe. Maybe InVision. A lot of design research stuff to happen first, too. Google Drive will have a flat, non-directive set of results.
- As Max mentioned, we should have a planning meeting - no real sprint structure ATM
- cf. quarterly planning (which has been ad-hoc for as long as I can remember, but could be better?)
- Can we create a longer feedback loop/cycle?
- We have a workboard, but it doesn't seem to be treated as a Kanban board. It's possible to use a Kanban without a planning meeting. Workboard is too big for planning meetings.
- It's not clear what MM is working on vs everything in the board.
- Having a planning meeting would let us prioritize current tasks as well as plan for more than one day out.
- Ramsey would need to be there, probably engineers
- How is this different from grooming?
- Subtle difference, but we could repurpose grooming for planning.
- Is there a kickoff meeting?
- Reading Web has kickoff, grooming, retro, prioritization.
- How much is life in MM going to change when SDoC gets going?
- Now, we just try to fix as much wrong with Commons as possible.
- Need to balance bugs with SDoC dev
- +1 Some Phabricator cleanup is probably in order
- Ramsey wants to clean up the cruft
- Separating workboards probably solves some of this
- Don't want to miss anything
- Want to make sure other teams are aware of their responsibilities
- There are always more ideas than time
- We want to project an image of cleanliness, esp with regards to SDoC
- Actually doing work will be a big part of this
- Age of task in the backlog may be a way to remove tasks
- Separating team work from volunteer work
- Ramsey wants to clean up the cruft
- Code review practices are a little lax (I am as guilty of this as anyone) +1
- Patches sit for a long time, and we don't get things done
- That information gets lost
- Missing patches because they were tagged in some backlog somewhere
- Need a team expectation of when code review happens
- Gerrit lets you create combinations of dashboards
- Can we check this regularly?
- If we have a workboard, this may be solved
- Unless you have patches that are not associated with a ticket
- Or somehow related
- Unless you have patches that are not associated with a ticket
- Patches sit for a long time, and we don't get things done
- We knew it would likely be the case, but integrated design could help....now we will hold tight for that.
- No action item, but waiting is OK.
- Designer will start Sept 25
- Hard enough to get Nirzar's attention
- Next retro we may have our designer around.
- No action item, but waiting is OK.
What aspect of process is confusing?
[edit]- How do we want to do roadmap and quarterly planning for The Future™?
- The grooming sessions are a little hard to follow for me atm, though I'm hoping that'll improve as I learn my way around better
- I'm a bit unclear on the SDoC stuff - Ramsey doing a great job of keeping us up to date on what's happening, but I'm not really succeeding in keeping a good picture of the state of the nation in my head
- Should I be looking at the SDoC drive all the time? Is this what I do without a process?+1
- Amanda: I started sending update emails, but stopped because was overwhelmed with execution, will start sending updates again
- Should I be looking at the SDoC drive all the time? Is this what I do without a process?+1
- How will CL support be integrated once 3D is done?
- For SDoC we have Sandra, currently OOO
- She lists her stuff on Phab
- Non-SDoC stuff might go through Chris
- E.g. designs go out to community
- The CLs have a new process this FY for how to request help from them
- Open question: Who asks for help for non-SDoC stuff?
- For SDoC we have Sandra, currently OOO
Parking Lot
[edit]- What happens to the designer req after SDoC? Who is responsible for 3D design?
Action Items
[edit]- Ramsey to create Drive entry for InVision app demos
- Max to create Kanban board for team separate from backlog
- Max to alternate backlog grooming and prioritization
- Max to circulate Luis Villa's blog post on backlogs
- For next retro: Is backlog cruft still a problem, and do we want to formally separate will-not-work from will-work?
- Devs to get together to draft a norm around code review
- Amanda to start SDoC update emails again
- Amanda to show team where to ask for CL help (new CL process)
- Max to email out: What is SOP for archiving retros?