Team Practices Group/Retrospectives/2016-04-27

Previous Retro

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Team_Practices_Group/Retrospectives/2016-03-23

Action Items from Previous Retro

Action Item	Status
Set up meeting to discuss improving meeting practices, including the points below + consistent meeting notes GG	DONE
Call out decision points: “is this a decision?” (Everyone)	SEE ABOVE
Action-ish! Provide time for considered decision-making (eg not the last 30 seconds of a meeting); distinct from next steps (Everyone)	SEE ABOVE
Action! Continue convos (code review; reduce TPG work) during IRL (add to etherpad) AWJR	MOVED TO OFFSITE

What has happened since last retro on March 23, 2016

Activities/Interruptions/Calendar Things
- Hackathon in Jerusalem
- TPG IRL
  - Lots of notes and followup
- Wikilead
- Sam Kaner meeting
People
- No more David :(
- Work on Strine backfill job description
- Arthur is OFFICIAL

TPGer Engagements

- Max finally digging in with Web
- Max and Kevin working with Adam to plan Reading’s Offsite
- Kevin featherweight™ engagement w/android team
  - Joel too
- Kevin started working w/RelEng
- Kevin started working w/ArchCom
- VE/Research & Data (RD) SLU uncovered some serious tension
- Kristen started Quarterly Goals/Review rethink with working group
- Joel doing Phlog with Language, Collaboration
Org Stuff
- Low org drama!!!!
- Still some departures
- Quarterly Review
- Annual Reviews starting
- Lots of trainings from Talent and Culture
  - Anna Stillwell started her workshops (“Getting Good Information” etc)
    - Also rolling out beta of cultural orientation
TPG team Stuff
- TPG Offsite planning
- Phlog-based retro of Q3
- Starting interviews with designers/design stakeholders
- TPG almost ate food synchronously
- Hella retros about things
- CSAT processing- Grace & Strine
- Phate of Phlog?
  - Started to document, vet Guide
- We’ve started tagging more deeply in This Week
- Aaron Halfaker as guest speaker at Tea Time, Anna Stillwell as guest participant at Tea Time

Retro Items

Keep

Doing light engagements
Getting a variety of professional development opportunities! (Wikilead, in-house trainings, Community at Work) [1 +]
- More specifically, TPG management is really supportive, even when they don’t always have the same support from above
Doing work tracking until we have enough data to evaluate its utility [2 + KS]
Getting TPG together, IRL works well
IRL from time to time
Pairing:
- Mega CSAT processing day with Strine/GG
- Phab best practices meeting with Joel & Kevin & GG
- Pairing with GG/Kevin on strategy stuff - always good
- Pairing JIT QR deck with GG/KL and presenting the QR
- Joel and Max and Android
- Kevin and Max and Android
- Joel and Max and Web
- Joel and Max and Phlogiston
- Kevin and Max on Reading offsite
- Kevin and Arthur on Strategy outcome doc
- Joel and Kristen on Phlogiston
- Arthur and Max and Life
Hanging out with Community at Work and Sam Kaner
Supporting teams facing tough issues
Bumblebeeing: +
- More bumblebeeing with Joel/Grace
- Others consciously acknowledging when they are bumblebeeing
- Sharing poignant observations about our teams, particularly when they are about cross-org things (eg Joel’s highlighting concerning statements from VE re design)
Wikilead where Grace got to role play with Joel :) - can we practice this type of role playing?
Exploring novel ways to support the org and increase our capacity [4 +++ KS]
- Examples of what we have already done?
  - EG Kevin supporting RelEng,

Stop

Cut back on meetings if possible (maybe some progress here already)
Doing too many things at once/context switching/gratuitous context switching due to info overload or losing track [5+++++]
Trying to tackle so much during IRL [3++ KS]
Taking on more work in general without cutting back at the same time (unless adding capacity)
TPG IRL followed by (Kaner followed by) wikilead was tiring
Offsite trainings on Tax Day
Pushing further with Phlogiston for now?
Scheduling Reading offsites in the middle of annual reviews
Do fewer (but not zero) activities that require us to be deeply introspective (e.g. peer reviews + wikilead + IRL + Kaner + EMMO work + Anna’s Culture thing all in 2-3 week span) [+]

Start

Do something with Team Health Checks [4++++]
Focus more on Q goals before it gets too late in the quarter? [1 +]
Planning better for WMF conferences like Hackathon and Wikimania
- Plan how TPG will participate
- Planning how TPG will handle impacts
Getting better at pattern of consistent followup [2+ KS]
- E.g. action items from last retro - when exactly should we have checked if we are implementing them okay?
  - One team has also requested a way to stay on top of action items and hold each other accountable, and it doesn't fit well into Phab
Making sure we are applying our output from Meeting about meetings
Try to be better about debriefing right after events (e.g. Sam Kaner)
The output of the Meeting about Meetings - I am excited and at least one team I support is super interested in trying it
Handling (or avoiding) lots of open threads/decisions/questions at once, and closing them up.
Making more spots for Wikilead
Saying no to new work [6+++++ KS]
- Try to figure out when not to take on more work when it seems urgent or cool
- Make better use of our team priorities and goals to say no (in triaging, and what about all the work that bypasses triaging?)
- Being able to take on new work, decide that it’s more important than something else, and actually cut or freeze the something else instead of having it linger
- Follow Grace’s enlightening about WIP limits
been less into Tea Times this past month - can we reinvigorate it?
- I’ll be more into it when the rest of my schedule calms down
Making time for TPG; running thin on capacity between 3 teams
Recognizing folks in the organization that might be marginalized, such as Designers [1+]

Further discussion

Exploring novel ways to support the org and increase our capacity [4 +++ KS] GRACE to kickoff thread
- Examples of what we have already done?
- EG Kevin supporting RelEng,
  - Arthur’s new role
Do something with THCs [4++++] GRACE to kickoff email thread to put them on hold T133815
Doing too many things at once/context switching/gratuitous context switching due to info overload or losing track [5+++++] JOEL & GRACE to pair on 4/29 incorporating this into bullet below
Saying no to new work [6+++++ KS] GRACE to move to email also add to offsite etherpad DONE
- Try to figure out when not to take on more work when it seems urgent or cool
- Make better use of our team priorities and goals to say no (in triaging, and what about all the work that bypasses triaging?)
- Being able to take on new work, decide that it’s more important than something else, and actually cut or freeze the something else instead of having it linger
- Follow Grace’s enlightening about WIP limits
- Why can’t we say no to new work?
  - Skipping triage - no venue to say no
- Talk about at offsite?

Action Items

Exploring novel ways to support the org and increase our capacity [4 +++ KS] GRACE to kickoff thread
- Examples of what we have already done?
- EG Kevin supporting RelEng,
  - Arthur’s new role
Do something with THCs [4++++] GRACE to kickoff email thread to put them on hold
Doing too many things at once/context switching/gratuitous context switching due to info overload or losing track [5+++++] JOEL & GRACE to pair on incorporating this into bullet below
Saying no to new work [6+++++ KS] GRACE to move to email also add to offsite etherpad

Next Facilitator:

Joel (either IRL or moved to after that week)