Lists of Use Cases

Joel & Max Brainstorm

Document new work. Create task to document work suggested by an external event, such as email, meetings, conversations.
Check on goals. Create tasks to document work created by reactive work breakdown.
Break down goals. Proactively create tasks filling out the work implied by quarterly goals.
Triage. Modify new tasks to prioritize, set metadata, enforce task quality standards.
Groom priorities. Modify tasks to set priority relative to other tasks.
Commit to work. See list of pending, prioritized tasks to decide if I should commit to doing one.
Check my list. See my own list of committed, prioritized tasks to remember what to do next.
Nudge things along. Review tasks in progress and either update Phab or press for action.
Reprioritize. Adjust relative priority of tasks in backlog.
Close work. Close work where full team can see it.

TPG Standard Procedures

Add work
Assign work
Review Work
Remove Work
Close Work
Document stuck work
Triage work
Groom Backlog
Check for Doneness
Review Needs Review
Review Progress
Unstick stuck work
Start New Work

Unified Theory

Purpose: identify some common patterns that may apply at multiple levels, from individual contributor to team weekly review to team quarterly goals and departmant review. If present, see if they can be made clearer or easier in Phabricator.

Work creation vs work review
Push vs Pull
- "Push" or bottom-up. Reactive. For the list of tasks already in front of us, what's happening with each task and what should happen?
- "Pull" or top-down. For the list of high-level goals or projects already in front of us, is progress being made/are the appropriate sub-tasks in existence and appropriately groomed?

Top-down/pull processes

Are we making progress toward our goals?
- Typical activity: review each goal, one at a time
  - confirm that there is an active "SMART" task toward this goal, and if not, identify and create one
  - check for stuckness. If stuck, change tactics or get help or escalate.
  - Check rate of progress - is this on track to be done in time?
Accountablity review
- What was planned to be done as of the last review?
  - Is it done? If not, why not?
- What got done that wasn't planned to be done?