Growth/Team/Norms

This page is intended to document the Growth Team's norms and ceremonies. Team ceremonies for Growth is defined as a series of acts and processes performed regularly with the intention of creating an environment that promotes iterative improvement, innovation and productivity.

On this team, process is not intended to become performative, rather it is intended to provide the needed structure to:


 * Improve Iteratively; Learn and Adjust
 * Experiment
 * Fail Fast
 * Reflect
 * Collaborate
 * Share Knowledge, Wins & Lessons
 * With Each Other
 * Our Communities
 * The Foundation
 * Set and Meet Goals
 * Adding Value/Priorities > Scope
 * Wikimedia Foundation Annual Plan
 * Short and Long Term

Team ceremonies can be altered if it is collectively determined after trial they are not effective as is. Plans and goals are set as a baseline and something to strive towards. Plans and goals if not met should not result in condemnation or negative tones. Not meeting plans and goals should be viewed as an opportunity to learn what needs to be adjusted, rather it is process, priorities, scope or expectations.

Standup & Team Discussions:
Standups occur every work day with the exception of Fridays and lasts fifteen minutes each. Standups are an opportunity to share progress on work, raise tasks that could potentially impact others, or to escalate blockers that impede team productivity. Topics that need to be explored in depth are held until discussion time which immediately precedes standup. Team discussion times are traditionally set for 15 minutes, but can be extended by sending a request for time extension to the team's Technical Program Manager (TPgM).

The first person to start standup is voluntary and will then choose who goes next. After each report, the team member will call on whoever hasn’t spoken until everyone has had an opportunity to speak or time has run out.

Board Triage Meetings
Official Board Triage Meetings are bi-weekly meetings where the team goes through the Needs Discussion/Analysis column of our Phabricator Board to determine:


 * If a task should be prioritized
 * The urgency in which a task should be prioritize
 * If the task is within scope for our team

Based on the team's decision of prioritization and scope, we will leave a comment with our decision and move it into the proper column.

Tickeets arrive to the Needs Discussion/Analysis column from the Inbox. Anyone on the team can pull tickets into the Needs Discussion column or Triage but Future column on a rolling basis. The team's TPgM also schedules ad-hoc triage meetings with QA and at least one Engineer.