Discovery/Retrospective 2015-10-14

=Review action items from previous retrospective= None were explicitly called out. Here are likely candidates:
 * Get analysis and maps teams on the same page
 * Improved, at least
 * A/B test pre-launch still happens too much in IRC
 * Seems better now
 * Confusion around inter-team dependencies and requirements, also centred on Reading
 * There are more Discovery/Reading meetings
 * Planning to combine Discovery+Reading showcases (November)
 * Should fill in retrospective etherpad (google doc) before the meeting, to save time
 * Done
 * Retro notes didn't get posted right away (Kevin)
 * Happened, but only this week

=Current retrospective format=
 * Take time for everyone to type in what went well/poorly (5 min)
 * Vote on which topics to discuss further (5 min)
 * Discuss! (20 min)
 * Choose action items (5 min)
 * Retro the retro (5 min)

REMINDER: The previous retrospective was Sept 14

=What went well?=
 * Offsite +1
 * To be more specific, the offsite was a great blend of enjoyable activities (NASA, the ocean), opportunities to get to know people (esp. over meals), and in-depth discussion about a lot of important team stuff.
 * Mikhail kept the place from burning to the ground while Oliver was [out]
 * Gerrit Cleanup Day was a mostly positive experience.
 * After some delay, we have another A/B test in production.
 * Onboarding Julien!

=What could have gone better?=
 * The time of launch (rocket in FL)
 * The time of this meeting (9:30am SF time)
 * The hours of the offsite could have been better in theory—people arrived late, the launch was very early, people stayed up late—but in practice it's a very minor quibble about a great offsite.
 * Gerrit Cleanup Day instructions could have been a bit clearer.
 * Seemed like the User Satisfaction metric was rushed at the end of the quarter, driven by the deadline (which is somewhat arbitrary) and not by being ready/done.
 * Common terms A/B test was finished up at the last minute, we started planning for it on ~wednesday and pushed it out by tuesday (with monday off).
 * Should have had tests in mind while we were writing the code, rather than coming up with tests later
 * Have not completed analysis of the completion suggester tests
 * In general A/B test analysis should be streamlined/more organized +++++++
 * Erik feels pulled in many different directions (kafka, multi-datacenter, hiring, a/b tests, etc) and needs to delegate better ++++++

=What didn't fit into either of those buckets?=
 * Florida Alligator Grill

=Discussion= In general A/B test analysis should be streamlined/more organized +++++++
 * Don't have organized analysis process. Should have a page (if we don't) saying what we have done, what the results were, what is in progress and upcoming. Links to phab.
 * Probably put a page on wiki. We have tracked in phab, but that isn't very visible.
 * We probably have the info. Just need a central portal to expose it.
 * Would expose if we have run a test but haven't reported on it?
 * Who would be responsible for updating? Whole team. Would Dan be responsible for verifying accuracy?
 * Would include recipe/checklist for all the steps to run a test from start to finish (check w/Dario)
 * Kevin will take the conversation forward (check w/Oliver+Mikhail)
 * What about going from conception to defined test?
 * Hard to have this conversation without analysts here
 * Kevin will schedule something (everyone except essentials optional)

Erik feels pulled in many different directions (kafka, multi-datacenter, hiring, a/b tests, etc) and needs to delegate better ++++++
 * Erik has been trying to farm stuff out to others
 * Has been the only one doing A/B tests...hoping to pass some to Julien
 * Are there tasks that ONLY Erik can take on?
 * A/B tests yes but improving.
 * Kafka yes because he invented it. Need to spread knowledge around. Maybe present at the showcase?
 * How about a team tech talk? Get developers in a room and deep-dive into Kafka or whatever.
 * Look at where the big chunks of time are going. What is Erik in a unique position to
 * Something to consider: If Erik took a week off, what would suffer badly? What about a month?
 * Hiring: Could spread the load of being a "bozo filter"? The recruiter is already doing that.

=Action Items=
 * Kevin talk with Oliver/Mikhail about A/B test page
 * Erik will continue to work on delegation

= Retro the retro =
 * 9:30 seems ok, but not ideal
 * retrospective format seems to be working, so stick with it