Team Practices Group/Retrospectives/2015-12-16

Dec 16, 2015 New Actionables: People interested in Phabricator have not always responded positively
 * Folks also generally seem too disappointed in Phab’s reliability (and fixability) to pursue fixes to issues, either because of bureaucracy or because it’s too much of a slog to test out ideas.
 * No “normal” weeks since before Thanksgiving (October for Kevin) due to holidays, off-sites, etc; will continue until January
 * Look for new offsite locations DONE
 * There is still a culture or reacting negatively to good news. Some TPG members feel like they have internalized it to the extent that they anticipate bad reactions.
 * Registration instructions for Dev Summit announcements weren’t seen by all, so some people (both inside and outside TPG) who probably should be registered aren’t. - KL added to TPG Staff agenda DONE
 * Dstrine just learned about wikimedia-staff channel in IRC - added more irc information to onboarding wiki page DONE
 * Some WMF members have misused or disagreed with the “assume good faith” rule - this may be a tea time conversation DONE

What has happened since the last retro (Nov 18)?

 * New teatime planning spreadsheet
 * TPG strategy progress
 * TPG IRL (strategy)
 * TPG IRL FUN
 * Kristen starting to take the reins
 * WMF engagement survey (and results)
 * Q3 goals planning
 * Training: Meetings skills for unconferences
 * Thanksgiving break
 * Declared Maintenance Fraction pilot done
 * Made contact with Phacility and upstreamed our requests
 * Finalized CSAT for Q2
 * Two more teams started working with Phlogiston burnups
 * Helped kick off Product Group strategy process
 * WMF strategy process
 * TPG Meeting with Lila
 * Grace took on Designers in lightweight engagement
 * Design Research Workshop happened

What went well

 * We met Boryana!
 * TPG strategy thorough, and effective; increased clarity and shared understanding
 * Free form editing of strategy in IRL was fun and productive
 * We closed on the CSAT format really quickly
 * “I say things, people take notes” - Joel
 * Great to see everyone in person for the remoties
 * Teatime spreadsheet seems to be working +1
 * Conversation around WMF felt way more civil following engagement survey
 * It was fun getting to know everyone a bit better at IRL!
 * role playing for strategy sessions was fun and a good way to mix it up
 * good conversation with Kristen outside the fishbowl at Impact Hub
 * Many thanks to Kevin for speaking out against continuing to use Impact Hub
 * It was interesting to see that Joel and I ranked the trust equation components in the same order
 * Joel totally cracks me up +1+1
 * Max has good candor and will often say what I might shy away from ← I hope nobody was offended….. - MB  ←--no, it’s a compliment :)
 * Arthur - for taking care of himself and raising awareness of the sabbatical +!
 * DStrine- we’ve had some awesome interactions and collaborations recently
 * Post-IRL work happened smoothly, thanks to Strine and self-organizing
 * Arthur not stressed out about going on leave - Kristen stepping up and team self-organizing
 * Kona appearances +1
 * Some of Joel’s regular meetings have been going very smoothly
 * Community Tech is flying on their own
 * TPG Q3 quarterly goal planning went well (just in time!) +1
 * Joel going off SOP at IRL

What could have gone better (highlighting = want to follow up)

 * People interested in Phabricator have not always responded positively
 * Folks also generally seem too disappointed in Phab’s reliability (and fixability) to pursue fixes to issues, either because of bureaucracy or because it’s too much of a slog to test out ideas.
 * No “normal” weeks since before Thanksgiving (October for Kevin) due to holidays, off-sites, etc; will continue until January
 * I wasn’t a fan of the public way the Reading Web team got called out on their process… - MB
 * Major burnout during IRL week - I scheduled or got scheduled too much
 * TPG Strategy process is running behind schedule
 * Some WMF members have misused or disagreed with the “assume good faith” rule - this may be a tea time conversation
 * Last week, in large part due to strategy, knocked the wind out of me -- meetings 9 to 6, 5 days in a row -MB
 * Kevin was massively stressed out after IRL+WMF Strategy (getting better now)
 * Arthur made a comment about the MPL Roof and the Mortgage not being a good fit for SF, so I wish that I had picked up on its tone-deafness and substituted a better metaphor
 * Follow-through on planning the IRL fun left me wanting….
 * Impact Hub hasn’t really met our offsite needs.
 * Nervous that strategy might land us at status quo or most status quo-like options
 * It would have been nice to finish all the strategy possibilities’ barriers and tests, at least at IRL, preferably before
 * There is still a culture or reacting negatively to good news. Some TPG members feel like they have internalized it to the extent that they anticipate bad reactions.
 * Registration instructions for Dev Summit announcements weren’t seen by all, so some people (both inside and outside TPG) who probably should be registered aren’t. - KL added to TPG Staff agenda
 * Dstrine just learned about wikimedia-staff channel in IRC - added more irc information to onboarding wiki page
 * Max will miss Arthur
 * Hail Glorious Leader
 * Tough period doing “double duty”: current role + current role transition + learning/starting to do new role + new role transition; lots of balls in the air. My burnup chart looks weird.
 * IRL would have been nice as an offsite away from SF