Wikimedia Apps/Team/Retrospectives/2015-10-23

= ANDROID = October 23, 2015

Previous Retrospective Actions

 * Action! Wait a sprint to see if there is progress on HockeyApp blockers. Use default implementation if not. DONE H.A. GOT

Worked Well

 * Manually handling Android configuration changes did, as expected but not elaborted, introduce complexity but was definitely worthwhile. I think the Google docs should be updated to say "Activities with simple views don't need this. Activities with map or WebView-like complexity do."+
 * One of our most insidious bugs was fixed (by a volunteer!) +++
 * Volunteer contributions (mostly). They're a time investment but definitely worthwhile so far.
 * java-mwapi submodule style was very useful when needed. Made debugging much simpler and less crazy than munging a jar binary repeatedly. The library will be deprecated but I'm going to try to write about this particular (and novel, I believe) aspect of it.

Worked Poorly

 * Work flowing through the system+
 * Making big changes and upgrades (HockeyApp, intro'ing bugs)
 * Bugs are a hiccup in workflow
 * Patches stacked up with dependencies can make bottlenecks
 * Code reviews weren't getting daily check-ins
 * More focus on the service side took dev time away
 * DB: Writing less code than usual
 * Underestimating capacity
 * Often waiting for signoff on things
 * Self-QA helping
 * Estimation is accurate


 * MFE styles break our presentation+
 * Moving to Parsoid is more complicated than expected.

Confuses Us

 * Not confused, but I have a question: do we want to do more unit testing? Yes +1+
 * I too have a question: Are we getting the most we can out of our ceremonies (and our Scrum Master)?
 * Status of testing devices on order+

Action Items

 * Action! Let's remember to estimate things
 * Use standup for notifying of estimation needs, adhoc hatjitsu
 * Action! Column to backlog: Design Doing (no more questions for design that aren't in the sprint) [MAX]
 * Action! Need more sync up/communication w/Reading Web team ("MFE styles break our presentation") [EMAIL, MAX]
 * Action! Need update on ordered testing devices [ADAM]

= iOS = October 23, 2015

Previous Retrospective Actions

 * Action! Test drive Google Drive assets/spec management [TEAM] ONGOING
 * iOS 5.0 Specs https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YPsHpgInH6RiUY4vVyyJp9tt5HtvG3u3sIB-gar4YPI/edit#
 * Design stuff can live in Phab
 * Spec is working well, design assets is rough
 * Action! Let's ship stuff, not focus too much on perfection/robustness BETTER, TRICKY
 * Action! IRC norms for Phab communication: Email thread [BRIAN] NOT DONE
 * Action! Get more regular updates w/design (standups?) [MAX EMAIL THREAD]
 * Or post-estimation kick-off?
 * Action! Set a timeline for when the QA tasks are acted on [BRIAN/JOSH] ONGOING

Worked Well

 * PM signoff!
 * Pace of developement is picking up
 * iOS 5.0 Specs doc
 * GitHub community for diagnosing and working around DevOps issues (see below)
 * New designs looking sharp
 * iOS 9 features looking friggin' sweet
 * Specs discussions w/ Josh & Elena
 * Feeling good about focusing on specs, hope it will clear up lots of ambiguity and make the app better
 * App is looking good - working well
 * Feed!!!

Worked Poorly

 * Meeting email thread: need teamwide planning and stand-ups
 * Tough right now, let's get the whole team more in the loop
 * Feels like we need a more cohesive, basic planning meeting
 * Too much re-litigating/arguing
 * Wasting a lot of time discussing things at execution-time
 * Working together - or not?d
 * Design assets migrating to google drive (IMO its fine, lets keep Prod specs on Google and mocks on Phab)
 * DevOps infrastructure (iTC changes, broke fastlane _and_ CocoaPods)
 * Not having a 3D-touch-able device (BG)

Confuses Us

 * Swift best practices
 * Good thing I'm going to a Swift Summit next week!

Actions Items

 * Action! Gut check on assets managment in pholio, Kaity to use pholio more
 * Action! IRC norms for Phab communication: Email thread [BRIAN] NOT DONE
 * Action! Get more regular updates w/design (standups?) [MAX EMAIL THREAD CONT'D]
 * Or post-estimation kick-off?
 * If no decision made after a few days of the email thread, let's just pick something
 * Action! Need more regular team-wide buy-in
 * Meetings?
 * Action! Research how other teams do specs (e.g. Reading Web team)
 * Action! We need a standard QA rigor, engineers to design a QA acceptance criteria for all testing