Wikimedia Discovery/Retrospective 2015-07-13

Review of previous retrospective action items
(NOTE: These were not reviewed during the 2015-07-13 retrospective itself, but I am documenting them here because in a perfect world, they would have been.)

Kevin
 * Schedule our next retrospective
 * Clear blockers more quickly/frequently -- e.g. designate a scrummaster, or hold more frequent standups
 * ✅ (hopefully). Kevin is the designated blocker-clearer
 * Process for pulling tasks into sprints has not been communicated clearly
 * Minor progress, but far from resolved
 * Kanban (not Scrum) process has not been communicated clearly
 * Minor progress, but far from resolved
 * Everyone should make sure their contact info is up-to-date
 * https://office.wikimedia.org/wiki/Contact_list
 * Didn't get David scheduled into the retrospective
 * It is not clear where this failure occurred. Will watch closely moving forward.
 * Stacking meetings on one day works well for some people, but not for others
 * No change, but meeting schedules are likely to be overhauled soon anyway.
 * Lack of IRC norms regarding buffers/bouncers, and whether people read scrollbacks
 * No progress.
 * Lack of IRC norms regarding buffers/bouncers, and whether people read scrollbacks
 * No progress.

Dan
 * Confusion due to having engineering work in data workboard
 * ✅ (workboards are now people-centric, so engineering work stays in engineering workboards)
 * We are working on a lot of things slowly, rather than a few things quickly
 * Ongoing discussions, but no resolution.
 * Data Analysis is bushed; ongoing tasks suck up too much bandwidth to allow for long-term planningx
 * Hopefully better now?
 * Protecting Oliver and really everyones time from randomization tasks
 * Hopefully better now?

Wes/Tomasz
 * Guiseppe has represented us in ops, but we might need more
 * Much improved.
 * Ops has committed fractions of 4 additional people to help us meet quarterly goals.
 * Ongoing discussions about getting more dedicated support
 * Some information droppage (notably when Wes/Tomasz are out simultaneously, or Dan by himself)
 * More of something to keep an eye on moving forward
 * Few of us sitting close to each other
 * ✅ (SF folks now have desks near each other)
 * Budget has been a moving target
 * More of something to keep an eye on moving forward

Nik
 * Two search outages recently
 * Reports were written up
 * Nik is a single point of failure
 * Improved and ongoing. Nik has actively been transitioning knowledge to others