Reading/Multimedia/Retrospectives/2017-09-14

What aspect of process is going well?

 * We've held on to our daily standup meetings, which are helpful. It's kept me sane through a tumultuous time. A good practice to keep going anyway, keeps the team together and lets us talk about things.
 * And they are on time! :)
 * I also really like that they are written down, for posterity as well as transparency and focus.
 * The backlog curation meeting also helps, especially on this team where bugs have sat for a long time without attention
 * Could we do with more of that? It doesn't feel to me like we're making a huge impact on the backlog (though maybe we're not supposed to be) <-- This sounds like "improved" :)
 * We seem to actually like each other...most of the time. :)+1
 * Communication seems to happen freely+1
 * We have a very good "alpha" which portends good things
 * Early release or transparency, we have both

What aspect of process could be improved?

 * Do we have a place for UI specs? Can we?
 * Ramsey: Not sure that MM has done before. When new designer shows, we will have a new process. Will it be Google? Maybe. Maybe InVision. A lot of design research stuff to happen first, too. Google Drive will have a flat, non-directive set of results.
 * Amanda: New designer is SDoC-committed, with heavy emphasis on MM, but the design process they have for that will likely mirror what is on MM.
 * Is this specific to 3D?
 * Yes, and a spec exists, but it is prelim and needs to be changed.
 * As Max mentioned, we should have a planning meeting - no real sprint structure ATM
 * cf. quarterly planning (which has been ad-hoc for as long as I can remember, but could be better?)
 * Can we create a longer feedback loop/cycle?
 * We have a workboard, but it doesn't seem to be treated as a Kanban board. It's possible to use a Kanban without a planning meeting. Workboard is too big for planning meetings.
 * It's not clear what MM is working on vs everything in the board.
 * Having a planning meeting would let us prioritize current tasks as well as plan for more than one day out.
 * Ramsey would need to be there, probably engineers
 * How is this different from grooming?
 * Subtle difference, but we could repurpose grooming for planning.
 * Is there a kickoff meeting?
 * Reading Web has kickoff, grooming, retro, prioritization.
 * How much is life in MM going to change when SDoC gets going?
 * Now, we just try to fix as much wrong with Commons as possible.
 * Need to balance bugs with SDoC dev
 * +1 Some Phabricator cleanup is probably in order
 * Ramsey wants to clean up the cruft
 * Separating workboards probably solves some of this
 * Don't want to miss anything
 * Want to make sure other teams are aware of their responsibilities
 * There are always more ideas than time
 * We want to project an image of cleanliness, esp with regards to SDoC
 * Actually doing work will be a big part of this
 * Age of task in the backlog may be a way to remove tasks
 * Separating team work from volunteer work
 * Code review practices are a little lax (I am as guilty of this as anyone) +1
 * Patches sit for a long time, and we don't get things done
 * That information gets lost
 * Missing patches because they were tagged in some backlog somewhere
 * Need a team expectation of when code review happens
 * Gerrit lets you create combinations of dashboards
 * Can we check this regularly?
 * If we have a workboard, this may be solved
 * Unless you have patches that are not associated with a ticket
 * Or somehow related
 * We knew it would likely be the case, but integrated design could help....now we will hold tight for that.
 * No action item, but waiting is OK.
 * Designer will start Sept 25
 * Hard enough to get Nirzar's attention
 * Next retro we may have our designer around.

What aspect of process is confusing?

 * How do we want to do roadmap and quarterly planning for The Future™?
 * The grooming sessions are a little hard to follow for me atm, though I'm hoping that'll improve as I learn my way around better
 * I'm a bit unclear on the SDoC stuff - Ramsey doing a great job of keeping us up to date on what's happening, but I'm not really succeeding in keeping a good picture of the state of the nation in my head
 * Should I be looking at the SDoC drive all the time? Is this what I do without a process?+1
 * Amanda: I started sending update emails, but stopped because was overwhelmed with execution, will start sending updates again
 * How will CL support be integrated once 3D is done?
 * For SDoC we have Sandra, currently OOO
 * She lists her stuff on Phab
 * Non-SDoC stuff might go through Chris
 * E.g. designs go out to community
 * The CLs have a new process this FY for how to request help from them
 * Open question: Who asks for help for non-SDoC stuff?

Parking Lot

 * What happens to the designer req after SDoC? Who is responsible for 3D design?

Action Items

 * Ramsey to create Drive entry for InVision app demos
 * Max to create Kanban board for team separate from backlog
 * Max to alternate backlog grooming and prioritization
 * Max to circulate Luis Villa's blog post on backlogs
 * For next retro: Is backlog cruft still a problem, and do we want to formally separate will-not-work from will-work?
 * Devs to get together to draft a norm around code review
 * Amanda to start SDoC update emails again
 * Amanda to show team where to ask for CL help (new CL process)
 * Max to email out: What is SOP for archiving retros?