VisualEditor/2015 Team Process Review

April 6–17

 * Onboarding and Orientation for Joel and Neil

April 20–24

 * Interview with 3 members of the VE team (as it existed pre-reorg) for micro-retrospectives.
 * multiple ad-hoc interviews with James and Trevor to start understanding the VE process (and WMF processes)
 * asking various people about how Tasks work for VE
 * start a list of VE stakeholders Stakeholders
 * build a list of standard questions for interviews

April 27–May 1

 * Interview 7 more members of VE team
 * Interview 6 more stakeholders
 * Extend list of stakeholders/interview candidates (total of 35 names)

May 4–May 8

 * Interview more people
 * Complete 1st draft of report

May 11 - May 29

 * Most of the team is traveling
 * Some editing of the report

Milestone 2: First draft of report DONE 11 May 2015

 * Complete interviews with all team members
 * Complete interviews with majority of stakeholders and at least one representative from each group of stakeholders
 * Report has complete outline
 * Report includes 75% of notes and ideas from interviews and discussion in some form, either text or notes or diagrams.

Milestone 3: Report distributed to interviewees for feedback. DONE 8 May 2015

 * Report uses only constructive and positive language
 * Report sent to all interviewees and anyone else who contributed to the review

Milestone 4: Highest priority challenges identified. DONE 2 Jun 2015

 * Based on input from team leads, stakeholders, and process reviewers

Milestone 5: Recommendations shared. DONE 10 June 2015

 * document contains specific recommendations
 * recommendations are prioritized to match challenges
 * Relevant stakeholders do not object to changes (and at least some approve of them)

Milestone 6: Process change initiated DONE 12 June 2015

 * List of challenges broken into appropriate sizes and prioritized
 * Menu of options for each challenge developed (several options defined, in enough detail to discuss, with pros and cons and with indications where one change may address several challenges)
 * Team, team leadership, other stakeholders agree to changes

Milestone 7: Report shared publicly. DONE 6 June 2015.

 * All sources of information have had a chance to read it and correct/rebut anything authors misunderstood or misrepresented.
 * Document reflects the Foundations communication goals.
 * Report converted from Google Doc to Wiki page.
 * Report announced on (?) mailing lists, blogs?

Milestone 9: Report archived for reference

 * Report can serve as guide for process change in other teams
 * Report updated with results of process change

Output

 * Process Review Report
 * Phabricator Master Task
 * VisualEditor/Design of Backlog

Reference material

 * "State of the team" report
 * top strengths
 * top concerns
 * from team
 * from external stakeholders
 * Process diagram showing how VE team works now
 * Implicit State Machine diagram for Editing Phab Tasks
 * process flow for VE team within WMF
 * Process Menu with feedback from team
 * Suggested progress changes
 * Previous WMF Process Review (theoretical model for all of WMF, not specific to VE team)

Working materials
Interview notes (etherpad)

Goals

 * 1) Joel and Neil learning the team's processes
 * 2) Joel collecting information prerequisite to suggesting any changes as TPG detailee to VE
 * 3) Documenting how VE team works because it may be a model for other Editing teams and other teams in WMF
 * 4) Provide VE team retrospection on progress up to point of re-org and VE release
 * 5) Meet requests from execs for better forecasting and visibility

Timing
Information Collection: April

Make changes: May?