Reading/Multimedia/Retrospectives/2017-12-07

Previous Action Items

Ramsey to continue to work with engineering team to set norms around absences and picking up the slack/coverage

What in the team's process is going well?

• GSD Mode! (Get Stuff Done)

• My code's been reviewed super-quick, also I've reviewed and +2'd some other code (which makes me feel grown-up!)
  • To this point, our code review call-outs in the standup have become more prevalent and effective

• I've mainly been working with Ramsey, and the fact that he is available for chatting despite his busy schedule is very helpful for me :)

What in the team's process could be improved?

• Still need to find a solid way to get the attention of WMDE devs whom we rely upon to unblock some things
  • Maybe even just clarity on their other commitments, and level of commitment to unblocking us

• Wish there was a better way to chat besides IRC (I struggle with it)
  • Pam: Mostly just need a place to reach out to people, see e.g. structured data slack instance
  • Mark: Hangouts bad option - no API, no access control. GroupMe is good. Slack is good too, but very heavy.

What in the team's process is confusing?

• Product->Design->Engineering pipeline is maybe not well defined - somewhat a factor of our current situation, but it may affect outcome quality at some point in the future
  • ^agree
  • Ramsey: Next quarter's process will be better, right now let's focus on prepping for more in-depth prototyping next quarter, find technical issues, etc.
  • Pam: Reach out to me if you feel you need guidance

Action Items

• Cormac: Archive this and last retro

• Ramsey to continue to work with engineering team to set norms around absences and picking up the slack/coverage

• Pam (email): Explore better communication channels for feedback (IRC is the current default)

• Pam and Ramsey to talk about Product->Design->Engineering pipeline, starting with what is missing from user stories, try to get started with a loose process upon which we can iterate