< Editing team

This page is intended to document the Editing Team's norms and ceremonies. Team ceremonies for Editing is defined as a series of acts and processes performed regularly with the intention of creating an environment that promotes iterative improvement, innovation and productivity.

On this team, process is not intended to become performative, rather it is intended to provide the needed structure to:

  • Improve Iteratively; Learn and Adjust  
    • Experiment
    • Fail Fast
    • Reflect
  • Collaborate
  • Share Knowledge, Wins & Lessons
    • With Each Other
    • Our Communities
    • The Foundation
  • Set and Meet Goals
    • Adding Value/Priorities > Scope  
    • Wikimedia Foundation Annual Plan
    • Short and Long Term

Team ceremonies can be altered if it is collectively determined after trial they are not effective as is. Plans and goals are set as a baseline and something to strive towards. Plans and goals if not met should not result in condemnation or negative tones. Not meeting plans and goals should be viewed as an opportunity to learn what needs to be adjusted, rather it is process, priorities, scope or expectations.

Standup & Team Discussions:

Standups occur every work day except for Fridays and lasts fifteen minutes each. Standups are an opportunity to share progress on work, raise tasks that could potentially impact others, or to escalate blockers that impede team productivity. Topics that may need further discussion or is outside of the scope of the above questions should be written as a parking lot discussion item for excess meeting time or to schedule a follow up discussion. The individual leading the meeting, most likely the Technical Program Manager (TPgM) will ask if there are attendees that would like to continue their conversation with someone in particular and the meeting leader will coordinate with the relevant parties to schedule follow up time for discussion should it be deemed necessary by the team. The first person to start standup is voluntary and will then choose who goes next. After each report, the team member will call on whoever hasn’t spoken until everyone has had an opportunity to speak or time has run out.

If a team member is unable to join standup they should provide their feedback virtually and read the notes from standup.

Board Triage Meetings

Official Board Triage Meetings are bi-weekly meetings where members of the team go through the To Triage column of our Phabricator Board to determine:

  • If a task should be prioritized
  • The urgency in which a task should be prioritize
  • If the task is within scope for our team

Based on the team's decision of prioritization and scope, we will leave a comment with our decision and move it into the proper column.

Tickets are placed into the Needs Discussion/Analysis column from To Triage if an Engineer or Product Manager is not present during Triage and there needs to be further discussion during a Board Refinement meeting. Anyone on the team can pull tickets into the Needs Discussion column or Triage but Future column on a rolling basis. The team's TPgM also schedules ad-hoc triage meetings when there is an influx in tickets.

Sprints:

Our team sprints are two working weeks and begin with Planning Meetings and end with Retrospectives. Once a sprint starts it is not advised that a Product Manager requests changes to what is being produced. It is the job of the Technical Program Manager to work with the team to adjust and re-prioritize tasks as necessary within the sprint to meet the criteria set during planning. At the end of each sprint, the entire team should discuss what was accomplished as it compares to the criteria agreed upon with the Product Manager and make necessary process adjustments.

Planning & Deep Dive Meetings:

Planning & Deep Dive Meetings are bi-weekly meetings attended by the team at the start of a sprint. During the planning meeting, the team identifies and prioritizes tasks that are to be completed for the two-week sprint. Tasks that will be worked on in the current sprint are to be represented on the Current Sprint board. Topics that needs further strategizing are also explored during this meetings. With excess time the team will schedule Demos to share prototypes and demonstrate what was build during the last sprint.

Board Refinement/Deep Dive Meetings:

Board Refinement Meetings are bi-weekly meetings attended by the team at the halfway point of each sprint. During Board Refinement, the team reevaluates the work they have committed to leveraging Phabricator and determines if more or less work should be taken on or if tasks should be reprioritized. If there is additional time in the meeting, the team will look at the Backlog Board and pull tickets into Upcoming as indicators it should be pulled into the next Sprint.

Retrospective Meetings:

Retrospective Meetings (retros) are bi-weekly meetings attended by the team at the end of each sprint. During Retrospectives, the team revisits action items from the last retrospective and reflects on the two-week sprint by collectively answering the following:

  • Did we meet our acceptance criteria?
  • What have we accomplished?
  • What worked?
  • What could we improve next time?
  • What was confusing?

Action items will be captured during the meeting and due dates and action owners will be assigned.

Google Calendar:

New members of the team will be added to the Editing team calendar. If a team member will be out of the office for four or more hours during a working day, they are to share it on the team calendar at the earliest indicator that they may be out. This practice will help the team manage expectations when estimating what work can get accomplished during planning. Team ceremonies will also be represented on the Google Calendar.

Google Hangout:

The team has three google hangouts:

  • Editing (Social): Instant message members of the Growth team with non-work related items
  • Editing (Work): Instant Message members of the Growth team about work related items
  • Humans of the Web: Instant message members of the Growth, Editing and Readers Web team

Gerrit:

The Editing team uses Gerrit, a code collaboration tool, for peer code review.  

Phabricator:

Phabricator is the organization’s task/issue tracking tool that houses the Editing team’s user stories, tasks, progress and prioritization of work.

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