<div dir="ltr">To piggy back on this, the mobile web team also has a rule that all decisions be communicated on the team's mailing list. This ensures that /everyone/ is, or can be, aware of decisions that have been made, and also archives the decision in a way that is easy to refer back to in the future. This is particularly useful for remote staff when decisions get made either in a group of three or otherwise in some ad-hoc fashion to which other members of the team may not be privy. </div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Sep 17, 2013 at 10:39 AM, Tomasz Finc <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tfinc@wikimedia.org" target="_blank">tfinc@wikimedia.org</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">CC'ing (<a href="mailto:teampractices@lists.wikimedia.org">teampractices@lists.wikimedia.org</a>) so that their aware of this.<br>
<br>
This is what has enabled the mobile web team to have a balanced<br>
decision making process that shares ownership across design, product,<br>
engineering. This removes a lot of the asynchronous coordination you<br>
would have to do after making an individual decision.<br>
<br>
It's not always easy to get three people so good luck on the +1.<br>
<br>
I'm really eager to see how it turns out and do lets us know on the<br>
team practices list.<br>
<br>
--tomasz<br>
<br>
<br>
On Tue, Sep 17, 2013 at 10:24 AM, Terry Chay <<a href="mailto:tchay@wikimedia.org">tchay@wikimedia.org</a>> wrote:<br>
> Hopefully I sent this to Nick Wilson :-)<br>
><br>
> First of all, make sure all of you are on the e2 mailing list, so I won't<br>
> spam you twice again. :-)<br>
><br>
> …<br>
><br>
> Tomasz can correct me if I'm wrong :-)<br>
><br>
> The mobile team has a process point which they call the "Rule of Three."<br>
> Originally, this came from Tomasz and Howie's observation that discussions<br>
> involving three people have a different dynamic than discussions involving<br>
> two. But the way it was adopted by the mobile web team was that when a<br>
> discussion was going on with respect to mobile features or process, to make<br>
> sure there was one representative from three departments in the discussion<br>
> before consensus is reached. That usually meant Maryana (Product Manager),<br>
> Jon Robson (Engineering Tech Lead), and Vibha (Design) would get together<br>
> and hash things out by consensus.<br>
><br>
> …<br>
><br>
> I think a variation of this idea is worth adopting. Whenever there is a<br>
> discussion going on in Flow in one team, to make sure one of three areas is<br>
> represented there. For instance if an engineer has an idea for a new<br>
> feature, or a reinterpretation of an existing one that is beyond just<br>
> completing development, just make sure to find at least one person in<br>
> Product and one person in Design before proceeding/resolving/having the<br>
> autonomy to do anything. If you can't drag the missing person in, just ping<br>
> them on IRC on #wikimedia-corefeatures and relay the discussion there.<br>
><br>
> The variation is that I'd like community/product analysis to be a part of<br>
> this. From a logistical standpoint, it'd not practical to turn this into a<br>
> rule of 4, so I'd like it to make three (plus one). This means the rule of<br>
> three to resolve, and the missing leg would be informed as soon as is<br>
> reasonable (and can provide their input then).<br>
><br>
> I think this will make sure ideas achieve consensus before proceeding as<br>
> well as create group autonomy. To the former, we don't want a discussion to<br>
> occur without being informed by each of the expertise of our focus areas. To<br>
> the latter, we don't want the Flow team to operate from the top-down (from<br>
> the director-level), a good idea can come from anywhere.<br>
><br>
> Let's see how that goes.<br>
><br>
> To my knowledge the focus areas are:<br>
><br>
> Product<br>
> ======<br>
> Maryana Pinchuk<br>
> (Howie Fung)<br>
><br>
> Engineering<br>
> =========<br>
> Erik Bernhardson<br>
> S Page<br>
> Matthias Mullie<br>
> Andrew Garret<br>
> Benny Situ (he will move up to #3 after he's onboarded in Flow)<br>
> (I do not count!)<br>
><br>
> Design<br>
> ======<br>
> Brandon Harris<br>
> May Galloway<br>
> Vibha Bamba<br>
> Jared Zimmerman<br>
><br>
> Community<br>
> =========<br>
> Oliver Keyes<br>
> Nick Wilson<br>
> (community members to follow?)<br>
><br>
> Whenever you are in a conversation about Flow other than just completing an<br>
> already agreed assigned task (MVP, the backlog, a new feature/design, etc.,<br>
> not just doing the design, development, or editing Mingle as previously<br>
> agreed), make sure you have three people from different areas before<br>
> proceeding or the discussion didn't happen. After anything is resolved,<br>
> inform someone from the missing focus area as soon as possible.<br>
><br>
> Feel free to change the people in the focus areas (or opt-out), but let's<br>
> try it this way and see how it goes. We can tweak it later if it isn't<br>
> working out, but I think it's a good idea worth testing out.<br>
><br>
> Take care,<br>
><br>
> terry<br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
> terry chay 최태리<br>
> Director of Features Engineering<br>
> Wikimedia Foundation<br>
> “Imagine a world in which every single human being can freely share in the<br>
> sum of all knowledge. That's our commitment.”<br>
><br>
> p: <a href="tel:%2B1%20%28415%29%20839-6885%20x6832" value="+14158396885">+1 (415) 839-6885 x6832</a><br>
> m: <a href="tel:%2B1%20%28408%29%20480-8902" value="+14084808902">+1 (408) 480-8902</a><br>
> e: <a href="mailto:tchay@wikimedia.org">tchay@wikimedia.org</a><br>
> i: <a href="http://terrychay.com/" target="_blank">http://terrychay.com/</a><br>
> w: <a href="http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Tychay" target="_blank">http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Tychay</a><br>
> aim: terrychay<br>
><br>
<br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br>Arthur Richards<div>Software Engineer, Mobile</div><div>[[User:Awjrichards]]</div><div>IRC: awjr</div><div>+1-415-839-6885 x6687</div>
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