[teampractices] A tool for keeping action items accountable?

[Bryan Davis]

On Tue, Apr 26, 2016 at 6:07 PM, Max Binder <mbinder at wikimedia.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 26, 2016 at 5:02 PM, Bryan Davis <bd808 at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>>
>> On Tue, Apr 26, 2016 at 5:49 PM, Max Binder <mbinder at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>> > Someone suggested Trello, since it is lightweight and connects with
>> > automation tools like IFTTT. There is concern about using another
>> > Phab-like
>> > tool, that isn't Phab, at the same time as Phab.
>>
>> Please, please, please don't bring back use of the Trello zombie. I
>> also don't understand at all how Trello is more "light weight" than
>> Phab.
>
> Yea, I think some folks simply prefer one tool to another based on personal
> comfort. I don't necessarily have a problem with folks using outside tools
> if it makes them more productive, so long as it doesn't
>
> alienate the team
> alienate the volunteers
> cause confusion by having multiple sources of truth (especially across
> tools)
>
> Ultimately, the problem I initially posed is probably best solved by
> personal accountability. If you like post-its on your wall, great. Notepad
> you can cross out? Sure! Trello board for personal tasks? Have at it. The
> issue that remains, however, is other folks seeing those to-dos...

For personal todo lists I agree that people should use whatever works
for them. My (probably uncalled for) anti-Trello outburst was based on
the assumption that you were looking for a standard tool and workflow
for a WMF team or teams. We picked Phabricator to replace Bugzilla at
least in part on the promise that it was a more flexible tool that
could replace the ever growing proliferation of task tracking systems
that the Foundation was acreeting as each team made personal choices
on how to manage their work. This caused a lot of pain for anyone who
worked on multiple teams or was just trying to keep track of issues
that crossed from team to team.

A team using Trello to track retrospective commitments is probably no
worse than the current state I would expect of them being bullet
points in a google doc somewhere. My visceral fear is that it would be
a gateway drug for some teams however to slide back into tracking real
projects outside of Phabricator.

Bryan
-- 
Bryan Davis              Wikimedia Foundation    <bd808 at wikimedia.org>
[[m:User:BDavis_(WMF)]]  Sr Software Engineer            Boise, ID USA
irc: bd808                                        v:415.839.6885 x6855