GitLab Digital Experience, 24 Aug 2023

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From YouTube: Digital Experience Retro - Aug 24, 2023

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Digital Experience: https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/marketing/digital-experience/

A

Okay, hi. Everyone uh welcome to digital experiences. Star iteration retro uh today is Thursday August 24th, uh we'll go over. Some of the things that went well and some things to improve on uh first for things that went well is Barker.

B

Yeah huge huge shout out to Megan.

B

um She did some amazing investigation collaboration with the team on that it grew to like what can we do to do some re-architecting of our project to improve performance and also get the CMS implemented for our nav, so just great job, and she spun up all the issues that we'll be working on to to implement that uh pass it to Javi to vocalize his point.

C

Is localized but I mean yeah, it's a battle. Body of work came in very chaotic and so I think he did a great job and, like you know, kind of giving us a password and.

D

Making me I.

C

Always feel like we're, like all going in the same direction in that thing, that's always nice to feel that we're all like aligned on that and some other comments. If pops on a localized.

E

Yeah also thank you Megan for uh leading in the contentful sessions. uh It feels like you've asking the right questions, so thank you for that.

B

I'll uh follow up again um hands up to Megan for figuring out the the MVC way we can move forward contentful for managing our content, while keeping our internationalized content intact.

B

um Just really good iterative approach to a door decisions which is awesome and I have another one for John. He got the live, previews working for blog posts, it's huge, so good job. There uh pass it over Nathan.

F

Yeah I know those contentful meetings for a lot of time, but honestly they were good and I'm glad that we front loaded them. So we did what four or five this week it's like 10 hours of I, don't even know doing prep time and all that kind of stuff. But.

D

No I'm glad we did.

G

F

uh I think we're ready to go for next iteration.

F

Nope and now it's me again, uh yeah for things to improve on um just a minor thing. I was just like trying to plan out some of the CMS like engineering work and there's just a lot. We have a lot of stuff like I'm, trying to look at the epics and see like what's going on. What are we currently working on I just found like we had over 160 epics, like 300 plus issues and there's over 50 Mrs, open and just like starting to get a little unwieldy and I?

F

Don't want it to turn into like what we had over in uh I. Don't know what our team name was back then we weren't growth. We were anyway, there's like over a thousand issues open. So just like a mental note, like maybe I, don't know every couple months, let's go back and close up some old, FX and stuff like that.

F

um And then I guess I have the other one, this one's going to be controversial but uh yeah as we plan out road maps because I'm a little nervous like we're, given an opportunity, we're given a quarter to get the CMS up and running and I really want to make sure that we do it properly.

F

um Because who knows you know in the next quarter? Are we gonna have time or the next yeah?

F

Are we gonna have time to you know, continue the implementation things that we missed and so I've just been looking at, like our burn down, charts I know we don't really use them for anything, but we're completing like 40 of our boards, which you know we can take it as it is like it could just be issues that we don't even get to, but I'm just nervous that if we're trying to follow a roadmap and we're completing 40 of our issues, or at least that we've taken like how are we gonna gauge, where we're at on that roadmap and so I, don't know I'm just saying I'm not saying like we're not doing enough work, I'm saying why don't we take way less work and then almost pull stuff in just so, we can say like this is for sure getting done in these two weeks so that, when we're planning, we can say like okay, this next iteration.

F

We know for sure that we're going to complete 90 of this- um that's just where I'm at like the waypoints, all that stuff I, don't really care about. uh I just want to be able to look at you know an iteration and say we're going to complete all of this, so that we're ready for the next iteration.

F

uh Lauren your next comment.

B

Yeah I, what what value um are those burn down? Charts gonna have for the team. Is that something we want to do uh looking forward to get out of them? Yeah.

F

If we can represent them in a different way, um it's just like how do we know right now, where we're at on that roadmap like if we're looking at those issues, do we know that it's just hard.

B

I'll follow up with, like the three is um I I thought that our fiscal year 24 Q3, like that's the road map that we're we're working towards.

F

And we can gauge progress by filtering issues to know where we're at like I guess how do we know where we're at in that in that roadmap? Like you know, we want to implement CMS for the next couple of weeks. Then we want to you know blog and all that kind of stuff.

F

um Where do we know where we're at on that, like Journey, I, guess I'm worried that we're gonna have stuff that gets left over because then I don't know if we're gonna have time in future iterations to go through it again or future quarters to go and correct it.

F

I could be wrong like there could be another way to to visualize this I just want to make sure that we we get everything done because I'm worried that we're gonna have a slippers thing from the past, where we didn't manage to get it done in a quarter, and then it took us. You know maybe another year before we got around to to revamping and fixing the things that we didn't have time to do.

F

um But there's.

C

F

Know who's next on the comment, lists, Megan, I, think or Laura.

A

Yeah yeah I'll just vocalize my point, but um a lot of our work. Ever since I've joined the PM team, I see now I see the struggles of just kind of the a lot of the back and forth. You know events team in particular there's a lot of stuff. They just want to get right, um I think Phil's, a kind of made a joke, but it's right that they should be the first ones on on the CMS.

A

um So they can make these changes themselves, um but they like to reopen issues that were already closed in a previous iteration and, like you know, the process isn't really great for our up or down.

A

Charts um like I know that you are lucky that you get to kind of decide, you're doing icons, and then you keep your head down and you do your icons, but like I, yeah, I'm, constantly fighting with the content team or asking for illustrations or or whatever it's just and the deadlines or due dates tend to be not lined up with our Sprint, like I, have an issue that I received yesterday.

A

That's due on Tuesday right, and so it kind of crosses over to Sprint, and it's just gonna stay open until it's you know Tuesday, um so I don't know like it's, not a perfect like the burn down charts or the completion percentage is not like a perfect visualization of of our team. You know, you know yeah yeah,.

F

Then how can we say like where are we in on this roadmap?

F

Because we have that thing? You know it's like the dates and the times like I just want to make sure that we don't fall behind I guess and how do we like if I don't know Michael or someone else wants to look down and be like hey? What's going on with this project, where we at? How can they tell where we're at um and even for ourselves like I would like to know? Oh look we're behind we're ahead.

G

Sorry uh I thought: that's why we did this collaborative Dex, iteration, release and and and stuff. So we all know where we're at and it's not perfect, because you do have to watch a video or be present for a video to do it. But I mean that's where you would get.

G

The newest update is exactly from the engineer as it works on it at towards the end of the iteration.

B

We, the in my manager, elevated course this morning I did. um We do check in with the the team halfway through the quarter to get a status update on what the okays are. Okrs are and progress, and if they're, you have any concerns like you, don't have to wait until the mid-quarter check-in, like please voice them like either transparently in our slack Channel or directly um to your your leader, um I recommend doing that.

D

I would like I I, haven't seen the release video for the engineers, but like in previous experiences, when I've done. This I do agree with what Nathan is saying, like you're a concern, but I don't know that the Sprint like to Laura's Point, like there's a lot of work that the team is doing outside of this. Even though that we know this is our key Focus I, wonder if an option would be like during those release, meetings, Justin or Lauren, pull up the spreadsheet and then like line by line where you are like.

D

Maybe just do a red, yellow green of the items that are supposed to be in progress, and then maybe that's some like a summary that we can provide Michael I'm, just like of like here's, where we expect it to be in terms of like the content, migration or page migration or whatever it is, and it's on track not on track whatever. Just so, it's like a high level and we're not like so nitpicky on, like where we need to be um I, find at least that level of visibility would be important.

F

D

Perfect does that help yeah.

F

I, like that, I just I want to be able to to go in and just see where we're at and if we're on track or not on track, and so I just find it right.

F

Now, it's really hard like, like I, said I was going through all the ethics there's like there's so many there's just so much stuff everywhere, like I just want to see what's going on and where we're at uh I know we all kind of know because we're in it every single day, but um the quarters come quick and then kind of going back on like a little burn down thing, I mean if this.

D

Is kind of like a.

F

Huge, if, if we're not really tracking anything, then what's the point of iterations like I know, we take work for Tui chunks, but if we're saying that two chunks isn't accurate, isn't an accurate representation of time, then why bother with time? Why not just have assigned issues to people instead of worrying about you know, keeping these boards and and all this.

F

Because in iteration, like the whole purpose of it is to say what you did in the iteration and to show work, but if it's an ongoing like fluid thing and we're not working, two chunks then could just be. This is what we've done in the last two weeks.

F

I'm not trying to, like you know, spin everything up on its head, but I, just wanna maybe find some optimizations.

G

Or maybe we make our iterations longer I, don't know if that's an option, but I mean to your point. If we're not able to finish our work in two week, chunks and that's something that's happening repeatedly, then maybe we just need more than two weeks.

F

Or just don't even use time like.

H

Yeah so Nathan is this something you kind of notice like in previous weeks as well or just is this kind of like the.

F

Yeah, so we yeah we're doing really well when we focus on that like what was that a couple of months ago, six months ago, and then we just kind of fell off and it's been like a downward Trend um and so I guess. My thinking is if, if we're still doing iterations, then then, what's the point of not tracking metrics.

F

Which I'm like I'm, open to anything? um It's just I, don't know it feels like we're doing this iteration thing over and over again and and we're not always completing it.

F

But that's because, like you said things pop up, we have things that pop up on Friday that are due Tuesday and it's like these are multi-iteration issues where I'd be curious to say, remove the iteration and just say you're assigned to it like you're assigned to the work that you're currently working on and then all we have to do is just instead of filtering by iteration, just filter by person and say this is all the work that this person is working on.

H

I need to bring this sorry go ahead. No I, just I think bringing this to light.

H

Nathan is important because now we're all very cognizant of it, and maybe this is something we saw about the planning level I, don't necessarily agree to get rid of a 2d iteration like I, really like these chunks of time, and it's like I commit to get this done in two weeks versus like if you just assign it to someone I fear, I, don't know, there's procrastination and like someone might not know, what's more of a priority than something else right. I think priority is a a big thing.

H

um I know like due dates like they push me and they put the fire under my butt to get it done now. um I think if we're all a cognizant like okay, are we on track? Are we not um I think for this iteration like there was a lot of Spike work and there's a ton of issues we had in the backlog and then like? We had our planning meeting and like they were still in our backlog. Right like no one.

H

We didn't assign any leftovers to anyone, we're all kind of just maybe assuming hey someone's gonna grab this but I think we should take these planning meetings and be like all right. Well, we still have four or five issues in our backlog. Can someone commit to taking those right now and if it sounds like we can't, then maybe that's a sign. We had too much in our backlog like we should solve this at the beginning of the iteration and not like two days before a release sink we're like oh man, we have like 10 left.

H

F

Yeah I agree like, and going back to that like two week um like it is nice having like a soft deadline like there's, almost a sense of urgency. It's like I want to get this done and there's a part of me that thinks that, but then there's a problem that looks at our board and we're at 40. So I'm like is that actually working like? Are we seeing that two weeks and being like?

F

We have to get stuff done by the end of these two weeks um anyway, I was just trying to raise a discussion like I'm, not expecting anything to change, or you know make decisions right now, but um just as we go forward and we start to have tighter time frames, maybe to do things. I just want to make sure we're on track and I want to make sure we're getting done.

F

But we need to get done um and, like like I said, my biggest suggestion is just like take less because things are going to pop up in an iteration just take less and then, when you have space grab more. um It's a rather like under commit and over deliver than over commit and under deliver.

D

I think you also just need to be cautious of that. Like you said, there's we really want to focus everything in this quarter so, like I, think Megan to your point, maybe instead of iterations, an alternative is also like what are the milestones and then within each issue just like assign it a due date um and then, if you're, we're consistently missing those due dates, and it's like okay, like there's an issue. What is that issue and to Laura's Point like yeah? If it's events then like?

D

That is something that, like please bring that up to Justin Lauren and I am like what else can we do from an organizational point of view to help support and make space for this work? Because we know the CMS is going to unlock the events team to work much quicker so like we'd, rather focus on getting this right and making everything work here.

D

um If that means like there's some little tweaks on an events page that we're gonna miss.

A

Yeah I think I. Guess there's like two different types of work that our team does right. Like CMS work, we are choosing our spirit like we're. We're committing to work like I. Think that that stuff Nathan is right that, like you know, we we should keep our two-week increments. It's a really nice Cadence for our team. um We should be giving status updates that work should be 80 complete like that's.

A

We should be aiming for like good, looking burn down, charts on on the work that we control, but the pieces that are like out of our control a little bit um that rely on other teams. Maybe if there's a way to exclude that work from our traditional two-week burn down, chart stats, I, don't know I I, don't know how boards work but like if, if those can just not count, and if I you know, I get a ton of events work this Sprint I'm going to take less CMS work.

A

You know like I'm, going to address my Sprint accordingly, um like Nathan was saying you know, take on less work or whatever, but um yeah. If, if we want to just show use our metrics the burn down, chart metrics and whatever completion rate, but it only refers to the work that we have like set for ourselves and committed to. Instead of um the other team work, I, don't know, I, don't know if there's a way to discern between the two boards and charts, but yeah no.

G

Reagan I, don't like it.

A

I

Think this is something that we will maybe look back at hopefully like this is the goal look back at after the CMS isn't implemented, and it's all everyone's using it. It might be less like you know, knocking wood and hopefully like whatever the events team, but not calling Laura every single day or Mateo or Miguel.

I

You know it should be something that they can support themselves and we can focus on bigger things.

I

But I think to Nathan's point is that when we look at our burn, like almost it's like a large project burned down, because we know that we can spin up a page relatively quick, you know if we have all that if we have everything we need, we can spin it up when we talk about like the CMS or refactoring slippers or even migrating customer case studies over to you know, by experience like we can visually see the work that needed to get done and we need to.

I

We need to make sure that we, like, as a team like work towards this completion Point um in customer case. There was also like a bad example, because we didn't it was a very loose deadline. We were saying: oh get it done when you can get it done CMS, we have a hard deadline, so when we'd rather not have we want to make sure we can visualize the progress we don't want to come to.

I

You know October 20th and we're not cool. We have three pages of the CMS or our experience completely done. You know two thousand to do, including the blog. Well, this is going to be a long two weeks. That's not what we want. So we make sure we conduct show that progress on that big work, we're working towards.

F

That's a little more elegant. Thank you.

A

My best friend Miguel was typing very quickly. You want to vocalize.

E

um I think that uh the burn down charts uh are nice to look at, uh but not like, really commit because of all the issues and stuff, but I've I've done it in the past that, uh for example, by the end of uh week, one of the iteration I would like to have like some percentage of my work already done and burn down.

E

Charts uh are good for that, so yeah I I haven't done it like in gitlab and I I, don't know if it's by team or by developer or both, but in in the case for like individual developer I think it could be useful in my case, so yeah just want to vocalize that.

A

If I do that, can I like settle my issues to like complete, be like 100 and then, like you know, reopen them again, just a little confidence booster anyway,.

E

A

Good yeah uh cool any last thoughts. I guess we have some some more clarity on on that process and I guess when we do our spring planning meetings, we can talk about it more too um yeah I'll! Stop the recording, we're all good.

A

Okay! Okay, see you next time.