Go-ipfs: Improving how we work - choose two

[eingenito]

Context

We took a couple of weeks to solicit input about what we'd like to improve, and some unavoidable conversation about how we'd do it in https://github.com/ipfs/go-ipfs/issues/5781. I've tried, with absolute impartiality, to group our comments and now:

• Vote for two challenges/comments - just thumbs up 'em. Other emoji will not be tallied.
• We'll take the top two, propose some solutions, and if there's obvious consensus we'll just try them, otherwise we may vote again.

Guidelines

I'd like to try to steer solutions towards those that are practical now and with only modest effort. Some of these are (or related to) complex challenges; but let's look for improvements that we can trial and discard quickly if we don't like them.

[eingenito]

Impromptu team communication

stebalien - I wish there were some way to flag ourselves as busy/available. Going to IRC and just shouting into the ether hoping someone's listening can be a bit isolating. [also concerned about the distracting nature of lots of notifications]

eingenito - I wish there were a more chatty place where just go-ipfs development was discussed. [interested in more conversation]

djdv - I do think how we communicate on a regular basis, is an important thing to focus on, and would like to discuss this at some point somewhere. To me subtle changes in our communication patterns and tools could have a big impact. [mentions risk of tribal knowledge and how it might be mitigated by discipline]

magik2k - IMO this is definitely worth trying at some point. [mentions experiences with Teamspeak, and also is concerned about tribal knowledge]

DonaldTsang - [Discord is an option]

kevina - [mentions risk of tribal knowledge in emphasizing voice/video communications]

[eingenito]

Streamlining PR review

hannahhoward - I wish we could schedule a face-to-face over video to resolve some disputes that happen in PRs. [kevina mentions concerns about cost of arranging sync time, and the lack of sharable artifacts]

[eingenito]

PR review standards

hannahhoward - I wish we had clear standard for when a PR is ready to merge. [mentions that merging is restricted in go-ipfs and that's probably wise. kevina and DonaldTsang suggest a lead-maintainer arrangement for PR review in subprojects.]

[eingenito]

Github issues are bad for discussions

warpfork - I wish we used github issues less for discussion. [mentions many good reasons. eingenito agrees]

[eingenito]

Tracking work priorities

eingenito - I wish we had a place where we could easily track progress on our highest priority initiatives. [mentions 'meta' issues]

eingenito - I wish I understood which issues are the ones that should be worked on.

hannahhoward - I wish we marked issues as "good first time issue" for first time contributors [we do have difficulty:easy which might be the same thing]

DonaldTsang - [mentions Kanban or similar for tracking work]

eingenito - I wish I knew what to do with all the old issues in go-ipfs. [they slow down waffle boards]

[eingenito]

Make development accessible

hannahhoward - I wish every repo has a really solid readme or a docs folder that provided a general guide to the code for getting up and running [DonaldTsang suggests establishing standards for design and issue docs]

hannahhoward - I wish that we did regular reviews of code for readability and comprehensibility [wants to emphasize refactoring for clarity]

[eingenito]

Up-front implementation review

eingenito - I wish that there were an established place and process for discussing work to be done prior to PRs. [mentions lack of story writing or backlog grooming]]

[eingenito]

Where to post issues?

hannahhoward - I wish it were clear if we should post issues for a sub package in the main repository or in the sub package.

kevina - In addition to not knowing where to post issues it makes keeping up with all that is going on rather difficult [brief discussion of pros and cons of posting in main repo]

[eingenito]

@djdv, @kevina, @hannahhoward, @michaelavila, @Kubuxu, @schomatis, @keks, @warpfork - When you have minute please read/skim over the issue and thumbs up the two summarized process problems that you'd like to pursue incremental solutions to first. Don't overthink it, it's low risk. But voting is fun, and it's your civic duty.

[eingenito]

Thanks for voting everyone! I'm starting two new issues for our two highest priorities.