linaro-project-management team mailing list archive

[James Westby <james.westby@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 16 Aug 2011 17:24:34 -0300, Christian Robottom Reis <kiko@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I'm fine with this, but let's not lose track of the fact that this is a
> hack! In other words, we probably want to figure out what the link to
> the external card URL actually means, conceptually, and figure out if
> there is a matching concept on the Launchpad side.

I don't think there is as it stands, but I agree with the sentiment, and
it's worth another look.

> > For this we really need an API for the cards. Does kanbantool have an
> > API? This is a risk.
> 
> Just to confirm, you want an API to be able to run a health check on it.
> Is that right? Or is this for replicating the card details on
> status.linaro.org (to provide a public view of them)?

We can't provide a view showing the status of implementation of cards in
the current lane if we don't know which cards are in the current lane.

The healthcheck will be part of this I think, but it's more fundamental
than that. Without this we can only really show information on the
engineering blueprints.

> > The page will include the expected milestone for each part of the work.
> 
> For the blueprints linked to the card, in other words?

Yeah. I was meaning that on the card level an engineering blueprint is a
chunk of work, and so we can say "in October you'll have this useful
thing for this, and then in November you'll have this other useful
thing"

> Will I be able to look at any lane (by hacking the URL, or maybe through
> a set of convenience links)? 

I hope so.

>Is there any explicit 'initialize a line'
> script you'll need to run?

I hope not.

We'll have to use some conventions on the lane names I think, so don't
get creative with them and we should be ok.

(we can likely provide a view for each lane, but we're likely to need to
know what dates that lane applies to at some point)

Note that I haven't actually looked at the API yet or thought much about
how we will implement this, so I may change my answers here.

> > Milestone view
> > --------------
> > 
> > I'm not sure what we want to do here yet, it requires some more thought.
> > 
> > Estimate: ?
> 
> Maybe the Launchpad milestone page is enough for the first cut. What do
> you think?

I think so, Alexander disagrees.

> > Past work
> > ---------
> > 
> > The lane views will be available for completed lanes so that you can see
> > what has been delivered.
> > 
> > We may also want to produce aggregate information to show things like
> > things delivered in the past 6 months for a particular sponsor.
> > 
> > Estimate: 2 days to provide something simple, another 3 days to provide
> > things like filtering by sponsor.
> 
> This is a nice to have, IMO -- not critical for a first cut.

Ok.

> > Launchpad milestones
> > ====================
> > 
> > I contacted Francis about whether we will be able to change the
> > milestone rules on Launchpad, and am awaiting a response.
> > 
> > This is important if we wish to push some of the monthly visualisation
> > off on to Launchpad, otherwise we may be forced to provide the view in
> > status.linaro.org.
> > 
> > This is a significant risk for this project.
> > 
> > Estimate: 0 days, assuming that we can change this and the LP team does
> > it.
> 
> Do you want me to talk it over in more detail with Francis?

He's apparently back on Thursday, so we should get an answer this week
on the initial thing. I think that we should likely go over this with
him, especially with the other things that Alexander is requesting for
Launchpad related to this.

> > AJAX workitem editing
> > =====================
> > 
> > While this would be nice to have, it isn't required as it will still be
> > possible to edit workitems in the current manner.
> > 
> > A prototype in greasemonkey is likely the best way to approach this.
> 
> I wonder if anybody in Ubuntu Platform has ever tried building one.

Cunning, I'll try planting the seed.

> > Bonus features
> > ==============
> > 
> > I'm going to defer looking at this for now, except to stay that using
> > Launchpad milestone view for the team pages is apparently contreversial,
> > and so we should discuss that further.
> 
> Really? Should I open a new thread?

Yes please. It's Alexander I've heard this from, and he said he would
discuss it with you. A new thread for this would help, I'm going to have
to invest significant time unpicking this one already.

> > So, it looks like we can take this on, with Mattias starting on it once
> > he finished hwpacks v2. Assuming we want this in two months, this
> > presents some risk, unless we have a backup plan for the next connect.
> 
> I can also lend a strong hand here as I am blocking out some serious
> time to get this transition finished off by September. If you want to
> share some of the work plan with me I will help out.

That's great, thanks. You will be invaluable in making the transition
happen, which is important to Infrastrucuture as we are taking on the
implementation. I'll be sure to stay in communication with you.

> > So, I think we have the following to do from here:
> > 
> >   * james_w to go over the details again to try and find other work that
> >     has to happen and so will affect the estimates, and to look for
> >     other risks. This will particularly focus on milestones as that was
> >     ignored above.
> >   * james_w, joey, kiko to work with LP to get a satisfactory resolution
> >     to the milestones issue, and come up with an alternative plan if
> >     that isn't going to happen in time.
> >   * kiko, would you look into whether kanbantool has an API? If it
> >     doesn't then we can discuss alternative approaches.
> > 
> > Now it would be great to have a system in which I could enter all the
> > work, split it up and estimate it :-)
> 
> Hey, want a board for your own use? It's free to add new boards at the
> rate we are currently paying kanbantool.com for.

I've been considering it for a while, and put the stakeholders project
in to a leankitkanban board, but it's not much use for my own needs.

I think it could be good for the team, but that would have to be with
their buy in. I'll talk it over with them and come back to you if we
decide we want one.

Thanks,

James