general pm tips

general-pm-tips.md

+## GitLab Building Blocks
+
+- **projects** in **namespaces** (aka groups)
+- **issues**
+  - organized in **milestones**
+  - categorized by **labels**
+
+(yes it's only 5! that simple!)
+
+## Group/Project Structure
+
+- base this on teams! (functional/organizational structure)
+  - (for non-software teams!)
+- **because notifications** (emails)
+  - (these are your **triggers** to consume/act/participate!)
+- **pro tip:** use **meta** project!
+  - (strategy) for entire namespace / group
+  - inter-project relations or whatnot
+  - overarching / overlapping / across all projects
+- **pro tip:** everything can easily be moved
+  - projects between namespaces
+  - issues between projects
+  - GitLab automatically creates redirects!
+
+## GitLab Issues
+
+- aka task aka todo
+  - focus, i.e. ideally one issue per **actionable** task
+  - i.e. stay on topic, no drive-by comments
+- use mention, assignee, due
+- **description:** describe what the problem/feature is; no solutions
+- **comments:** describe/discuss possible solutions; use meeting or votes
+  (thumbs up/down) to decide on solution
+- cross-referencing via `#issue-id` and `!merge-request-id`
+- notification levels: who has what on which project / group;
+  - in general: start with **watch**, reduce if you realize it doesn't fit what
+    you're working on **at the moment**
+  - stakeholder: **watch**
+  - interest: **participate**
+  - boss: **on mention**
+  - **avoid disabling** notifications or you won't be kept in the loop
+- **pro tip:** want opinion / discuss in meeting? use **discuss** label!
+- **pro tip:** don't bother with issue boards in the beginning, especially with
+  few issues investing time in issue boards is wasted effort
+
+## Milestones / Roadmap
+
+- use to communicate **strategic** goals
+  - define your win conditions
+  - assign someone responsible
+    - responsible doesn't mean do all the work, but delegate and trigger others
+    - best case: someone who intrinsically cares about the goals
+- assign issues to milestones
+- decide on roadmap with team, assign start/end dates
+- **pro tip:** use **strategy** label, have **strategy** meetings, i.e.
+  separate from **discuss** meetings, to discuss mid-term and long-term goals
+
+## Group/Project Access
+
+- visibility: **public**, **internal**, **private**, (invite)
+- decide about general openness, models include
+  - everything **public**
+  - everything **private**
+  - mostly **private**, with some **internal** (like **meta** project) /
+    **public** parts to talk to company / world
+- roles: guest, reporter, developer, maintainer, owner; check GitLab Help for
+  details
+
+## (efficient use of) Labels
+
+- kinds of labels
+  - action: blocked, **discuss**, consulting, coop, strategy
+  - status: duplicate, in progress, triage, wontfix
+  - category: bug, consolidation, doc, `$your_domain_category`
+    - useful for overview and priority
+    - specialization within team vs spreading knowledge with **coop**
+- you will recognize them naturally
+  - just start if you recognize something repeating
+  - ask us to consult at 42 open issues (or when you lose overview)
+- don't overuse and overindulge yourself
+- don't label if milestone, it's already categorized and filterable
+- don't label if subgroup or subproject, e.g. don't label **blah** if there is
+  **blah** group or project
+- label **if** you need a filter that can't otherwise be expressed
+
+## use case: how to get rid of meetings
+
+(the mother of all GitLab pro tips)
+
+- use **discuss** label for meetings
+- only talk about those issues
+- write decision in comment, `/unlabel ~discuss`
+  - no need for separate meeting protocols!
+- end meeting when no more **discuss** issues
+- if there's nothing to **discuss**, cancel meeting
+- if you can get everyone to **actively discuss** in issue comments, you can
+  **get rid of most meetings**
+- if so, use **discuss** and `@group` to drive consensus/quorum and use voting
+  emotes (thumbs up/down)
+
+## Decide in your Group
+
+- want to use **discuss** label for meeting agenda?
+  - better preparation by looking through **discuss** issues
+  - no meeting if no **discuss** issues
+  - better focus in meeting; less off-topic
+- sharing responsibility, models include
+  - shared everything, esp. for **private** and small teams
+  - small team of *invested* **maintainers** / stakeholders
+    - quorum has to sign off on **all** changes
+    - **maintainers** coach **developers** / **contributors**
+  - (everyone else with access is **guest** or **reporter**)
+- merge/resolve strategies; decide on **each** project
+  - consensus/quorum (should be default)
+  - benevolent dictator (especially if single maintainer)
+
+## Summary
+
+- better than email
+  - no information lost
+  - cross-referencing!
+- it's waaay better than the most misused software ever (which is Excel BTW)
+
+## Follow-up Meeting TOPs
+
+- we only discuss advanced stuff **when** you need it
+- schedule when:
+  - you lose overview: labels, issue boards, milestones
+  - you want to automate things: CI/CD, publish to Nextcloud, issue templates