[kde-community] Help for sprint guidance/organization

[Martin Klapetek]

Hey,

so I haven't really organized any sprints myself but have participated
in many, some good, some less good. So here's my personal take
on this speaking from experience:

* always make everyone feel like they belong to the group and to the sprint

* if it's a random group that have never met before, sometimes a short
introductory
round might be nice, also kind of an icebreaker

* have a list of tasks for grabs and have everyone report on their progress,
at least once a day, perhaps before the end of the day as well as state
what their plans are, ask questions (even obvious ones, they will feel more
included)

* that lists of tasks can be created at the beginning with a brainstorming
of "what I want to do and what I would like to see done"

* coordinate often. The worst part on a sprint is if you're sitting there,
unsure
what to do so you just do your own thing about which nobody cares/asks

* have smaller breakout sessions (when a smaller group separates and
discusses some particular issues) from time to time, make other people
lead those breakouts

* have fun as a group - restaurants in the evening serve well, especially
if you get different table setup each time (so different people talk to
different
people every night). This one should be treated carefully though because
restaurants are not sponsored, so beware of picking an expensive restaurant
and then people ending up with appetizers only cause they can't afford food.
Related to that is a quick poll of "where should we eat tonight?" so that
people
also have a say (and again feel included in the sprint)

* it's nice to have at least one night of beers and pizza out of
restaurant, imho
it's better socializing (and a well socialized group means better working
group)

* sometimes a sprint competition of some kind can be nice too, can serve
as a motivation. For example who will have most closed bugs at the end of
the
sprint (have an up-to-date progress somewhere big and visible), just make
sure
that competition is not the center of the sprint, it needs to be just an
additional
fun (so that those not winning won't feel like failures)

That's all I can think of right now, I'll add more if something comes to
mind :)

Cheers
-- 
Martin Klapetek | KDE Developer
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