Talk:Education/Wikipedia Education Collaborative/Tasks

Names and Dates

I think tracking that names and dates on tasks is important. This shows who is suggesting tasks, who is claiming tasks, how old tasks are, and how long they take to complete. Maybe we should be tracking as many as 4 dates: suggested on, claimed on, needed by, and completed on? Or maybe that's just too much tracking? We could simplify the table with fewer columns if suggesters and claimers add their name to the suggested by and claimed by columns with 4 tildes ~~~~. Then the magical MediaWiki software adds both name, username, and time/date stamp to just one cell, saving space, and making tracking that much more accurate. The problem is that this isn't possible, as far as I can tell, using VisualEditor; this must be done in source code. The point is that using first names only and manually adding dates probably isn't a best practice, nor is it the wiki way. I hope that this suggestion is useful. Best, Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 15:16, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

@AKoval (WMF): I agree that using built-in features like the four tildes (~~~~) makes sense, and it's frustrating that it doesn't currently work on VE. We're also trying to use a wiki for task management, which is also swimming against the current, so to speak. Wikis are not made for task management. Which is why I'm excited about the possibility of piloting Collab tasks on Phabricator.

To that end, we have a new Phabricator project for the Education Collab. I'm hoping we will pilot this for transparent, open task management with the Collab. Now that we have our own space (and workboards!) this may solve some of the issues like names and dates, which should be captured automatically.

In short, I would hesitate to revamp the wiki-page and on-wiki process since we may be jumping ship to Phabricator for tasks in the very near future. TFlanagan-WMF (talk) 15:34, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

+1 Happy to see this Phabricator pilot project getting off the ground, Tighe; thanks for leading it. Maybe a new Collab task could be copying over the content that is currently in the wikitable onto the Phabricator board? /me loves project and task management :) Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 17:32, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

Phabricator Barnstar

	Wikimedia Education Newsletter Contributor Barnstar
	We appreciate your tireless efforts in writing for the education newsletter. Thank you for sharing your valuable experiences with the Wikimedia movement.

This Phabricator pilot seems off to such a great start that methinks we may soon need a Phabricator Barnstar! :) Pinging Samir since he developed such a nice one for the education newsletter. :) Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 05:14, 29 September 2015 (UTC)

I couldn't help myself. I made a Phabricator task for creating said barnstar. :) See: Phab:T114077. Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 05:18, 29 September 2015 (UTC)

Hi Anna, what a nice idea. I've claimed the task. Will work on it very soon! --Selsharbaty (WMF) (talk) 02:15, 8 October 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, Samir! :) Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 21:06, 8 October 2015 (UTC)

Y Completed the Barnstar. Please find it here and let me know if you have any comments.

Continue the on-wiki task list?

The Collab's on-wiki task list has become, well, kind of a beast. It is only easily editable with VisualEditor, as noted in the lead. And even the new archives subpage help only somewhat.

There was a question about this from new Collab member Liang on Phabricator here. And there is a related Phabricator task here: Phab:T114572.

As per discussion in today's online Collab meeting -- see notes here -- I am starting this thread as a lightweight RfC to encourage all Collab members to comment about their preference of using only Phabricator, keeping the on-wiki task list, or maintaining both, etc. This way it will be a transparent, consensus-based, group decision.

Please indicate your preference below using one of the following templates:  Support {{support}} or  Oppose {{oppose}} or  Neutral {{neutral}}.

Thank you Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 20:51, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

•  Support I support deprecating the on-wiki task list and using Phabricator only. We should link to the project's workboard in the current tasks section of the main Collab page, and add the green 'create' and blue 'view' buttons as are shown now in the {{notice}} on the task page. Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 20:52, 5 October 2015 (UTC)
•  Support Echoing Anna's suggestions here. We should make sure all Collab members are onboarded onto using Phabricator as they join the Collab (our team can help with that), but getting everybody onto Phabricator shouldn't take more than another month or so, I think. Also, the link Anna pasted here seems not to work, so here is the link to the Collab project on Phabricator. FKoudijs (WMF) (talk) 20:58, 5 October 2015 (UTC)
•  Support As soon as we are sure that all members are on Phabricator and have no problem with using it, I think it will be better to keep one task-management system, i.e. Phabricator. --Selsharbaty (WMF) (talk) 21:43, 5 October 2015 (UTC)
•  Support I agree with the gradual transition :) When it is all done, the outreach task page should not be used any more.--Reem Al-Kashif (talk) 21:56, 5 October 2015 (UTC)
•  Support per Samir et al. --Dungodung (talk) 22:01, 5 October 2015 (UTC)
•  Support I prefer single system to track, and phabricator got more automation then list on wiki.--Liang_(WMTW) (talk) 22:47, 5 October 2015 (UTC)
•  Support using Phabricator only.--لا روسا (talk) 23:41, 5 October 2015 (UTC)
•  Support use Phab only, but making sure we properly link to it, so users can always find their way around it. Shani. (talk) 08:39, 8 October 2015 (UTC)
•  Support I also support deprecating the on-wiki task list and using Phabricator only.--Kippelboy (talk) 11:27, 8 October 2015 (UTC)
•  Support I agree with Shani.. We can use Phabricator and keep track of what we are doing by means of links and notifications. --Roxyuru (talk) 00:08, 9 October 2015 (UTC)
•  Support At first sight it seemed to me that Phabricator is something complicated as I'm more accustomed to wiki tools. But I registered there and added something and turned out that it isn't as complicated as it seemed :) I think Phabricator will make our job easier. --Lilitik22 (talk) 06:30, 10 October 2015 (UTC)

Since it's been a month after the last vote, I think it's safe to say that we've decided not to use this on-wiki list, but only the one on Phabricator. --Dungodung (talk) 21:54, 11 November 2015 (UTC)

Y Done After reaching consensus here and having no changes on the page for three months, the on-wiki list is now closed and archived. --Selsharbaty (WMF) (talk) 20:32, 2 January 2016 (UTC)