# Brainstorm: Better Planning, Collaboration, & Reporting for Core Contributor Work **URL:** \ **Category:** Governance\ **Tags:** core-sprints, retrospective\ **Created:** [March 15, 2023, 9:32am UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/brainstorm-better-planning-collaboration-reporting-for-core-contributor-work/9585 "2023-03-15T09:32:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 3
**Author:** ![ali\_hugo](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/discuss.openedx.org/ali_hugo/32/5284_2.png) [@ali\_hugo](https://discuss.openedx.org/u/ali_hugo)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2023, 9:48am UTC](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/brainstorm-better-planning-collaboration-reporting-for-core-contributor-work/9585/3 "2023-03-16T09:48:00Z")
I thought I’d kick this off with some of my initial thoughts. Interested to hear what you think… ### **Enable Discourse Chat?** 💬 - Would there be any advantage to using [Discourse Chat](https://blog.discourse.org/2022/08/discourse-chat-is-now-available-try-it-out-today/) in addition to (or instead of) the “core-contributors” channel in Slack? - Whereas the forum is great for discussions that develop over time, a more immediate (although still async) communication tool might be useful for coordinating efforts - The temporary nature of chats might also encourage more communication between Core Contributors * * * ### **Make Core Contributor sprints longer?** ⏳ - (⚠ **Warning:** Big assumption to follow) I _assume_ that most Core Contributors plan their contributions on a monthly basis. If I’m correct, would it perhaps make sense for our sprints to last a month rather than 2 weeks? - Core Contributors are busy people. Longer sprints might help reduce overhead (we’d only need to complete the ‘Sprint Retrospective and Planning’ questionnaire once a month, and @Dean would only need to post a sprint retro monthly, as opposed to every 2 weeks) * * * ### **Improve ‘Sprint Retrospective and Planning’ reminders and questionnaire** 📝 - ### Reminder emails - Today, the _“Sprint Retrospective and Planning: Please add your update”_ email is sent 2 days before the sprint ends (4 days before the submission deadline). Would it be more useful to receive the email on the last day of the sprint? I find that I want to fill out the questionnaire right after receiving the email but, with the current schedule, I can’t because I still have more CC work to do before the sprint ends - The _“Reminder: Today is the last day to complete Sprint Retrospective and Planning”_ email is sent the day after the sprint ends i.e. the day of the submission deadline. I think this timing works well), but I noticed something strange: the deadline mentioned in the first email (“Please add your update before the end of day this Monday (Jan 9)”), does not match the date of the reminder email. @Fox_Piacenti Have you noticed this? Also, please will you confirm whether the reminder is only sent to CC’s who have not yet completed the questionnaire? - ### [Sprint Retrospective and Planning](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/brainstorm-better-planning-collaboration-reporting-for-core-contributor-work/9585/2) questionnaire - A few tweaks to the questionnaire could go a long way to making it more user-friendly, namely: simplifying the question text, and changing the order of the questions so that they follow a more logical path. It might also be nice to add a field where Core Contributors are encouraged to give kudos to fellow CC’s - Long-term goal: Improve the user experience of the questionnaire in Listaflow * * * ### **Give ‘Core Contributor Sprint Retros’ a makeover** 💈 - Improve the formatting of [Core Contributor Sprint Retros](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/core-contributor-sprint-retro-18-february-2023-04-march-2023/9512) so that they are easier to read. Consider creating some kind of template in Discourse. Alternatively, would there be any benefit to moving sprint retros to the Open [edX wiki](https://openedx.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/COMM/pages/3143205354/Core+Contributor+Program)? - Long-term goal: improve [Listaflow reports](https://www.listaflow.com/reports/overview/?start_date=2022-03-15&end_date=2023-03-15&checklistDefinition=9jy-WUaLQPaA) so that questionnaire feedback is represented more meaningfully * * * ### **Maintain a list of Core Contributor projects** 🤓 - Is there a list somewhere of Core Contributor projects/efforts? It might be helpful (especially for new CC’s) to get a snapshot of what’s being worked on (perhaps in the [wiki](https://openedx.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/COMM/pages/3143205354/Core+Contributor+Program)?) - And what about a place to list ideas for future CC projects? This could give new CC’s an idea of [where to begin](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/about-the-core-contributors-category/6130) * * * ### **Make collaboration easier** 👷🏾‍♂️ 👨‍💼 👩🏻‍💼 - Is there a better way for Core Contributors to ask other CC’s for help? Or let others know when they are available to help out on a certain project? With the flood of notifications we all get on a daily basis, it’s very easy to miss a forum notification or a Slack message * * * So there you have it, my – _very long_ – two cents! I’m interested to hear what you all think; do you have answers to my questions, agree/disagree with my suggestions, or better yet, have some suggestions of your own? Please share! We’re all ears. --- _[View the full topic](https://discuss.openedx.org/t/brainstorm-better-planning-collaboration-reporting-for-core-contributor-work/9585)._