2019-06-28 Hypha Worker Co-op: Infrastructure and Operations Meeting

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Time: 15:00-16:00
Location: https://meet.jit.si/hyphacoop
Attending:

• elon
• yurko
• dc
• patcon (15m late)
• ben (late, by phone)

Notetaker: dc

[TOC]

Agenda

• Go through existing state of things on inventory sheet
• Discuss Priorities:
  • task manager
  • accounting/billing software
  • CRM
  • alternative communication method
• Other tools?
• Proposal: Phone number Voicemail
  • Generic or Custom, if custom whos recording it?
• Proposal: Shortlinks #decision (patcon)
• Values conversations (patcon)
  • What values inform our infrastructure decisions?
  • What do we plan to self-host?
• Discussion

Notes

• Start with Services Inventory

• Our Needs

  • Ben “Interview”: https://loomio.hypha.coop/d/btj3hpEO/what-do-we-have-need-brainstorm/74
    • resiliency, exit strategy
    • documenting for spinning up “configuration as code”, tension for hosting
  • DC “User Statement”:
    • Am interested in infra stuff but don’t feel like I have any insight into our current setup and don’t feel like I can be involved

• What does a day look like? “Wake up, Hypha Day” (mix of managing infra and work)

  • Yurko:
    • “one place to catch up on everything” – “in my chaotic life that would really help”
    • Monitoring system to know when things are working and not working; need to know whether and what basics are at play
    • thoughts on the way things move between places? (e.g., Loomio, other). “I really don’t” “where dec’ns live a current pain point”
    • Reading Ben’s blurb, thought about being caught up on loomio thread as a way to stay caught up
  • Elon:
    • easily see what hasn’t been done and keep track
    • document infra (incl. what everyone did), help to keep bits for fixing problems
    • way to see what others did in systems (what was changed when)
      • yurko: changelog
      • dc: wiki/code snippets
  • Patcon:
    • FLOW of things b/w dec’n, loomio, task tracker
    • chat to be disposable (anything important goes anywhere else)
    • love task manager… thinking about loomio and rel’n between task manager.
    • taking actions in meetings (e.g., “2019-06-28,” “infra” blah blah)
    • think about chat as analogous to “server logs”. should be both machine-readable and human-readable. want annotations in chat to quickly answer “what are all the #actions that have come up?”.
  • dc:
    • canonical places
    • not hardline on there being just “one place” to get caught up
    • I imagine a daily flow = 2-3 tools that each do something well
    • goal: people will know how to join in later if not involved in early stages
    • resonating with record of decisions as important
    • skeptical of automation too early (and whether it always pays off)
  • Ben:
    • +1 on dcwalk’s point about hill to die on re: infra as code, look how long matrix automation took for tomesh, also agree with patcon about wanting automated provisioning but more as a shared intention towards long-term goal

• Decisions

  • Proposal: Phone Voicemail
    • Yurko: Generic or Custom, if custom whos recording it?
    • Dawn: #todo volunteered to record, will write a script and share, practice, record… we can retake as needed
  • Proposal: Shortlinks #decision (patcon)
    • How do we feel about shortlinks as a pattern?
      • check-in: folks +1 with some neutral to +1
    • Implementation?
      • Patcon: Rebrandly+Google Drive+Script to Update. There are ways to do otherwise: host our own link shortner, use a service, rolled with current practices
      • Ben: I want shortlinks, stick it in a text file on GitHub and take from there
      • Yurko: lean toward shortest pipeline
      • DC: things we are familiar with and work
    • Yurko: What is the use?
      • where we “touch” frequently being branded
  • #todo non-urgent task: to switch to using link shortner to version controlled csv in github over gdocs
  • #todo land the PR using the links! (@patcon)
  • #todo add link shortner to the handbook (@patcon + dc)

• Discussion: Ambiguity making dec’ns around infra

  • More broadly: wasn’t aware of things as being “under purview” // owned/actionable
  • not all tools fall under “infra” easily, e.g., tracker as “client-facing”

• Discussion Infra Roadmapping / Ownership / Next Steps

  • patcon: tension of working with “better world tools” (e.g., OS)
  • ben: can we consense now 1. tools for us; 2. tools for others
  • dc: I propose we treat these as two parallel things (with someone driving):
    1. values “rule of thumb”
    2. task tracker selection (critical infra need)
  • patcon: say we used gitlab, and then wanted to invite a client in? How would that go?
  • yurko: used to work solo, looking forward to working together. Sees the importance of talking, and establishing a shared foundation
  • elon: want more people involved in deciding what to use
  • patcon: how do you feel about “animating” or driving these conversations?
  • ben: Is the ask “we need a PM” on the infra group? or how
  • patcon #proposal: what if the step is that we make a loomio thread + responsibility of infra team to “investigate and stewarding”

• Next steps check-ins:

  • Who sees themselves as part of infra? patcon, yurko, elon, dc
  • sidebar conversation on ops as different, dc thinks interesting to have them together in wg area
  • Who is interested in “driving” infra implementation (this includes a consultation phase)? yurko (0.75), elon (0.6), patcon (0.5), dawn (0-1)
  • #todo: elon: shepard task tracker selection; patcon as back-up if needed, especially to address user needs
  • #todo: dc: fill infra call inbetween all hands (45 mins)

Follow Up

Actionable Items

• dc: record voicemail for Hypha
• patcon: non-urgent task: to switch to using link shortner to version controlled csv in github over gdocs
• patcon: land the PR using the links!
• patcon/dc: add link shortner to the handbook
• elon: shepard task tracker selection
• dc: fill infra call inbetween all hands (45 mins)

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