Knowledge Sharing #
This page lists the tools, resources and activities that REG has to promote general communication as well as sharing and gaining knowledge across the team (and the Turing as a whole), and some thoughts on what we could try to improve this. If you’re looking to learn something new, get help with a problem, share something cool you’ve been doing, or find out what others in the team are doing, the list below may give an idea of where to look/what to try.
If you’d like to organise something the best options are usually to post to Slack and the Hut23 mailing list (see below).
Daily #
Github Hut23 Repo #
We use GitHub (and a couple of related tools) extensively for tracking projects and other tasks within the team. There is a separate page describing how we use them.
Coffee Breaks #
We have coffee breaks on Gather twice daily. See the Regular Events page for details. If the times aren’t convenient and you fancy a break then try posting on Slack and the chances are that there’ll be others that fancy a break too.
Slack #
Slack is our main tool for informal messaging and announcements (there’s some info on how to join on here). It’s also a good place to ask for help. Channels of interest include:
#hut23: Our channel for the REG team (ask someone to add you if you don’t have access)#tps: Channel for the tools, practices and systems (TPS) community at the Turing#askaway: Place to ask general questions (e.g. that don’t fit in a specific channel)#interesting-events,#general,#social,#random: General chat and announcement about what’s happening around the Turing.
We use Geekbot, which is a Slack App. We use this in two different ways (both are voluntary):
- A virtual daily standup: Geekbot asks what you’re planning to do each day, what you’ve achieved and if there is anything you are stuck on. This can be useful for your own planning, but also helps give an overview of the range of other work and skills within the team.
- Ice breaker-style questions a few times a week.
To join in with the use of Geekbot, you will need to first add the Geekbot app to Slack and then join these slack channels #hut23standup and #hut23standup-tasks.
Weekly #
Tech Talks #
Reading Groups #
Approximately Monthly #
REG Team Meetings #
Roughly once a month we have an all-REG meeting where we welcome new joiners and a few people briefly present news from around REG or the Turing. This is usually followed by a discussion on a topic of interest for the wider team. If you don’t have the calendar invites (new joiners might not initially) ask someone else in the team to forward them to you.
Turing Events #
The main focus of this page is what we do in REG, but there are many things happening around the Turing that REG members are also encouraged to attend, including:
- Turing Catchups & Town Halls — Regular meetings open to all staff with updates from around the institute. New starters may not have the calendar invites initially — ask others in the team to forward the details if you’re unsure.
- Turing Events - often public talks & workshops.
Open Source Hacksessions #
REG Newsletter #
We have a monthly REG newsletter which is usually sent around about a week before the monthly team meeting. It contains short project updates and other news/updates from around the team and the institute. It comes to the Hut23 mailing list (see above). If you have something you’d like to be included contact the newsletter owner.
Hut23 Mailing List #
You should automatically be added to the Hut23 mailing list when you join REG (if not ask your line manager about it). This is often the best way to contact everyone in the team when organising events, or for other news/communication that should be a bit more permanent/formal than Slack and doesn’t fit in an issue in the Hut23 repo.
Less frequently or ad-hoc #
Data study Groups #
Data study groups (DSGs) are week-long hack sessions on different projects that happen a few times a year. Participants are drawn from across the Turing and REG people have previously joined both as team members and project PIs.
Turing courses and training #
There are professional and academic training opportunities around the Turing. There’s some info on Mathison. Additionally, REG also runs a yearly research software engineering course.
Remote Co-working #
Occasionally a few REG members get together on Zoom to Gather to do our work (not necessarily to work on the same thing, but to see each other and have a quick chat whilst we’re working). During the COVID lockdowns, we organised these sessions regularly. Now they only occur on an ad-hoc basis. If you’d like to work in this way, feel free to ask on Slack.
Some project teams also choose to work in this way.
Hack Sessions & REG Collaborative Time #
If there’s something you’d like to work on collaboratively feel free to organise a hack session (typically these would be longer but less frequent than a reading group, and perhaps more focused on implementing rather than reading). In the past several of us have got together to work on contributions for Hacktoberfest.
Repo Audits #
A few of us plan to get together to help check whether documentation, usage and installation instructions are clear for a project (for example), or to review the code. See this page for more details.
Project retrospective - Snark Hunts #
Snark hunts are facilitated discussions after a project has finished where the project team, together with others from REG that didn’t work on the project, answer/ask questions relating to the experience of working on it — what went well, what could have been better etc.. We don’t do it for every project, but they can be a good opportunity to reflect and to get ideas for what we should do differently/do more of in the future. We’re open to trying other ideas too!
For more info, see here for more details.
Working on Other Projects #
Working on different projects with different people causes a natural sharing of knowledge around the team. Beyond the usual project allocation process, there may be other ways to get involved with another project for a short time (some of these are speculative and not currently common practice in REG):
- Rotating between projects: Where a team member has been on a project for a long time, they may wish to change. Team members should ask to rotate to a different project in the next set of project allocations.
- Gaps between projects: Occasionally there are short gaps between one project finishing and another starting. These can be opportunities to get involved in something different for a while. One example could be to try a project with the ARC team (though I don’t think anyone in REG has done this yet). Projects may also want to get into the habit of creating “Hacktoberfest” style issues that newcomers could quickly get up to speed with and get involved if they have a gap in allocations.
- Shadowing projects: Especially for new starters, we’ve started to encourage the idea of shadowing projects for a short while, to get an idea of how we work.