cylc-admin

Summary Notes for Metomi Team Meeting on UR (4th June 2019)

Decisions (those made are numbered)

The Cylc 8 front-end is starting to be built in earnest, so time is short for gathering UR in time to influence the (initial) Cylc 8 UI. Therefore consider separately two different timescales:

• the next month or so (June, perhaps some or all of July, 2019);
• the longer-term.

It was therefore agreed:

1) that this meeting would focus on the former i.e. shorter-term. 2) that we would gather UR on Cylc first, & only on Cylc for this timescale => Rose Config-Edit (etc) would be ignored for the time being.

DM suggests that the time constraints also necessitate a more focused/targeted approach; a more general approach (as advocated by UX experts & courses) would pick up on lots of non-related issues. Therefore:

3) We should go along with either specific proposals or specific questions.

After discussion on the exact approach we should use, along the above lines:

4) Start by asking the users questions (e.g. what do you like, dislike) about the old Cylc GUIs, which they will be familiar with. Then, after this (to avoid our proposals influencing the first part) show them our ideas in the form of mock-ups &/or agreed document on proposed ideas, e.g. on changes between our proposal and the old GUIs. 5) Try to inform participants in advance of this scope, so they can take time to gather their thoughts.

DM points out that anything that involves getting people together at such short notice tends to be difficult to arrange. After discussion on channels to use to conduct the above approach, or a similar one adapted to the context:

6) Contact separately known “power users” from an initial list of potential names, as they are especially important to target. (Note: OS says we should also talk to PSAs.) 7) Contact organisers of Met Office User Groups (e.g. SWUG, CRUG, TSUG) to try to arrange slot at their next UG meetings to conduct such UR.

• MS points out that both CRUG & TSUG meet next on 16th July, but he is on leave that day, so others will need to conduct that. OS & SB are agreed to do this). 8) Try to arrange slots in the Suites Guild for such UR.
• TP points out that there is a Suites Guild next Thursday (6th June), to which he is signed up to give a ~20 minute talk. TP volunteers to surrender that slot for a UR session.
• TP suggests we use a technique as used quite successfully in a recent MO Python Guild: a “circus”, whereby have discussion points ready & break out the larger group into smaller working groups to address them in turn.
• TP & OS are agreed to organise & conduct this, in such a “circus” format.
• DM states that we can always adjust or even shelve our approach if users are already giving a lot of feedback. Be flexible.

After discussion on how to best record UR findings, agree to:

9) Write down all significant findings on GitHub (cylc/cylc-admin repo):

• …including aspects relating only (/mostly) to the MO, as that may still be useful for the wider team to know.
• MS asked whether there could be sensitive information to take care with sharing given that the information will be openly-viewable on GitHub. From that agreed to use initials for individual user names, & remember or record in personal notes who they refer to for potential clashes in initials. 10) Agreed there should be two main UR records in the GitHub repo: * document(s) summarising each user interaction/meeting, &; * a document containing the overall “pool” of data and insights.

After mention of some of wider Cylc team (HO & BK) visiting MO 17-28th June:

11) Agreed that devoting a small amount of time to conducting some form of UR whilst HO & BK are at the MO could be useful, but it would potentially time-consuming. Agree to add to the list of potential things to cover during the two-week visit.

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