Hacker News story: Ask HN: What's the Least Amount of Process a Small Team Can Get Away With?

Ask HN: What's the Least Amount of Process a Small Team Can Get Away With?
Before we sat around screens we sat around campfires telling stories. We’re hardwired to be storytellers, and that’s how we fundamentally connect with other people and understand the world. I’ve been thinking about how KISS a small team could go and still stay productive and aligned. This is my take: 1) The story unfolds. Repeating meetings where team hash out the next steps to be done before the next meeting 2) The plot. A plain text document in the repo showing what has been done, what needs doing, and any related notes or comments Here is an example of the plain text story/narrative of the project: ``` # Project: Cloud Cost Dashboard Enable easy access to cloud cost data for the team. ## Integration DONE Cloud cost API integrated with billing system @bob ## Dash board Dashboard must pull data from AWS, Azure, and GCP for comparison. TODO Set up a cloud cost reporting dashboard @alice TODO Train team on how to use the dashboard @alice ``` The following rules apply: - A task is either in status TODO or DONE and it fits exactly on one line - Add @name to assign tasks - New TODOs are added at the bottom (so look there for tasks to pick) - Feel free to add any free text/notes etc to the file to provide context and insight As the project progresses the story unfolds and self documents. BONUS: Use the task line for the commit message Some questions: - Does this approach seem like enough to keep a small team productive and focused? - What essentials are missing (given a small team context)? Would love to hear your thoughts! 1 comments on Hacker News.
Before we sat around screens we sat around campfires telling stories. We’re hardwired to be storytellers, and that’s how we fundamentally connect with other people and understand the world. I’ve been thinking about how KISS a small team could go and still stay productive and aligned. This is my take: 1) The story unfolds. Repeating meetings where team hash out the next steps to be done before the next meeting 2) The plot. A plain text document in the repo showing what has been done, what needs doing, and any related notes or comments Here is an example of the plain text story/narrative of the project: ``` # Project: Cloud Cost Dashboard Enable easy access to cloud cost data for the team. ## Integration DONE Cloud cost API integrated with billing system @bob ## Dash board Dashboard must pull data from AWS, Azure, and GCP for comparison. TODO Set up a cloud cost reporting dashboard @alice TODO Train team on how to use the dashboard @alice ``` The following rules apply: - A task is either in status TODO or DONE and it fits exactly on one line - Add @name to assign tasks - New TODOs are added at the bottom (so look there for tasks to pick) - Feel free to add any free text/notes etc to the file to provide context and insight As the project progresses the story unfolds and self documents. BONUS: Use the task line for the commit message Some questions: - Does this approach seem like enough to keep a small team productive and focused? - What essentials are missing (given a small team context)? Would love to hear your thoughts!