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How to Manage Development Team Rotations?
How to manage development team rotations?
Manage rotations by documenting schedules in NoteVault, adjusting sprint capacity for on-rotation developers, tracking rotation tasks on the board, ensuring fair distribution, and planning handoffs. Common rotations include: on-call/incident response, support duty, code review lead, and release captain.
Rotation labels
| Label | Purpose |
|---|---|
| rotation:oncall | On-call duty |
| rotation:support | Support duty |
| rotation:review | Review lead |
| rotation:release | Release captain |
| rotation:triage | Bug triage |
| handoff | Rotation handoff |
Rotation types and capacity impact
| Rotation | Duration | Capacity Impact |
|---|---|---|
| On-call | 1 week | 50% |
| Support duty | 1 week | 50% |
| Triage lead | 1 sprint | 20% |
| Review lead | 1 week | 20% |
| Release captain | 1 release | 30% |
NoteVault rotation schedule
# Team Rotation Schedule
## On-Call Rotation (24/7)
| Week | Primary | Secondary |
|------|---------|-----------|
| Jan 27 | Dev A | Dev B |
| Feb 3 | Dev B | Dev C |
| Feb 10 | Dev C | Dev D |
| Feb 17 | Dev D | Dev E |
| Feb 24 | Dev E | Dev A |
## Support Duty (Business Hours)
| Week | Support Dev |
|------|-------------|
| Jan 27 | Dev C |
| Feb 3 | Dev D |
| Feb 10 | Dev E |
| Feb 17 | Dev A |
| Feb 24 | Dev B |
## Bug Triage
| Sprint | Triage Lead |
|--------|-------------|
| Sprint 5 | Dev A |
| Sprint 6 | Dev B |
| Sprint 7 | Dev C |
## Handoff Checklist
- [ ] Review open incidents
- [ ] Update runbook if needed
- [ ] Brief incoming person
- [ ] Transfer on-call device/access
- [ ] Update rotation tracker
Rotation handoff template
## Rotation Handoff: On-Call
From: @dev-a
To: @dev-b
Period: 2025-01-27 to 2025-02-03
### Open Items
- [ ] Monitoring alert #123 - intermittent, watching
- [ ] Deploy scheduled for Tuesday
### Recent Incidents
- 2025-01-25: Database connection pool - resolved
- 2025-01-26: API latency spike - resolved
### Runbook Updates
- Added new restart procedure for service X
### Notes
- Quiet week expected
- Release on Tuesday may need monitoring
Rotation workflow:
- Schedule rotations - Fair distribution in NoteVault
- Adjust capacity - Reduce sprint commitment
- Assign rotation tasks - Add to board
- Perform handoff - Brief incoming person
- Track duty work - Log in task comments
- Handle incidents - As they arise
- Document learnings - Update runbooks
- Complete handoff - Brief next person
Fair rotation distribution
## Rotation Balance - Q1 2025
| Developer | On-Call Weeks | Support Weeks | Triage Sprints |
|-----------|---------------|---------------|----------------|
| Dev A | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Dev B | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Dev C | 2 | 3 | 1 |
| Dev D | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Dev E | 3 | 2 | 1 |
Notes:
- Dev C took extra support to balance less on-call
- Dev D new to team, doing more triage for learning
Sprint planning with rotations
## Sprint 5 Capacity
| Developer | Base | Rotation | Net Capacity |
|-----------|------|----------|--------------|
| Dev A | 10 pts | On-call (-50%) | 5 pts |
| Dev B | 10 pts | None | 10 pts |
| Dev C | 8 pts | Support (-50%) | 4 pts |
| Dev D | 8 pts | Triage (-20%) | 6 pts |
| Dev E | 10 pts | None | 10 pts |
| **Total** | 46 pts | | **35 pts** |