New Deputy Handbook page outlining a deputy review procedure

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A few months ago, the Global Community TeamGlobal Community Team A group of community organizers and contributors who collaborate on local events about WordPress — monthly WordPress meetups and/or annual conferences called WordCamps. received a formal complaint about the behavior of a community team deputyProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook.. This was a dismaying first, and required a new response procedure. The deputy in this case has been informed that an investigation is underway, and has been asked to refrain from actively participating as a deputy in this program until the review panel has reached a decision and informed all parties. An incident report will be published in the next week or so, with information about the resolution of that complaint.

In the meantime, I’ve documented the procedure in a new Deputy Handbook page, with some clear information about what kind of behavior might result in someone being asked to step away from the community deputyProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. role.

If you enjoy creating and reviewing procedures, please feel free to suggest ways to improve the current practice. If you would simply like to know what kind of behavior might result in a contributor being asked to stop volunteering as a deputy, I’ll save you a click and list the reasons below. I hope the list is straightforward, and doesn’t include any surprises. This should line up with the content of the agreement that all deputiesProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. are asked to sign before taking on the role.

Reasons a contributor might be asked to step away from their role as a deputy:

Malfeasance, which may include attempted or actual fraud, or other intentional action that injures or seeks to injure an individual or group, while carrying out the responsibilities of a deputy.
Failure to meet community team expectations for a deputy, even after the deputy has been asked to change a behavior. “Deal-breaker” behavior includes:
- Anything that does not match the expectations on the Representing WordPress handbook page.
- Communicating with contributors (including community organizers, speakers, sponsors, volunteers) and fellow community team members in a demeaning, disrespectful, or deceptive way.
- Breaking confidentiality of the community team email inbox, incident investigation and resolution process, or other sensitive/personally identifiable information accessed while performing the duties of a deputy.
- Recommending that organizers or contributors work in a way that intentionally defrauds the community team or undermines community team goals.

As you can see, there are expectations for deputies that go beyond the expectations for local meetupMeetup Meetup groups are locally-organized groups that get together for face-to-face events on a regular basis (commonly once a month). Learn more about Meetups in our Meetup Organizer Handbook. and WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. organizers. This is because the community team deputy role requires increased trust due to its particular responsibilities and access to private information. Deputies are frequently asked to guide other contributors in their work, and therefore are expected to communicate and behave in a respectful, collaborative, and genuine way, so they can effectively work with community members and other deputies.

If you think anything in this list is confusing or surprising, or you have any suggestions for ways to improve the response procedure for cases like this, please share your feedback in a comment on this post.

Ryan Marks 6:32 pm on August 27, 2019

Feedback on the handbook page:

Through what communication channel should a reporter lodge a formal complaint?

The title of Stage One could be “Inform relevant parties and set up communication protocols if needed.”

In Stage One, part 3, should the deputiesProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. being talked to have the details of the complaint shared with them?

Stage Two, part 2’s example text and part 3 doesn’t align with the sequence of events in Stage One. Specifically when to inform the deputyProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. who the formal complaint is about.

Are there situations where a deputy’s access to tools needed for deputy work should be changed during the investigation?
- Andrea Middleton 6:50 pm on August 27, 2019
  
  Thanks Ryan! Formal complaints are collected through the incident report form or via report @ wordcamp.org.
  
  The title of Stage One could be “Inform relevant parties and set up communication protocols if needed.”
  
  Good edit! I’ll make that change shortly.
  
  In Stage One, part 3, should the deputiesProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. being talked to have the details of the complaint shared with them?
  
  We definitely want to limit the number of people who are exposed to incident report information, for privacy reasons. This item probably isn’t clear, and maybe it has to be judged on a case-by-case basis… the goal here is to avoid convening a review panel for frivolous or false reports. Ideally, the person overseeing the incident response process can judge whether the complaint should move to a review panel while sharing the minimum possible information outside the incident response squad.
  
  Stage Two, part 2’s example text and part 3 doesn’t align with the sequence of events in Stage One. Specifically when to inform the deputyProgram Supporter Community Program Supporters (formerly Deputies) are a team of people worldwide who review WordCamp and Meetup applications, interview lead organizers, and keep things moving at WordCamp Central. Find more about program supporters in our Program Supporter Handbook. who the formal complaint is about.
  
  Ah, I see what you mean. Stage One, step 4 includes informing the deputy, and the example in Stage Two, step 3 has that “informing” info in it. I’ll edit that as well.
  
  Are there situations where a deputy’s access to tools needed for deputy work should be changed during the investigation?
  
  I’m of two minds about this. On one hand, if we ask someone to refrain from participating in a trusted role, I hope we can trust them to agree to that request. On the other hand, if they’re behaving in a way that betrays that trust, then limiting their access to deputy work tools… seems smart. I’m open to suggestions about a reasonable approach.
- Andrea Middleton 6:55 pm on August 27, 2019
  
  I’ve made some edits to the procedure outline based on Ryan’s feedback.