Discussion: Refining the Mentor Program

To better serve the community and the Community Team, @devinmaeztri and I are working to improve our current MentorEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. program. We believe this project will help get rid of gaps in our current roles and create a smoother functioning Community Team with room to grow.

An Overview

  • End date: 31 March
  • 4 Issues addressed in this post
    • update or create role information and tasks
    • add in new Mentor roles to help our growing community and team
    • retire 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.” title
    • build for the future
  • 3 Discussion Posts planned starting with this one

The Main Elements

Craft More Accurate Role Information and Task Lists

The project will start by looking at where we are and end with clearer information about new and existing roles.

  1. Evaluate the current roles and their descriptions, qualifications, and expectations.
  2. Evaluate the current assigned tasks and see if they need better descriptions or adjustments to make them more manageable to accomplish.
  3. Create descriptions, qualifications, expectations, and clearly described tasks for any new mentor roles added.

For reference, find the current roles and expectations on the Community Team’s Team Projects page.

Add in 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. MentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. and Mentor of Mentors

Meetup Mentors: We currently have a group of Meetup Reactivators that we would like to invite into the Community Team to continue their meetup outreach. If our meetupsMeetup 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. are the heart of what we do, then having a group and system in place that provides regular check-ins should help keep them strong. It also provides a nice first level of activity for new members.

Mentors of Mentors: These would likely be our current Super DeputiesProgram Manager Program Managers (formerly Super Deputies) are Program Supporters who can perform extra tasks on WordCamp.org like creating new sites and publishing WordCamps to the schedule. with opportunities to promote other veteran mentors as they qualify. 

Mentors of Mentors would continue to support our other mentors and have responsibilities within the Community Team around nurturing growth. They could also mentor WordCamps as they choose.

We would continue to have the existing roles of 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. Mentors and Community 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./Community Mentors with similar responsibilities to what they have now.

Current Contributor Roles
WordCamp Mentors
Community Deputies
Super Deputies
Future Contributor Roles
Meetup Mentors
WordCamp Mentors
Community Mentors
Mentors of Mentors

Change 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. Title

The word “deputy” has two significant drawbacks.

  1. It’s difficult to translate in some languages while in others the word doesn’t even exist.
  2. In the US, it’s a term used to describe enforcement which does not represent the nature of the role well.

Our 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 already mentors who are working to nurture the community, often in more technical ways, but still interacting with the community. 

Because of that and the reasons above, we suggest changing:

  • Community Deputy → Community Mentor
  • Super DeputyProgram Manager Program Managers (formerly Super Deputies) are Program Supporters who can perform extra tasks on WordCamp.org like creating new sites and publishing WordCamps to the schedule. → Mentors of Mentors

The responsibilities would be similar (with some refinement) to current duties, but we’d have names that fit a more global community and better reflect what the Community Team is trying to accomplish.

Build a Foundation for Future Growth

A Single Unified Application: Along with refining the names, descriptions, and tasks, we also plan to create a single unified application and onboarding process as well as a clear contribution ladder. We think this will provide a smoother introduction to the Community Team and give contributors goals to grow towards.

A Removal Process: With onboarding, we’ll also need to create a path for removing inactive contributors as well as people who end up in the wrong roles. Not everyone fits every role. Let’s create other opportunities where contributors can make the best use of the skills they have instead of being stuck in a role that doesn’t fit. Maintaining a healthy community requires attention to this aspect as well.

Overall, we’re hoping all of the changes mentioned in this post create one solid foundation for the future of all of our programs.

The Community Team’s Role

We want to work alongside the group as a whole to refine our Mentor Program to better benefit us all. In order to do that, we need your support and feedback. 

Please comment below your thoughts regarding the project, and particularly about some or all of the following:

  • Changing the name of Community Deputies and Super Deputies.
  • If it’s too confusing to have all roles under the Mentor heading.
  • What current tasks function effectively, and which don’t.
  • New tasks you think it could be useful to add.
  • Adding in a Meetup Mentor role.
  • Adding in a Mentors of Mentors, and if the name is a good fit.

This post will close March 3.

#meetups, #community-team, #mentors, #mentorship-programs, #wordcamps

#q1, #refining-mentor-program, #updates

WordCamp Mentors’ February check-in!

Hello MentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues.!
If you are currently mentoring a 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., please share how the organizing team is doing and any other insights, interesting ideas, or innovations that they’re planning.

Comment on this post to share your update. You are welcome to share updates here throughout the month. Thanks! 😁

#mentors, #wordcamp

WordCamp Mentors’ December check-in!

Hello MentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues.!
If you are currently mentoring a 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., please share how the team is doing and any other insights, interesting ideas, or innovations that they’re planning.

Leave a comment on this post and share your update. Thanks! 😀

#mentors, #wordcamps

WordCamp Mentors’ November check-in!

Hello MentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues.!
If you are currently mentoring a 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., please share how the team is doing and any other insights, interesting ideas, or innovations that they’re planning.

Leave a comment on this post and share your update. Thanks! 😀

#mentors, #wordcamp

Tuesday Training: How mentors and deputies are chosen

Earlier in the Tuesday Trainings series, Angela has told everything about Community Deputies and Courtney has explained what the WordCamp Mentorship program is about. This week I thought to share how mentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. and 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 chosen.

It’s actually a lot easier than you might think! Like all other roles in the Community Team, becoming a mentorEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. or 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. is not an invitation-based thing. It’s usually a natural part of someone climbing the leadership ladders of the Community Team from connecting and understanding to engaging.

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. Mentors

If you have experience in organising WordCamps, you are most probably a good fit to be a WordCamp mentor and can apply for that role!

Mentors are not some super WordCamp organisers, they are just like almost everyone else in the WordPress community – individuals who have gained some experience and want to share it and help others. At the same time, the mentors are also themselves WordCamp organisers learning and evolving.

When someone applies to be a WordCamp mentor, the main thing we look for is how involved they have been in organising WordCamps. You don’t have to have multiple years of being a lead organiser in your belt – few years with experience in the team and usually at least one year being a lead organiser is enough. What matters most, is how active you have been in WordCamps and how diverse your knowledge is.

Do you have experience in WordCamp organising and want to help other WordCamp organisers? Take the WordCamp Mentor Self training to get started and then submit an application!

Community 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.

Like mentors, Community Deputies are fundamentally like any other community members – 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. attendees, event organisers and WordPress enthusiasts themselves. There’s no requirement that you should be a community professional.

If you have experience in WordPress event organising, you are active in your local community and you find yourself being a people-oriented person, there’s a good possibility that you would be a good fit in the group of deputies!

Deputies tend to have a little deeper knowledge of the WordPress community, but it’s not necessary to know all aspects of it or the Community Team. The most valuable skill of every deputy, that the team is looking for, is to be very keen on helping community contributors. Other things the team is looking for are passion to develop Community Teams various event programs and to be good in different situations as well as with people. A deputy role is something where everyone grows while carrying out the responsibilities, there’s no set skillset that is required – the most important thing is the mindset and that’s what we are looking for.

If you have a passion for not just helping other WordCamp organisers, but all local communities, apply to become a Community Deputy!


After submitting a WordCamp Mentor or 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. application, few existing deputies will review it. If they find you would be a good fit, they’ll send you an email with a request to have an orientation to tell the essential details before starting to help the community. Sometimes they might ask to take a self-training to exercise your skills a little further before the orientation.

In case your application is rejected, that does not mean that you couldn’t apply again after gaining some more experience in the WordPress community!

Have some questions about becoming a WordCamp Mentor or Community Deputy? Not quite sure if you should or can apply? Do you want to prepare before applying? Come and join us in the #community-team SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel!

#community-deputies, #community-mentors, #mentors, #tuesdaytrainings

Tuesday Trainings: What is the WordCamp Mentorship program and how does it work?

If there’s a question you’d like to see answered, or a topic you’d like to see discussed, please share it in the comments or email support@wordcamp.org with the subject line “Tuesday Trainings”. Now onto this week’s topic!

Previously, we learned all about Community Deputies and what they do, which includes mentoring WordCamps. But what exactly is the 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. mentorship program, and how does it work?

What is the WordCamp mentorship program?

The WordCamp mentorship program helps make WordCamps easier to plan for organizers, and better for attendees! This is done by providing peer support to folks actively organizing a WordCamp.

Who are the WordCamp MentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues.?

WordCamp mentors are Community team 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. who are also experienced WordCamp organizers. You can see the current roster of mentors on the Community Deputies page.

What do WordCamp Mentors do?

WordCamp mentors support other organizers as they plan their WordCamp! Their involvement should be advising on procedure and sharing of knowledge based on the mentorEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues.’s history organizing WordCamps. Note that mentors are not on the WordCamp’s organizing team, so they shouldn’t be doing any actual organizing tasks.

Mentors help a lead organizer keep their team on schedule by checking in every month during the pre-planning process, and typically every 2 weeks during active planning to make sure everything is going as planned.

Mentors are hopefully able to help organizers avoid problems before they become problems. They are expected to check in frequently with their WordCamp(s), and also keep up to date on new tools, developments, and decisions made by the Community Team that impact WordCamp organizers.

How do I get involved with the WordCamp mentorship program?

Any WordCamp organizer with experience and who is in good standing with the WordPress events program can be a WordCamp mentor. To learn more about being a WordCamp Mentor, you can check out the deputy handbook and take the WordCamp mentor self-training course. When you’re ready, go ahead and submit an application!

If you are currently a WordCamp organizer and feel like you would benefit from mentorship, check out the handbook page on mentors, and submit a request for a mentor.

Want to Learn More?

Want to learn even more? Come join our conversations in the #community-events or #community-team channels in the Making WP Slack.

#community-team, #mentors, #mentorship, #tuesdaytrainings

Community team Mentor check-in: results and summary

Recently the Community team conducted a survey to 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. mentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues.. The goal of this survey was to check with our mentors, find out who still wants to be active, and hear their thoughts on what kind of support they need moving forward. 

The following steps were taken to complete the mentorEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. outreach:

  1. Create a survey to send to all mentors and try to get as many responses as possible.
  2. Gather feedback and write up a summary.
  3. Support next steps, including training, documentation updates, and some offboarding of mentors who no longer want to be active. 

Respondents

Currently, there are 49 mentors and 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. in the community team. A total of 39 (79.6%)  respondents participated in this survey. 

Survey Results

The survey results indicate that a total of 35 people showed interest in mentoring WordCamp and 5 people indicated that they will be doing 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. tasks only. The remaining 9 people will be off-boarded from the active deputy and mentor list. 

StatusNo of Deputies / Mentors
Active (Deputy and Mentor)22
Active (Deputy)5
Active (Mentor)13
Offboard9
Grand Total49

As the community team oversees WordPress events around the globe, the team members are composed of global community members. The following is the respondents breakdown by region:

RegionNo of Respondents
Africa4
Asia7
Europe13
North America12
Oceania1
South America2
Grand Total39

As the COVID-19 pandemic forced WordCamps events to move from in-person to online, 10 out of 39 respondents indicated that they have mentored Online WordCamps in the past year. A total of 25 WordCamps were mentored in 2020 by the respondents, compared to 74 WordCamps in 2019. 

Respondents were asked if they are willing to mentor WordCamps this year and the majority of the respondents indicated that they are interested in mentoring online or in-person WordCamps:

AnswerNo of Respondents
No6
Yes, but I’d like more training first8
Yes, but only for in person events2
Yes, for online or in person events23 
Grand Total39

Observations

Respondents were asked what the Community Team can do to better support their work. Most respondents indicated they receive adequate support from the community team. The following observations were made from the answers:

  • A number of respondents indicated that they need training and guidance.
  • Mentors would benefit from further development of WordCamp tools: the WordCamp websites, the internal administrative management tools, and documentation.
  • Mentors agree that WordCamp organizers would benefit from saved replies or email templates. 

WordCamp mentors were asked where they feel their contribution is most impactful. Common thoughts included:

  • Knowledge sharing & training
  • Problem-solving & mediation
  • Follow up & advice
  • Sponsors & logistics
  • Others (kids events, translations)

Finally, respondents also asked if there any blockers in mentoring WordCamps. Most of the respondents indicated that they have no blocker in mentoring WordCamps. One mentor indicated WordCamp Handbooks should be translated in other languages to help them understand better. 

Next Steps

As for the next steps, the mentors who indicated that they will no longer participate as mentors will be offboarded. The Community team will plan on providing more training for active mentors who requested training and think through implementation of suggestions as future projects. 

Comments

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to comment below. 

Kudos to @angelasjin, @sippis, @tacoverdo, and @samsuresh for facilitating this mentor outreach. 

#mentors, #wordcamp

Tuesday Trainings: Mentor Roundtable

For this Tuesday Trainings session I was joined by @kcristiano @brandondove @kdrewien @courtneypk and @vizkr for a roundtable conversation on mentoring WordCamps. Whether you’re an active 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. mentorEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. or interested in becoming one there are some words of wisdom here for you. Join us for an hour and find out more.

For more information please check out these links:

Looking for more great training content? 

Check these out!

The WordPress Diverse Speaker Training group (#WPDiversity) has several workshops coming up to help you in your journey to public speaking at online WordPress events, or for WordPress event organizers to support more diverse speakers at the events you are holding:

Saturday, July 18, 5-7pm UTC: WordPress MeetupsMeetup 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.: Hold Your Own Diverse Speaker Workshop
Tuesday, July 28: Who am I to be speaking? & Finding a topic that people would love to hear
Wednesday, July 29: Creating a great pitch
Thursday, July 30: (new!) What if someone asks me a difficult question?

#mentors, #mentorship, #tuesdaytrainings

Proposal to Simplify Training for WordCamp Mentors

We currently have 27 folks listed internally as “active” 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. mentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues.. At this time, 11 of the people on the mentorEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. list are not mentoring any events. Earlier this week, I sent an email to all those listed on our mentor roster to determine their availability. Several folks have already asked to be pulled from the active list, and I anticipate several more will either ask to be removed or not respond. That will leave us with about 20 active mentors.

We currently have 109 WordCamps in various stages of planning, ranging from “Needs Orientation” to “Scheduled” that need or will need a mentor. Only 34 of those events have a mentor now. We need more mentors!

As WordCamp mentors, folks are asked to advise organizers, remind them about things organizers frequently forget, keep them on track in planning, and be the team’s connection to WordCamp CentralWordCamp Central Website for all WordCamp activities globally. https://central.wordcamp.org includes a list of upcoming and past camp with links to each.. We also ask that they make regular updates about their mentor sessions on this site.

At this time all mentors are 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., but not all deputies are mentors — while the work they do is related, it’s different. Our current 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. training process is for people who might triage our shared email, vet applications for both WordCamps and meetupsMeetup 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., orient organizers for both WordCamps and meetups, and review WordCamp budgets. Because of all these different tasks deputies might handle, training is time consuming for would-be deputies (and for the trainers). Including all this additional content and time commitment may be making it harder to recruit and train new mentors.

I propose a change in the training for mentors to be more in line with the work we’re asking of them. Instead of asking that they undergo the entire deputy training process we would instead follow these steps:

  • Potential mentor submits an application to be a WordCamp Mentor.
  • A deputy reviews their application to ensure they meet WordCamp mentor requirements.
  • Mentor completes the WordCamp Organizer self training to ensure they’re up to date on expectations and guidelines.
  • Mentor has a call with a deputy to talk them through the mentoring process.
  • Mentor is assigned a WordCamp to work with in their preferred region.

I also propose that, for transparency, we have a Mentors page similar to our Deputies page or that we add a separate tab for mentors to show which mentors are active and what events they are currently mentoring.

In line with these suggestions it would make sense that mentors no longer be considered deputies. While being a mentor would not prevent a community member from being a deputy or vice versa, I don’t think we should consider them the same position — or provide deputy-level access to central.wordcamp.org and Help Scout for all WordCamp mentors.

If it seems like this will work, the next steps would be:

  • Create a WordCamp mentor application
  • Post a call for new mentors
  • Create a Mentors page or update the deputies page with a mentors tab.
  • Implement new mentor process as detailed above.

If you have any concerns, ideas, or thoughts, please share them in a comment below. Let’s try to conclude our discussion by March 12, so we can begin a mentor recruitment drive on March 16, 2018.

#mentors #deputies #community-management

A Community Core Team

While gathering feedback from 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./mentorsEvent Supporter Event Supporter (formerly Mentor) is someone who has already organised a WordCamp and has time to meet with their assigned mentee every 2 weeks, they talk over where they should be in their timeline, help them to identify their issues, and also identify solutions for their issues. (also, can we just say deputies instead of separating that into two different labels? “people helping with community wrangling” is the definition for both despite different tasks) is important in deciding what changes to make to this program, there is plenty of low-hanging fruit that we can start knocking down.

Here’s an apple dangling from its branch:

We need to make leadership of the community team more decentralized, more globally distributed, more reliable, and more transparent. 

Starting the deputies program was a step in that direction, but we need to go a lot further, and I think we are ready.

Currently

Right now, the “official” leadership of this team rests with Josepha and Cami, with me and Andrea coming back in for awhile to help catch up the backlog and try to organize some stuff to be more efficient. All four of these people are in the US, and all four are employed by Automattic. Then we have a handful or two of deputies that help out a little or a lot, depending on what else they’ve got going on. Most of these deputies are not employed by Automattic, and a few are not US-based, but we don’t necessarily know how much time they can give each week, and the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. people for whom this is a full-time job wind up feeling overwhelmed when the backlog grows and they have to try and catch up when the volunteers have other things to do that week. The vagaries of wrangling volunteers and making up for when they won’t or can’t deliver should be familiar territory for all our deputies, since you’ve been in this position yourselves when organizing WordCamps or MeetupsMeetup 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.. It’s frustrating, right? I have an idea.

Expand the Team Leadership

What if we decide as a group that we want a little more structure on this team, and create a community core team made up of the people who are able to commit to x hours per week of the various tasks involved in running the program? Obviously that would still include the current full-time 4, but just like the core team that makes the software we all know and love (on good days, anyway), we would include people who have some dedicated time donated by their employers, and the self-employed/freelancers who’ve decided to make this a commitment as equally “official” members of the team, where some people do it full time and others are just a couple of hours per week (but they are good hours 🙂 ). If we knew for sure we could count on these people, we could start decentralizing responsibilities that are time-sensitive or that touch sensitive information to be shared by more people. This could get the full-time 4 out of the never-ending pit of backlog/reactive customer support, and we could focus some time on creating tools and processes to make things easier instead of always treading water (sometimes less successfully than anyone likes). Sound like a plan?

I’ve started reaching out to some business owners in the wp ecosystem that seem like a good fit for donating an employee’s time. It doesn’t need to be full-time (though wow that would be great); even a few hours each week can make a big difference if we know we can count on them no matter what. So:

  • If you have a business and would be willing to donate some employee time
  • If you are already volunteering on company time (or your own) and would like to make it official
  • If you are already volunteering but not on company time and would like help convincing your boss that it’s a good idea
  • If you are not yet volunteering but would like to, if you can convince your boss (or are willing to make the commitment on behalf of your own time)

…let me know. You can leave a comment here, or if you’d rather raise your hand less publicly, you can email me at jenmylo at wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/. I am happy to reach out to your boss if it seems like a good fit. We’re especially in need of people outside the US for both time zone and language reasons, but also just because our community team leadership should be representative of the community team itself, which spans dozens of countries.

Getting Trained

In the meantime, we are going to start training more people on how to do more stuff here, whether their bosses are paying them for it or not. We’ll do the first of these trainings (video format) on Tuesday, June 16 at 11am Pacific, 2pm Eastern, 6pm UTC and cover how to process 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. group applications and get organizers started with new groups or roll their current group into the chapter account. If this time doesn’t work for you, don’t worry, we’ll record it and post it, and will set up a another training in the future that’s friendlier to the Asia/Australia side of the world. If you are interested in attending the training on the 16th, please let us know in the comments so we can decide which format will work best (hangout, hangout on air+slackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/., zoom, etc) and we’ll give you the link to join that day. We’ll work out the topics of future trainings as we get feedback from the deputies and can take a more educated guess at which tasks will make the biggest impact if they are shared more widely.

Transparency

When we have more people doing the work, we’ll have more available time to work on things like tools for managing stuff, tracking progress, etc, and we can say goodbye to private google docs forever in favor of transparent information posted right here on this site. But first we need more people we can count on so that we can plan appropriately. Can you help?

 

#deputies, #community-management, #mentors, #training