Objective: Create an easier-to-follow milestone template for localeLocale Locale = language version, often a combination of a language code and a region code, for instance es_MX denotes Spanish as it’s used in Mexico. A list of all locales supported by WordPress in https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/ managers/GTEs to effectively prioritize tasks & stay engaged and motivated 💪

Training new contributors and teams have been brought up a few times in the past year, most recently in the 2022 team planning post.

We made some progress last year by creating a training course for contributors on Learn WordPress and running a few live workshops. This year, we can move one more step forward by building on what we’ve done so far.

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Pain Points for Teams

Some of the pain points polyglots contributors encounter include:

• Feeling overwhelmed by the number of tasks ahead
• Finding more contributors
• Keeping contributors engaged (including yourself)
• Establishing & educating translation guidelines for the team

There is no quick fix for these, that’s why we need to look at what’s required for a successful long-term contribution as a team.

Feeling overwhelmed and losing motivation over time tend to be especially big reasons for losing interest in contributing.

Milestone Template

How about making it easier to see what’s ahead AND celebrating milestones by creating a sample template?

Learning from the success of the Community Team Deputy Program and WordCamp mentorship, I propose creating a list that can provide an overview of the tasks ahead.

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 once built a spreadsheet called “WordCamp Milestones/Level of Effort” for organizer team lead to use, which lists tasks broken down by teams and timeframes. This is now incorporated into the dashboard of every WordCamp website as a “Planning Checklist”.

Now, Polyglots teamPolyglots Team Polyglots Team is a group of multilingual translators who work on translating plugins, themes, documentation, and front-facing marketing copy. https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/teams/. contribution isn’t exactly like WordCamp planning, but a similar model could work for us.

Just an example – we could divide the effort into 4 phases (1. Key Translation, 2. Team Expansion, 3. Continuous Collaboration, and 4. Further Growth) with a list of priority tasks and goals for each phase.

This is NOT meant to be forcing any team to strictly follow one path, but rather a guiding checklist to understand the area to focus on for each timeframe.

(EDIT: Added a sample sheet for small teams below)

Sample milestones for a small team & larger team (sample only, items to be refined)

Optional: Mentor Assignment

The WordCamp mentoring process is documented extensively and a specific mentor is assigned to WordCamp organizers.

For locale teams that are just starting out or struggling to break out of inactivity, it could help to have an assigned mentor who periodically checks in to help resolve any blockers.

Feedback Wanted

• What do you think of the idea of creating a sample milestone template?
• How do you feel about the 4 phases? (Key Translation / Team Expansion / Continuous Collaboration / Further Growth)
• Do you think something like this will be useful for your team?

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This post was written in collaboration with @evarlese, and reviewed by other global mentors. Thanks!

#milestone-template, #training