Dashboards are more than just a collection of numbers and graphs; they are the pulse of a project. In the WordPress ecosystem, where collaboration and open-source principles guide us, dashboards can be a powerful team tool. Here’s why:
- Improved visibility and communication: Dashboards can provide a centralized place for team members to view key metrics and data, such as the number of open and closed issues, the number of commits made, and the number of tests passed. This can help improve visibility and communication across the team and ensure everyone is aware of the progress. Additionally, this can show progress to those seeking opportunities to contribute where help is most needed.
- Better decision-making: Dashboards can help teams make better decisions by giving them data-driven insights. This information can help them identify areas where they are doing well and where additional help is requested.
- Increased transparency: Dashboards can help increase transparency within the team by clarifying what is being worked on and what progress is being made. This can help to build trust and collaboration.
Which teams will be involved?
While feedback from all teams is needed, Sustainability and MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. teams are vital to this success.
Open-source sustainability is a multifaceted concept beyond just keeping a project alive. It’s about creating an ecosystem where the software, the community that builds it, and the organizations that rely on it can thrive long-term.
The Sustainability Team can foster gathering information, identifying metrics, and partnering with the Meta Team on proposed tools to help us reach these goals.
Recap of progress thus far
Building stats dashboards is not a new idea; various contributor teams have considered the idea or have created proposals for the same in the past. Here’s a non-exhaustive summary of the work done so far.
- In 2021, a kick-off post about dashboards reflecting team metrics was shared.
- This was followed by the Community Team, which explored the idea of a team stats dashboard.
- The Support Team also followed suit with its exploration of the dashboard idea
- The topic emerged recently during 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. Europe 2023, leading to the latest proposal in the Meta Team blog, reviving the idea.
Feedback requests: Your Voice Matters
Examples of how other various open-source projects measure the health of their organizations can be found at https://chaoss.community/kbtopic/all-metrics/.
- Active contributors to WordPress:
- What metrics would you like to see on a team dashboard?
- How would you use a team dashboard?
- How do we help ourselves (and future contributors) determine the right metrics?
- WordPress Team Reps:
- What metrics would be most helpful for you to track to represent your team effectively?
- What would help you make data-informed decisions or help you focus on your top priorities?
- WordPress Project Leadership
- What metrics would you like to see on a team dashboard to help you make informed decisions about your project?
- How would you use this data?
- Hosts, Plugins, Themes, SaaS, and Extender Ecosystem:
- What metrics and statistics would you like to see from teams throughout the WordPress Project?
- What data would help you support your customers?
- How would data help your organization contribute to WordPress?
- What data do you want to know regarding how your organization contributes?
- Agencies from solo entrepreneurs through enterprise agencies (& their customers):
- What metrics would be most helpful for you to track to manage your team’s workload and deliver high-quality results to your clients?
- What metrics might your customers want to know?
- What data do you want to know or have visible regarding how you or your organization contributes?
Conclusion: The Community’s Role in Dashboard Success
Your feedback is not just welcomed; it’s essential.
Dashboards can be a cornerstone in the success of open-source projects like WordPress. They can help us be more transparent, make better decisions, and ultimately, create a more robust and inclusive community.
We invite you to leave your thoughts, suggestions, and insights in the comments below. Your voice can help shape the future of dashboards within the WordPress community.
Please share your feedback by: Wednesday October 11, 2023
The following people contributed to this post: @harishanker