Mentor Program 2017

In recent years we’ve seen an increasing number of new authors and reviewers join the Theme Review team. In itself this is fantastic, to see the community growing and thriving as it is. However, we must recognize that reviewing a theme is not a simple task and there is a significant learning curve that needs to be overcome by new reviewers. To aid in the development of those new, or otherwise inexperienced reviewers, we can put in place programs to support the needs of such reviewers. A program which may help meet this need is a potential mentoring program.

The purpose of a mentoring program will be to support reviewers with any questions they have in-ticket. Reviewers can of course currently ask questions in the #themereview channel, however the purpose of the mentor is to support with specific issues for that ticket, as opposed to general review questions. The task of a mentor would be very simple and currently the following is being proposed.

• Answer with specific questions asked by the reviewer.
• Perform quick read of the reviewer feedback to ensure it’s broadly in line with expectations (e.g. Are the required items genuinely required?).
• The mentor is not be expected to review the theme, this remains the responsibility of the reviewer. However, where possible they should attempt to scan the theme for any obvious issues.

In the past, as many of you may remember, there was such a mentoring program in place. However, one of the factors which resulted in its discontinuation was the time commitment needed by mentors to support reviewers. Currently the plan for the proposed program is for mentors to only be assigned to tickets if a reviewer specifically requests a mentor. A single mentor will be assigned to the ticket, however the mentor may themselves be supporting a number of tickets.

Such a program has a number of potential benefits such as:

• More high quality initial reviews.
• Fewer reopened tickets.
• More experienced reviewers and authors over time.
• Faster review times resulting in a shorter queue.

Have an idea for the mentor program? Please do leave a comment below with any ideas / thoughts you have about potential mentoring program.

Are you interested in being a mentor? Great! Please leave a comment below expressing your interest and we’ll reach out to you directly.

Are you a reviewer in need of a mentor? Please leave a comment below with a link to your ticket stating that you’d like a mentor and we’ll do our best to assign a mentor asap.