For reference, here are the notes from last night’s team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts. dinner.
Combining Teams
Heated discussion about combining teams vs combining blogs re Support/Docs. References to Automattic subteam structure sounded good to some, not to others. In combined team structure, would look at subteams for IRC, video transcription, codex, international forums, etc in addition to existing handbooks and forums groups.
For now, will combine events and outreach as subteams under Community umbrella and will combine blogs, to show what we meant. Support and Docs will combine rep role to provide one update but will not combine blogs at this time. They will try to work on outreach to the invisible subteams above.
Reps vs Leads
Agreement that it’s a murky distinction and that the experienced subject matter experts shouldn’t necessarily be what is basically an admin as well, and that the ‘team rep’ as we set it up might need some revision. Agreement also that the admin role can be a good way to increase a contributor’s responsibility and grow them into a lead.
@jenmylo, @drewapicture, @mordauk, and @samuelsidler will work on a proposal for how to recognize and label the different roles, and will bring it to this group (and Matt) for discussion.
Monthly Chat
Some reps were more interested in this than others, but we’re going to try it. @samuelsidler was volunteered to pick a recurring day/time. We’ll change the day/time every three months so that no one has to wake up at 3am for chat more than a few times.
The Job
Being a rep isn’t just about posting an update (also, reps that haven’t been posting updates, get going), but about bringing news from other teams back to your group and then bringing their response/suggestions/concerns back here, and about working with other team reps when there are cross-group initiatives (docs + pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party review on the plugin dev handbook was one example).
The job description is still at https://make.wordpress.org/updates/team-reps/ below the list of current reps. When we have an agreed-upon proposal for reps/leads, we’ll revise the job description. We’ll try to use fewer words and more bullets so it’s not too much to read.
Summit
Lots of discussion around what/where/when to do with summit, though all agreed we need to do another one. Early 2014 is the target timing. Many locations were discussed, including Tybee, hubs like Atlanta/Boston/Toronto/London/Paris/Chicago, other European cities, South America, Caribbean, Texas, smaller cities. No decision made.
@jenmylo, @siobhan, @samuelsidler, and @aaroncampbell will investigate some of the front-runner locations with regard to travel costs, accessibilityAccessibility Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both “direct access” (i.e. unassisted) and “indirect access” meaning compatibility with a person’s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accessibility), and the cozy factor. General agreement that the cozy factor was worth a little more money and a little more inconvenience in travel if the summit is a few days long. We’ll bring back 2-3 suggestions and take a vote to decide the location/dates.
Elections
We are overdue on elections, but the reps/leads thing should be defined first so people know what they are getting into. Will run elections soon after WCSF to get back on track.
Also-Rans
If any of the team reps who weren’t at the dinner would like to volunteer for the summit research team or the role revision team, let me know.