Details on the One-Year Ohio Team Plan
I am now starting what I call the “One Year Ohio Team Plan”. My goal is by this time next year to have hit every objective I laid out in my last post. As part of this, let me go into detail on my plan, and start working on the radical transparency aspect.
Let’s get to it.
Team Restructuring
We have some systemic issues with the team structure. It’s a rabid free-for-all of inactivity. This is due to plenty of ( valid! ) reasons, and something I am going to fix A.S.A.P.
Change to a decentralized architecture
First-off, I am moving how the LoCo is organized by moving some administrative tasks to the members. I am going to create subteams inside the LoCo, and run by local members. They will all be part of the Ohio LoCo, but local activities, and basic day-to-day functions will be run by them, and not by the Ohio LoCo contact ( me ). This is, in part, because I can not travel to far outside of Cleveland, and it would be unfair to only host events in Cleveland. On my list so far are teams that support North East Ohio, Toledo, Columbus, and Cincinnati.
I also expect local integration — the N.E.O. team should be in touch with West PA, as should Toledo with Michigan, and Cincinnati with Indiana. Cross LoCo team work is great, people! The more locations the better! It’s sometimes more convenient to go to events on the Ohio border if you are not in Ohio if the main event is farther away. We have seen this a bit with West PA ( although I have yet to see any of them at our events, yes I’m talking to you western PA-er ).
Change of LoCo governance
From now on, I would like to see every Ubuntu Member, Canonical Employee, and LoLoCo Lead have a vote on any team decisions.
Oh, stop booing! If you are a lay member of the LoCo, get involved! The more active you are, the better chance you have of making a extended, sustained contribution to Ubuntu, and then become part of the team leadership.
That being said, I am going to keep any votes public. All issues will be discussed with the team first, and then voted on by the Administration. 2/3 majority to pass, with the LoCo lead having a final say on critical decisions. That last clause should almost NEVER be used. The “Big Red Button” is only there for issues that divide the LoCo.
Increased Transparency in the Team.
This is a big one, folks. This is a Mission-critical objective. Following is my outline of how to achieve this ( critical ) task.
Weekly Mailings
Every week, the LoCo lead will write a newsletter to keep everyone aware of the day-to-day changes being made, or upcoming events. This newsletter should be publicly available, and sent to the Mailing List. Excerpts will be ( eventually ) be posted to Identi.ca, and Twitter, keeping subscribed members up to date with a clear and concise update. Monthly team reports will be written and also published in a public fashion, and should include the last few weeks worth of news, and any current news. If applicable, a summery should be added to it ( how the event went, photos ).
Management Software
As some of you know, I am a programmer. I am going to start writing new code to help more effectively communicate and manage the team. All ( 100% ) of the software done for the Ohio LoCo will be published under the GNU GPLv3, and free ( as in price ). All documents submitted to the Ohio LoCo’s interface will be freely available under the FDL ( Free Document License ).
Team Involvement
Every LoCo suffers from members dropping off. It happens. It’s part of having a volunteer based community.
Virtual Presence
We are a bunch of nerds. Let’s accept it. So let’s do it digitally. This will involve an all-out-assault on every social network. My ( still in progress ) LoCo bot will be able to span identi.ca, twitter, facebook, email, IRC and SMS. All of these will be mashed up into one large macro-network network. Members will be able to get the message out about that next install-fest, or release party. It should be effortless to communicate with the team. It’s amazing to look at other LoCos, such as Pennsylvania, demonstrate such an amazingly active community over IRC. Unlike the Ohio IRC channel, I have never once seen more then four or five join / part messages in a row, and no, it’s not because of a lack of members :). I would like to achieve that by this time next year.
Regular Events
I received a dent from the ( great ) Jorge Castro about the Ubuntu Hour. I am adopting this in Cleveland, and I hope that the other LoLoCo leads will follow suit. Release parties, and Bug Jams will become regular, and well supported.
Giving back to Ohio
I iz in yer state helping yer public services.
Let’s get involved with libraries, schools and give back. It’s all about Humanity to Others. Nothing is too little. This is a lower-priority item, as it was done before, and failed due to a lack of funding. I’d rather get other items set, and then work to the community once the team as a whole is stable.
11 Responses to “Details on the One-Year Ohio Team Plan”
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[...] http://blog.paultags.com/2009/11/details-on-the-one-year-ohio-team-plan/ a few seconds ago from Choqok [...]
I live in the a western suburb(Lakewood) and am very much interested in having a group started around this area of Ohio, I know a few “Ubuntu Addicts” but I suspect it is like other groups I belong to, everything seems to go on out east of Cleveland, I don’t know if the people on the east side are more joiners than westsiders or what it is, but there has to be a way to get people more information as to what is available and where it is available, I personally have seen maybe two mentions of the westside group forming and then nothing more. I will mention the group forming to the other people but need some info as to what exactly is happening and when to get them out to the location.
Thanks,
Bob K.
Regarding the success of Pennsylvania’s IRC channel, there are a few key things we’ve done to make this happen:
Have a core group of people who lurk there frequently and say hello to people who join.
Have a web chat link on the website (you SAY we’re all nerds, but it turns out not everyone in #ubuntu-us-pa is, giving an entry point that is simple is a big help, we can move them to real IRC clients once we get them hooked!)
Along the same lines, when we install Ubuntu systems for folks – set up IRC and make it simple for them to use it and let them know they can join to ask for any help they need.
Put the IRC channel (along with mailing list, forums, website URL…) on businesscards to hand out advertising the team at events.
Finally, you know this because you’re there :) but for others who may read this – “on topic” is very loose in the channel, we’re friends so we chat about xkcd and movies, we are a support team who will stop the chatter when a real support request comes up, and we plan meetings and events in the channel.
[...] the original: Paul Tagliamonte: Details on the One-Year Ohio Team Plan Share and [...]
@Bob:
I would LOVE to see West Cleveland have their own ReLoCo. I think the Rule of 30 ( minutes ) should really be put in play. Pop onto IRC, and we can hammer out some details, I have a few ideas in store >:), not to mention having more then one spot in Cleveland will be outstanding.
#ubuntu-us-oh on irc.freenode.net
@Bob, I’m in Lakewood too (and I know of at least 2 other Ubuntu-folks in Lakewood, coworkers of mine), I’d definitely be up for a Western Suburbs ReLoCo, perhaps pulling in folks from Rocky River and Westlake too. I don’t have much experience at all organizing things like this, but I’m certainly willing to throw my hat in to assist however I can!
[...] Yesterday, the Ubuntu-ve team made a great effort and had a meet up to celebrate Karmic’s release we had an awesome turn up. The highlight of this meeting was the plan we will be folloeing during the Lucid release cycle to improve as a LoCo team. As a member of the LoCo Council, I follow closely the great achievements of teams and one idea in the past month generated synergy for our team, the One-Year Ohio Team Plan. [...]
If someone is interested in doing something around Dayton please contact me.
I’ve been doing Ubuntu workshops for libraries for the past year, own several domains and can host, have a 12-seat lab and access to a warehouse full of low-end computers which need a home.
Let me know how I can help
I live in NE Ohio near Akron (Copley Township). I’d love to participate in any way I can. I signed up for the LOCO mailing list just (BTW, thanks for the “Spam” inviitation). I’ll definitely see about getting on IRC as well. Now, back to work!
Hey @Gerald, @Jim, and @Ken:
Sorry this took so long, Wordpress never let me know that I had new comments! My most sincere apologies, guys!
@Ken, let’s chat over Email or IRC — Stuff is in the works, and I would love to coordinate
@Jim, We have a few members in the Dayton area, as above, give me an email, and be sure to join the Mailing List, we’ll find a home for you yet!
@Gerald: Let’s get in touch as well. We have a brand new Akron group and I think they could use some community backup! I’ll shoot you an email CCing the local lead :)
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