[SeasonOfDocs] Communication channels

Wed Jul 3 14:29:16 PDT 2019

I’ve gotta say, I’m not a big fan of the emails. I’ve seen Slack work really well and I think the only box it doesn’t tick here is the archiving. Boo! I understand it’s quite expensive to upgrade from the free version so that is a bummer.

I can get on board with the emails. At the moment we are covering a lot of different convo topics on the one [SeasonOfDocs] list. I imagine once we’re in our new home, we can have a list for things like governance, licensing, etc.

> On 4 Jul 2019, at 7:14 am, Jennifer Rondeau <jennifer.rondeau at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> +100 to all
> 
> A CoC is part of why I asked about governance in our Monday meeting -- I took a look at the OSGeo Foundation website, and feel pretty good about operating under their umbrella, including their CoC. The CoC itself is more detailed than I think useful, but the reporting guidelines are excellent. We'll need to decide on -- and make public -- a group to deal with CoC issues, too.
> 
> On Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 3:59 PM Erin McKean <emckean at google.com> wrote:
>> Also under the heading of metadocumentation: as we open up to more contributors, we should have a Communication Guidelines page that expresses what channels are best for which kinds of questions/discussion/issues, and what to expect in terms of MTTA (mean time to answer), how/when to escalate (hint: it's not twenty minutes after posting by putting the project on blast on social media ...), and what channels we ignore/use in a limited fashion (eg "don't @ us on Instagram, we aren't there officially and won't answer questions posed there; our Twitter is announcements-only, DMs are closed"). CommGuidelines should also link to the relevant Code of Conduct.
>> 
>> Speaking of which, we should have a CoC sooner rather than later! 
>> 
>> Erin
>> 
>>> On Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 12:35 PM Jennifer Rondeau <jennifer.rondeau at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I like Cameron's list of communication channels, but I'd amend the description of one of them, and suggest that we include one more pair of related items (which I assume we'll be using anyway, but it could be useful to spell it out in this context too):
>>> 
>>> - amend: with the requirement of an agenda created ahead of time, it's my experience that larger video conference meetings, if held regularly, can be great facilitators of project and community velocity, and of general good will. This suggestion isn't meant to replace smaller ad hoc or regular meetings, however.
>>> 
>>> - add: GitHub issues and pull requests. We're not ready for these yet, but IME these can also be useful communication tools if guidelines for their use are set up appropriately. And it's also useful to recommend when to file an issue and when to file a PR. (Especially with doc-related changes (as opposed to new docs), a PR without an issue can make a lot of sense, even if it flies in the face of certain conventions.)
>>> 
>>>> On Wed, Jul 3, 2019 at 3:10 PM Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Clarence,
>>>> 
>>>> Felicity has set up https://thegooddocs.slack.com for us already, which we can start using (although name may change). There is a good chance we will rebrand ourselves within the next few weeks, depending upon conversations Jennifer will be       starting between us and the WriteTheDocs Guide community.
>>>> 
>>>> I'd like to hear input on what communication channels we should use. Most of my Open Source work is on mature projects, 10+ years old, where conversations mainly happen on email lists, sometimes with an IRC channel as well. However, as I look into setting up a new project, it appears email lists are not provided by default open source hosting providers.
>>>> 
>>>> Do people have opinions on what communication channels we should use? Each communication channel is optimised for different cadences and use cases.
>>>> 
>>>> I'm inclined to suggest making use of:
>>>> 
>>>> Email lists:
>>>> * Good for 1 day cadence, crossing timezones and working within volunteer schedules
>>>> * People tend to choose words carefully, allowing the community to grow to 50+ people relatively efficiently.
>>>> * Can be archived to later searching
>>>> 
>>>> Video conferencing:
>>>> * Very personal which helps to build trust
>>>> * Facilitates fast brain storming
>>>> * Becomes unwieldy beyond 8+ people
>>>> * Good for weekly cadence for small teams, or adhoc meetings for 2 or 3 people
>>>> 
>>>> Chat (eg slack):
>>>> * Sits between email and video
>>>> * Good for fast turnaround conversations, which can expand to ~ 30 people
>>>> * Doesn't archive well
>>>> 
>>>>> On 4/7/19 2:30 am, Clarence Cromwell wrote:
>>>>> This project has a number of good things happening already. Would it be possible to have a slack group for this? 
>>>>> It seems that we need a way to follow multiple conversations simultaneously, and email is no longer the best tool for that. 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> SeasonOfDocs mailing list
>>>>> SeasonOfDocs at lists.osgeo.org
>>>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/seasonofdocs
>>>> -- 
>>>> Cameron Shorter
>>>> Technology Demystifier
>>>> Open Technologies and Geospatial Consultant
>>>> 
>>>> M +61 (0) 419 142 254
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>> 
>> 
>> -- 
>> Erin McKean | Developer Relations Program Manager, Open Source Strategy | emckean at google.com | she/her
>> 
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