New and Improved Chapter Processes in progress

[Andrew van der Stock]

Hi Board,

As part of our review of the way we handle chapter tickets, I found that the old process had too many steps and didn't enforce some of our policies. 

I've worked with our staff to reduce useless and wasteful duplication of effort, move the source of truth for chapters to GlueUp, and improve the end customer experience. This should improve the time taken to get to and process chapter tickets 

Specifically:

The new process assumes good intent - that is, the new chapter leaders want to hold a meeting within the first 60 days, and thus they need everything a chapter needs straight away to reduce delays in holding their first meeting. In return, the new process is streamlined, requiring a bit more upfront work by the proposed chapter leaders, but once the ticket is accepted, they will have a fully formed chapter within the SLA.

The new ticket will be a single step, including a leader acknowledgement using the agreement we had drawn up in 2020 rather than the unenforceable Wufoo form. We will delete all PII from Wufoo and move away from it entirely by the end of 2025. 

The new ticket requires applicants to be members before they submit it, thus reducing the time taken per ticket by up to 50 minutes (with five new leaders). This means that the new process only creates and deals with chapters, not members, simplifying the process and eliminating many back and forth steps. For example, in the old process, if five chapter leaders needed Google accounts, these would have to be created, and then we would have to wait for all of them to accept their invitation, and if they didn't accept it within 7 days, it would expire, creating even more work. That's all gone with the new process. They need to be members - paid or complimentary before they start.

The new ticket has a checklist of necessary items to be provided before we start the ticket timer. This has been a sticking point and has caused numerous delays. Tickets without sufficient or correct information will be returned to the requester until fixed. 

Once a ticket has been validated, the process will start and conclude in one go, with no more pauses between creation steps. In the past, tickets might sit in limbo for a few weeks while the leaders organize themselves enough to get a Meetup. In the new process, the GitHub pages, GlueUp chapter leader tagging, and Meetup will all be created simultaneously. This means the ticket will be closed as soon as the chapter is created. We will see if we can automate this process completely, reducing the time needed to process a ticket to a few minutes. 

A new welcome letter is being prepared to provide the new Chapter leaders with all the necessary resources and information they need to succeed. 

As there is a chance that some chapters will not have a meeting within the first 60 days (as required by policy), tasks will be created in GlueUp or Monday.com to follow up and help those chapters succeed. Although more than policy requirements, if they haven't met by 90 days, the chapter and its meetup will be disabled and removed completely after 120 days. 

One of the key issues that has gotten us into a problem in the past is how close the proposed chapter is to an existing chapter. The new ticket will require an address for the proposed chapter meeting, and we will compare that in Google Maps to our chapter list. As there are policy reasons why chapters can exist close together, we are changing from "no", to "let's ask the existing leaders their opinion, before a decision is made." This will delay the creation of nearby chapters by a few days, but it will mean that any such chapters will be created with consent. This is to allow chapters like Rotterdam and Amsterdam to co-exist, because of the time it takes to get between them. 

Lastly, we will no longer ask for leaders' home addresses in the ticket. We will require that the proposed chapter leader enter their PII in GlueUp, which is designed to hold that information, until the Chapter policy is amended to remove the requirement to live within 80 km of a chapter. There will be no more PII in the Jira ticket. 

I will be watching the metrics for the chapter process closely, looking to see if it's meeting its SLAs more often as a result of these changes. If we need more changes and optimizations, we will do so. 

This brings up several points for the Board to consider:

• We need to pass the 2022 era Chapter policy so that the new process can adhere to the policy and bring some certainty for regional chapters. I will be reviewing the policy for any issues and putting it out to public comment before the July Board meeting, to approve it in the August Board meeting
• I strongly recommend that the requirement for leaders to live within 80 km is removed, as we do not require them to keep their information up to date, and if they move, we will never know. The KPI for chapters is not where you live, but if you managed to hold at least three meetings a year. This is the critical part. I want to eliminate this time-consuming step that adds no value, as long as the chapter meets regularly.  
• Lastly, we should do a review of student chapters. They aren't working. Suppose a review finds that they aren't meeting and not achieving our mission. In that case, we reform student chapters into virtual chapters with meetings in three time zones a month and encourage the chapter members to attend their local city chapter instead. Most student chapters are either an end run around who controls the city chapter, or they are dormant and used solely for resume fluffing. Neither of which serves our mission. 

Thoughts and comments welcome. 

thanks,

Andrew