Task 0: first task for the working group

[Javier Gomez]

WELCOME TO THE WORKING GROUP

CONTEXT OF THE GROUP
Please read the following message that was posted on the leadership
group: http://groups.google.com/group/joomla-leadership/msg/9ecf9a1230c39606?hl=en

WORKING GROUP GOAL
write clear recomendations about adding some changes in the actual
leadership structure in the Joomla Project. The recommendations will
be written for the members of the leadership team (Production
Leadership Team, Community Leadership Team and Open Source Matters) to
be discussed during the Joint Summit that will take place in May.
TIME TO ACCOMPLISH THE GOAL:
Time: 7 weeks (until the week before J And Beyond http://jandbeyond.org/)

PLEASE, ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
Which in your opinion should be the main topics to be discussed by
this team?
Which in your opinion should be the methodology to work as a team to
use to achieve the goal?
Which in your opinion should be the agenda for the team to achieve the
goal?
Could you suggest a name for this working team?

[Alan Langford]

Which in your opinion should be the main topics to be discussed by this team?

1) What is the definition of the problem we're trying to solve?

I'm not talking vague here. I mean specifically, what are the issues that affect the success and growth of the project. Each of us should be able to come up with a (perhaps lengthy) list of issues, large and small. Let's hone these down to the things we collectively feel are the most important, and then measure the strength of our recommendations by how well they address those issues.

2) What are the objectives of the Joomla Project? Can we form clear mission and vision statements that will be embraced by the many communities that form the project?

Personally, I've heard more than enough nonsense about the "Joomla community" like it was some great mass of people with a common objective all working in harmony and without conflict. In my opinion, the project is a collection of tribes. Although all tribes want to see the project succeed, there are rational and sensible reasons why each tribe can have a different -- sometimes conflicting-- interpretation of success and how to achieve it. This group is charged with the mission of constructing a structure that ensures each group is represented, capable of thriving, and of doing so without undue detriment to others. It's a large task.

3) What are these tribes of community; what are their needs?

I don't think it's possible to build a coherent vision of the project without systematically identifying the tribes and defining their needs, wants, and objectives.

4) Perhaps obviously: what structure supports the requirements that emerge from answering the first three questions?

Which in your opinion should be the methodology to work as a team to use to achieve the goal?

1) Attempt to come up with coherent responses to questions 1 and 3 by a discussion on this list (or anywhere else that works -- Skype, Google Hangout, whatever).
2) Post our results and invite submissions (as in, one response per person, not a never-ending thread somewhere).
3) Review the responses and decide if we've got a solid foundation (if not, return to step 1, rinse and repeat).
4) Tackle question 2 using the same approach.
5) Brainstorm structures and measure them against the objectives.
6) Write the result up in the most brief and coherent way possible. Create supplementary documentation that details the reasoning behind the recommendations.

Which in your opinion should be the agenda for the team to achieve the goal?

Methodology above + dates = agenda. We have an end date, let's work backwards.

Could you suggest a name for this working team?

1) Farnsworth
2) JLS-WG
3) What's in a name?

[Javier Gomez]

Thanks Alan

Let's wait until everybody could answer and then we will have a look
at all the answers.

Here are mine:

** 1.- Which in your opinion should be the main topics to be discussed
by this team? **
IMO we are doing a good job but we can always do better. So here are
the main topics that in my opinion should be improved:
- "Internal Communication": improve communication between the
leadership teams: PLT, CLT and OSM. And be able to define global Goals
for the project.
- "External Communication": improve communication between "the
community" and the "Leadership and Working Groups".
- "Participation": improve the documentation about how to reach a
leadership positions. Implement measurable goals for teams and
members. Define terms...
- "Structure": Adapt the leadership structure to make it able to deal
with needs that affects different leadership teams.
- "Internationalization": Increase the International members on
leadership positions.


** 2.- Which in your opinion should be the methodology to work as a
team to use to achieve the goal? **
IMO to get results in this few time we should do:
- Do a 1st Skype voice meeting
- Find the main topics to be worked on and define a lead coordinator
for each topic
- Each coordinator will send to the other members questions/polls
(google doc form or surveymonkey) to be filled with other members
ideas and by the community. The results will be written in the final
recommendations document


** 3.- Which in your opinion should be the agenda for the team to
achieve the goal? **
1st to 5th week: Answer individually some questions every week(like
the ones that we are doing now). Those answers will become the base
for the final document.
6th: Create the first version of the final document
7th: Review the final document to be send to the leadership team

** 4.- Could you suggest a name for this working team? **
Group working on Joomla Leadership Structure changes recommendations

Thanks for reading and waiting for your ideas.

> >http://groups.google.com/group/joomla-leadership/msg/9ecf9a1230c39606...

>
> > WORKING GROUP GOAL
> > write clear recomendations about adding some changes in the actual
> > leadership structure in the Joomla Project. The recommendations will
> > be written for the members of the leadership team (Production
> > Leadership Team, Community Leadership Team and Open Source Matters) to
> > be discussed during the Joint Summit that will take place in May.
> > TIME TO ACCOMPLISH THE GOAL:

> > Time: 7 weeks (until the week before J And Beyondhttp://jandbeyond.org/)

[Jeremy Wilken]

Which in your opinion should be the main topics to be discussed by this team?

Alan has already summarized very well, though I’m not sure how well we can or even if we are tasked with defining clear goals for the Joomla Project. I will just add to it.

I’d like to see us also take a look at the leadership composition. No political structure functions without understanding of the nature of those who work inside of it.

We also describe the current leadership as a meritocracy, is this the right system? What strengths and weaknesses does it have, and does it fit the needs of Joomla?

We have to be realistic about what we can do, and what we actually should be doing. Anything that we add to our list of todos may very well limit our ability to do a good job.

Which in your opinion should be the methodology to work as a team to use to achieve the goal?

I’d like to suggest we do a very simple survey of the current leadership team. Ask questions like “How many years have you been on leadership?” “How many teams have you been apart of?” “What do you consider your best achievement on leadership?”. A mixture of quantitative and qualitative questions will provide us some insight into the current functionality of the teams.

Beyond that, I think it makes sense due to our limited time and size,  to have each individual responsible for formulating the initial draft of a specific aspect.

Which in your opinion should be the agenda for the team to achieve the goal?

At the halfway point we should have something that can be made public for people to see and respond to. A week before JAB the final version should be done so people have some time to review it before the meeting.

Could you suggest a name for this working team?

Names are overrated. Lets just focus on what we need to do instead of worrying about a name.

[Peter Martin]

** 1.- Which in your opinion should be the main topics to be discussed by this team? **

Structure & Accountability
Internationalisation
Cooperation between joomla.org and local communities
Process communication

** 2.- Which in your opinion should be the methodology to work as a team to use to achieve the goal? **

a. Agree on the goal & process
b. Skype voice and/or chat meeting (I think that direct communication is faster and more effective then email)

** 3.- Which in your opinion should be the agenda for the team to achieve the goal? **

I like Alan's idea: "Methodology above + dates = agenda. We have an end date, let's work backwards."

** 4.- Could you suggest a name for this working team? **
Joomla Project Structure WG
Joomla Structure WG

Greetings,
Peter Martin

[Javier Gomez]

TASK 0: Conclusions

Thanks for sharing  your ideas. I have collected them and I would like to share my thoughts on what can be the next steps:

1. mixing all your ideas for the group name I have ended with: Joomla Project Structure Working Group. Does anyone find anything against that name?
2. Moving back to the conclusions,we all mentioned that there are GENERAL PROBLEMS that need to be solved, and we pointed some of them. For example, Peter mentioned the Internationalization, the accountability or the Structure. Alan proposed a task that would be to "identify what issues affect the success and growth of the project".  
3. We also mentioned things that has to do with the LEADERSHIP DECISIONS AND STRUCTURE. Alan mentioned that we should know what are the objectives of the Joomla! project and we should find the answer to "what structure supports the requirements, problems and teams of the actual project". Jeremy also pointed the Meritocracy as an item to debate.
4. Finally we all agreed that we have no much time. And some of us thought that a good methodology is to work using surveys and maybe do a Skype voice meeting.
   

So here is my proposal for the work of this team, and I will be happy to know your thoughts on that. The work will be split in three phases:

• Phase 1 (2 weeks): Identify general problems of the project from different perspectives.
  Work using surveys and do a Skype meeting at the end.
  
• Phase 2 (3 weeks): Study the actual Joomla Project structure, and the proposed leadership structure changes. Compare it with other similar projects. Find concrete problems & solutions related to the leadership structure.
  Work using surveys and do a Skype meeting at the end.
• Phase 3 (2 weeks): Write the recommendations document for the leadership members to be a tool for them when they will have the meeting for working on leadership structure changes. Work on the Skype chatroom and on a shared google doc.

If there is no comments against let's start the Phase 1. I'm going to prepare a first survey related to identify General Problems in the project.

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Javier Gomez
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