Jenkins Public Relations

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Tracy Miranda

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Jun 2, 2021, 1:43:33 PM6/2/21
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Hi all,

The Continuous Delivery Foundation (CDF) offers public relations (PR) services to all CDF projects e.g we co-ordinated the Jenkins Graduation announcement. 

Note: PR = public relations (not pull request) for this email
  
TL;DR I'd like to propose updates to https://www.jenkins.io/press/ and processes around PR announcements & related activities to formalize CDF providing PR support for Jenkins. 

Background:
Jenkins PR has been previously handled by Kohsuke, volunteer press contacts & the CloudBees PR team e.g Jenkins & AWSJenkins & Docker In 2020 CDF started taking on some of this e.g. fielding questions from reporters during DevOp World

While at the simplest level blog posts can serve as community announcements (and should continue to do so) PR offers that next level of support and services typically include:
- building relationships with relevant reporters in the space
- pitching newsworthy announcements to reporters
- co-ordinating announcements when there are multiple 3rd parties involved
- identifying & co-ordinating community folks to respond to incoming requests 
- tracking mentions and stories related to the project
- issuing corrections to reporters as needed (e.g this happens now & then around security advisories)

For Jenkins I'd suggest the press page be updated to p...@cd.foundation. 
At CD.Foundation we work with Jesse Casman of Story Changes Culture who would then sync with the governing board or any identified contacts (e.g security officer) to respond to incoming requests.

It would also be ideal to work with the community on a related growth-plan with at least 1-2 announcements targeted for the year. 

I'll wait to hear any feedback then go ahead and submit a pull request to reflect some of the suggested changes. 

Regards,
Tracy


Alyssa Tong

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Jun 4, 2021, 2:30:52 PM6/4/21
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+1 for CDF to handle Jenkins press releases. Having an experienced, dedicated resource on this is a valuable benefit, imo. 

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Oleg Nenashev

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Jun 4, 2021, 5:46:12 PM6/4/21
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I would be happy to have any kind of collaboration with the CDF Press team. We do not have many contributors in this area, and having a extra professional contributors would help the community a lot. At the same time I am -1 for just delegating press management to the Continuous Delivery Foundation or to any other entity outside the Jenkins community. It may happen on a case by case basis, but IMHO in must not be a default behavior.

We have 5 governance board members who represent the community. We also have 5 officers who represent the community within the area of their responsibility. Any component maintainer can represent a sub-community of that component. This is how the community represented, and I see no reason to change that. The https://www.jenkins.io/press/#press-contacts page referenced by Tracy is indeed dated and needs to be updated.

My counter-proposal is to work closely with the CDF and other interested parties under the umbrella of the Advocacy&Outreach SIG.
  • Advocacy&Outreach SIG coordinates PR for Jenkins, all interested individual and institutional contributors are welcome to join it.
  • The SIG provides a venue for coordination of the PR events and initiatives via its mailing list and regular meetings. Discourse might be also used once established.
  • If needed, we establish new dedicated channels for press communications where we have interested contributors, the CDF team, and other parties who want to join.
  • Private communications and NDAs, if needed for the PR activities, should be confirmed according to the standard Jenkins governance process.
> In 2020 CDF started taking on some of this e.g. fielding questions from reporters during DevOps World

I have a lot to say about these particular events, but this has nothing to do with the Jenkins community. DevOps World communications are managed by CloudBees, and in the particular case the company made a decision to channel questions to the CDF instead of letting some of its employees speak to reporters. No further comments, unrelated to the matter IMO.

Best regards,
Oleg Nenashev
Jenkins Governance Board Member

Tracy Miranda

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Jun 9, 2021, 5:05:53 PM6/9/21
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I find it curious that you refer to 'Continuous Delivery Foundationor to any other entity outside the Jenkins community' like it is an 'us' vs 'them' situation. CDF already provides a bunch of services to help grow the community e.g. marketing & events support to attract 900+ folks to contributor summit, support for gsoc admin, not to mention other aspects with infra, legal & training. I see PR very much as another service in this vein, which if done with a professional approach can greatly enhance community growth and perception. 
If I have given the impression that this means a PR firm steamrolls things then this is certainly not the case, everything is done in conjunction with governance board & maintainers. It remains my recommendation that the Jenkins community should take up the offer to have CDF manage the PR, but certainly at the very least make it clear in the processes how any organization or part of the community can co-ordinate an announcement in an effective manner. 

Tracy

Oleg Nenashev

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Jun 9, 2021, 5:34:08 PM6/9/21
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Hello Tracy,

I am not a native speaker, and maybe my statements came across wrongly. I wrote  "to the Continuous Delivery Foundation or to any other entity outside the Jenkins community". I do not consider the CDF an entity external to the Jenkins community. The Jenkins project is a part of the CDF, and I consider the CDF community and "extended family" of the Jenkins community. As you say there has been productive collaboration on so many topics. I neither say nor think that the CDF is external or "them" in your response. My opinion on this topic has been public on so many occasions, including the Jenkins at CDF graduation announcements. My opinion has not changed.

It remains my recommendation that the Jenkins community should take up the offer to have CDF manage the PR

We have an open governance process in the community, and we will vote on this matter. If the majority votes to accept the CDF's offer, I will accept this decision and contribute to its implementation. I am providing my feeedback, not making decisions for the community. Everyone is welcome to vote and comment in this thread.

If I have given the impression that this means a PR firm steamrolls things then this is certainly not the case, everything is done in conjunction with governance board & maintainers.
Sure. Whatever is decided, the PR should be a collaboration between the Jenkins community and the CDF. A third-party PR firm should be also able to take part of these communications, as well as any other individual and company contributor.

...  at the very least make it clear in the processes how any organization or part of the community can co-ordinate an announcement in an effective manner. 

I agree, the current Press page must be rewritten to capture the process. If you share contacts you'd like to be included in the loop of PR communications, I will add all these contacts to my proposal draft.

Best regards,
Oleg Nenasherv

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