It’s been an eternity since team reps were updated for the Core Team. @helen and I (@jeffpaul) have been serving since before Gutenberg development began, way longer than team reps usually would… so it’s time to talk about how we update Core team reps.
The Role
In the WordPress open source project, each team has on average one or two representatives, abbreviated as reps. Some teams have more than two, but for the sake of sanity sticking with two for now keeps things simpler. And for the historians out there, the role goes way back to 2012.
Historically with the Core team, the team rep duration was around a year, though some reps stuck around longer if there was a particularly good fit.
Anyone who serves as a “team rep” is responsible for communicating on behalf of the Core team to the other contributor groups via weekly updates, as well as occasional cross-team chats. Reps are also consulted on Contributor Day, helping find someone within the Core team attending an event who can help lead a Core table. Full details on the Team Rep role is on the Team Update site.
It is not called “team lead” for a reason. While people elected as team reps will generally come from the pool of folks that people think of as experienced leaders, remember that the team rep role is designed to change hands regularly.
This role has a time commitment attached to it. Not a huge amount, but in my experience, it’s at least one hour a week.
Here are the main tasks:
- Writing regular Core team recaps and posting it in Updates
- Keeping an eye on the moving parts of the team to be able to report for quarterly updates (example)
- Occasionally helping release leads with devchat agenda posts, chats, and summaries
More details on coordinating devchat are available in the Core handbook.
The Community Team has been running the following process which makes for a tried and tested model for the Core Team to similarly try out. Hat tip to @francina for sharing these details!
Nominating
Nominations happen in the comments of a Core Team Reps Election post (here’s a sample Community Team nominating post). Self-nominations are welcome. The deadline for nominations should be around two weeks.
If you want to nominate someone in private, please reach out to @current-team-rep-1 and @current-team-rep-2 on Slack.
Disclaimer: if you get nominated, please don’t feel like you have to say yes. The polls will only include the names of the people that are responding positively to a nomination. So feel free to reply with a “Thank you, but no thank you”.
Once the deadline has passed for nominating, a comment will be added and pinned to the top:
Nominations are now closed and voting is open until <voting deadline>. Voting details and link here: https://make.wordpress.org/core/<voting-link>/
Voting
After nominations have ended, a poll for voting will be opened and linked from a voting announcement post (here’s a sample Community Team voting post). It will stay open for around two weeks.
Once the deadline has passed for voting, a comment will be added and pinned to the top:
Voting has concluded and the new team reps will be announced on <date> during the Core devchat.
Once the results have been finalized and announced, a comment will be added and pinned to the top:
Selected Core Team reps are announced here: https://make.wordpress.org/core/<results-link>/
Results
After voting has ended, results should be shared in an announcement post (here’s a sample Community Team results post). Similarly, the new team rep(s) should be updated on the Team Reps page.
The outgoing team rep(s) should plan to be available for questions and consultation from the incoming team rep(s) as there will undoubtedly be a learning curve as new rep(s) get into the role.
Next steps
I will bring this proposal up in the next devchat on <date> and lacking any major concerns, will work to publish a nominating post after that devchat.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments. I will be happy to reply (or look to past team reps for input)… thanks!
#proposal, #team-reps
