Request for Ubuntu Doc Leadership
Svetlana Belkin
belkinsa at fastmail.fm
Thu Mar 17 17:49:04 UTC 2016
That might not work so well but that's maybe because i had hard time
running meetings in the past in the doc team.
On Thu, Mar 17, 2016, at 01:34 PM, Hannie Dumoleyn wrote:
> May I suggest to divide the meeting
with the docs team in 3 parts: 1. desktop documentation, 2. server
guide, 3. community help wiki (30 minutes each). By doing so,
attendants can decide whether to follow each part or not.
>
Btw, I suppose the time in Doodle is UTC?
>
Hannie
>
>
Op 16-03-16 om 19:30 schreef David Planella:
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Apologies for the delay, which was on my end. We've been
discussing the topic on our team call and we'd like to
propose a meeting with the docs team. While the original e-
mail covers the issue in great detail, and we've got some
ideas, we'd like to get the doc's team views and come up
together with a plan moving forward.
>>
>> I'd like to propose some dates for a meeting, to be
reviewed around the end of the week to pick a date. If you
are a member of the docs team or if you are interested to
help, please choose the date(s) that work for you. If you
are willing to attend and the timezones are an issue, please
let me know as well, and I can add an extra choice:
>> http://doodle.com/poll/dqsryhnkfwgantb2
>>
>>
And an initial agenda (feel free to edit):
>> http://pad.ubuntu.com/doc-team
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> David.
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 4, 2016 at 12:03 AM,
Elizabeth K. Joseph <lyz at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello
community team,
>>>
>>>
We are approaching you on behalf of the Ubuntu
Documentation team to
>>>
ask for assistance with the issues the team is undergoing.
>>>
>>>
The Ubuntu Documentation team maintains the following
documentation:
>>>
– The desktop documentation at https://help.ubuntu.com/
>>>
– The serverguide at https://help.ubuntu.com/
>>>
– The community help wiki at
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/
>>>
>>>
We maintain documentation for how this documentation is
maintained at
>>> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam
>>>
>>>
The team is loosely organized in three subteams, each team
taking care
>>>
of one of the components mentioned above. In each team we
have only a
>>>
few people that can be considered active; some of those
only barely.
>>>
The state of all of the components can be described to be
more or less
>>>
stalled and in desperate the need of more
contributors. With the
>>>
string freeze for Documentation just a couple weeks away
(March 17),
>>>
at this point we risk not having updated documentation for
16.04,
>>>
particularly for the Desktop.
>>>
>>>
In the case of the community help wiki, the situation is
even worse;
>>>
not only has it encountered spam attacks lately (which
only mean more
>>>
work for the admins, who have been manually applying
documentation
>>>
"patches" that contributors send to the ubuntu-doc
mailing list), it
>>>
also has a lot of content that is completely outdated,
useless and
>>>
unstructured. Due to the spam attacks, most community
members can't
>>>
currently take any action to improve the situation.
>>>
>>>
Following a meeting with the Community Council[0], we
have begun to
>>>
identify what we feel the team needs, both in the short and
long term.
>>>
>>>
We believe one of the major underlying issues to this
situation is the
>>>
teams inability to make decisions. The active and not so
active team
>>>
members all have their own opinion on which tasks are
sensible to take
>>>
on a certain component. This is especially problematic as
sometimes we
>>>
have had volunteers signed up to do the work, but the team
has wanted
>>>
to consider the issue further, ultimately stalling the
process. When
>>>
most efforts to improve the situation seem to be in
vain, it is no
>>>
wonder the team is not attracting new contributors either.
>>>
>>>
As the Documentation team does not have a leader to steer
the overall
>>>
direction, there is no way to easily resolve the problem.
>>>
Additionally, for various reasons, nobody from the current
>>>
contributors is willing to step up and take the
leadership position.
>>>
>>>
Our request and recommendation for the community team at
Canonical is
>>>
to bring some leadership to the team from outside of the
team.
>>>
Ideally, the person would be a Canonical employee who
would have part
>>>
of their paid work assigned to working with the
Documentation team. We
>>>
think the request is fair considering the documentation
is important
>>>
and useful to many Ubuntu users and thus valuable to
Canonical.
>>>
>>>
We believe that a stable, fresh and adequately objective
leadership
>>>
could help the team resolve the underlying issues and
ultimately,
>>>
start growing the contributor base again. As part of and
in addition
>>>
to leading and guiding the team, the leader could take on
the
>>>
following tasks:
>>>
– Work as a mediator with the members to resolve
disagreements, be
>>>
able to reach a consensus and get along with the work
>>>
– Work with other Canonical employees, encouraging them
to take part
>>>
more in writing documentation, especially with the
components they are
>>>
working with themself
>>>
– Work with the Canonical IS team to resolve technical
difficulties
>>>
the community help wiki is experiencing
>>>
>>>
We feel their role as a leader on this team would not be
because they
>>>
work for Canonical, but because they are able to do the
organizational
>>>
work that is needed. Anyone able and willing to do
this would be
>>>
welcomed by us and the rest of the Documentation team.
It's simply
>>>
come to a point on the team today where we are not able
to fill this
>>>
role with a volunteer contributor.
>>>
>>>
We do not think that the recommended arrangement has to
be permanent
>>>
unconditionally. Building up a team and getting it
working by itself
>>>
sometimes takes only time. We hope that with the
leadership, the team
>>>
can build up the contributor base and ultimately, find a
new leader
>>>
from within. If a leader is nominated, we will happily
schedule a
>>>
checkup meeting to see how things are going, if there are
other
>>>
actions that should be taken to grow and build up the team
and if the
>>>
outside leadership is required any more.
>>>
>>>
Finally, we'd be happy to chat with anyone wishing to
take on this
>>>
role about the history of the team to give them some
context for how
>>>
we got to where we are. The Documentation team has always
been quite
>>>
small and has struggled to get contributors, but it was
with this LTS
>>>
release that we have finally hit a breaking point.
>>>
>>>
Sincerely,
>>>
>>>
Elizabeth K. Joseph (pleia2) and Pasi Lallinaho (knome)
>>>
>>>
[]
http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2016/03/03/%23ubuntu-meeting.html#t17:00
>>>
>>>
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>>>
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>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>
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Svetlana Belkin
A.K.A: belkinsa
User Wiki page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/belkinsa
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