New roles in the Ubuntu IRC team

[Jussi Schultink]

Hi all,

One of the criticisms the IRCC has received recently is the lack of
interaction with the IRC team in terms of decision making, as well as
the lack of things getting done. There has been a lack of teamwork to
get things done, as well as a lack of communication.

I would like to propose some new roles within the IRC team to help get
more stuff done that also have the added benefits of communication
improvement and teamwork.

I would like to see "champions" for several areas that need taking
care of within the team. These "champions" would be responsible for
awareness in the team of their area, as well as ensuring tasks get
followed up on. (the champion doesn't have to do all the work, just
ensure that it gets done)

The champion would also have a lot of input into the overall direction
of what happens with that area of the IRC team, thus these roles would
give people an opportunity to have a real impact on the team and its
direction. There could be more than one champion for each role.

I would propose the following areas to have champions, but please feel
free to suggest other areas - especially if you are willing to take up
the role.

 *Bots & bot direction (Specifications, idea management, perhaps some
implementation)
 *Ban list maintenance/eir care (everybody would be still responsible
for bans, but this person would be ensuring the ban list does not get
overfull, ensuring new ops get proper eir training, following up on
any bugs in eir)
 *Documentation review (reviewing the wiki and other documentation on
a regular basis)
 *Channel list review (Reviewing the channel list of our namespace
channels for stale and/or inappropriate channels)
 *Factoid Maintenance and review (reviewing factoids and checking for
old and outdated factoids on a regular basis, updating factoids).
 *Policy review (reviewing policies for efficiency, usefulness,
scale-ability, suggestions of changes to policy)

Again, I want to stress that the champion doesn't need to do all the
work, just follow up and ensure it gets done.

Also, as part of this, I would like to change the IRCC meeting name to
IRC Team meeting, and have the champions be a part of the meeting when
appropriate, to bring things that need changing to the attention of
the IRC team and the IRC council.

The IRC Council's role in all of this would be to approve changes to
policy and set out a long term plan for growth and maintenance of the
IRC team, in consultation with the IRC team and the champions.

I would like to hear all constructive thoughts on this route, be they
positive or negative.

I would like this to be a part of our long term plans to be discussed
in the UDS, following discussion on the mailing list and hopefully
also in the next IRCC meeting this Sunday.

BR

Jussi