This is a formal proposal in solution to the following problem set:
Teams are highly successful in that each team has the structure and focus to perform individual tasks under a specific purview accurately and efficiently. However, intra-team interaction exists and does not currently have a platform that can occur other than the public 05command and SSSC. 05command posts generally only occur during intra-team conflict, misconception correction, etc. SSSC is generally too casual/unfocused and limited to policy discussions that exclude staff members not online during a discussion. A specific issue brought up to me was that Project Foundation, currently headed by the Technical team captain and thus the technical team, may not have full understanding of what each other team requires to be functional and therefore cannot fully grasp requirements when scoping out the Project Foundation project.
The proposed solution is the following:
A regular meeting between team captains and admin contacts exclusively. The suggested period is once a month. This meeting will explore:
- Clarifying the structure and internal policies of each team, if unclear
- Proposing, announcing, or discussing large projects from each team as they occur (e.g. Community Outreach is planning contest, or Wikiwalk is planning a change in the way they announce new links)
- Verifying a consistent site direction across all teams, (e.g. any guides that need updating, disciplinary measures across violations over policy under different teams' purview, generally making sure everyone is on the same page regarding content and community curation)
The regular meetings would happen over voice, scheduled at a time that works for the maximum possible people, with any one volunteer being the note-taker for notes that are shared with team captains and admins exclusively. Captains are then expected to inform their team any significant changes, updates, or similar that may affect their own performance (generally referred to as "downflow"). For example, if Community Outreach is starting another burst-based contest, Technical team will now be aware of it and can shift more people to tagging responsibilities during that time.
I expect the initial meeting take a long time, possibly up to 2 hours, so that all teams become aware of the structure of every other team and all existing unclear concepts are clarified. Subsequent meetings can then be limited to up to an hour (with adjusting as necessary).
Anticipated Questions/Clarifications:
Q. What is the general, simplified overview of this proposal?
A. Every month, all team representatives (captains and admins) confer to clarify, discuss, and hold an intra-team platform. Notes are taken for those that cannot attend. Afterwards, each representative holds a separate downflow meeting with their team to disseminate relevant information revealed during the intra-team discussion.
Q. Why is this necessary?
A. While teams are highly successful individually, there is currently no platform for intra-team communication except through unfocused, exclusive discussion in SSSC or issues/problems brought up in 05command. The majority of issues brought up in 05command could've been avoided through an intra-team communication platform beforehand.
Q. Is it mandatory to attend?
A. If it is possible, team captains and go-to admins are highly suggested to attend so that no team's voice is missed and all teams understand their effect on all other teams. In the case that neither captain nor admin can make the assigned time, it may be possible that a selected member of the team can stand in this discussion to propose projects/express how other projects may affect their team.
Q. Why is this closed to the public and majority of staff?
A. This is a focused discussion among specific people responsible for the site's functioning at a high level. Limiting the amount of people eliminates confusion and the releasing of unfinished, unexamined project proposals to the public.
Q. Where will the discussion occur?
A. Any platform that works for the most possible people will be used. Captains and admins are free to chime in this thread about what platforms they prefer. This proposal was suggested with Discord in mind, but any voice chat should suffice.
Q. How will meetings be organized?
A. The first meeting will be moderated by myself or another volunteer and will cover a) every team giving a brief overview of their structure and direction, b) QnA session, c) project proposals and discussion, d) overall site direction discussion. There will be a maximum length of time each team can dominate any given discussion, with any tangents directed to be done privately between two captains if no other teams are involved. A more specific agenda will be created if this proposal is successful.
I am open to everyone having a say in this proposal. If broadly approved upon after edits or tweaks, I will send out scheduling notifications and agenda, and then we can start those meetings.
Thank you for reading.
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