It's dangerous to go alone: Building teams like an organizer

One of the most exciting things about ruby is its ecosystem -- how can we maintain the health of our ecosystem by making sure our projects pass the bus test and bring up others interested in the work? This talk discusses maintaining the health of the open source software community through adapting community organizing practices. Presented as part of the Leading at all Levels track at Railsconf 2017 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Transcript

1. BUILDING TEAMS LIKE AN ORGANIZER Colin Fleming / @ridethecatbus
2. ALT TITLE: NOT BURNING OURSELVES OUT OR RAGEQUITTING STUFF WE CARE ABOUT THROUGH BUILDING COMMUNITY
3. Preview of the next 30 minutes of your life •  Building a team/community around our goals •  By invesTng in individual relaTonships with members of that community •  Is not a big departure from what you are already doing
4. Scenario 1: My life in 2012
5. My new job: Running voter contact for a state house campaign in Phoenix, AZ
6. s/o my district, LD20
7. The enTre budget is already spent
8. BUT Lots of people like my candidate (or do not like the other person)
9. ????????????????
10. Successful voter outreach program!
11. Scenario 2: My life in 2016
12. The DC AborTon Fund (DCAF) needs a new case management system
13. There are zero dollars for a new case management system
14. There’s a local chapter of Code for America (Code for DC)
15. They’re super down with the DC AborTon Fund’s mission
16. ????????????????
17. New case management system (in rails)!
18. What’s the common thread between these scenarios?
19. Problem
20. Which I can’t solve on my own
21. But which we can tackle with person power and teamwork
22. If I drop out of life, there are Problems
23. There are huge benefits to other people knowing these problems
24. ????????????????
26. What is ??????????????
27. Building a community
28. Parallels •  Campaign –  Needs some voter contact –  Solvable with person power –  Build a community –  LasTng community of people who know each other and care about this stuff •  DC AborTon Fund –  Needs some engineering –  Solvable with person power –  Build a community –  LasTng community of people who know each other and care about this stuff
29. (This is the premise of open source sodware!)
30. Just to review •  There are some problems which really benefit from more people working on them •  Building a community around these problems and tackling them together is sustainable, and has major benefits
31. How do I community?
32. Very Deliberate Organizing!
33. The playbook
34. Playbook #1: IdenTfy a goal
35. Playbook #2: Build individual relaTonships with other people who share that goal
36. Playbook #2: Build individual relaTonships with other people who share that goal
37. Playbook #3: As a group, work together toward your shared goals
38. Playbook #4: Hit that goal together
39. But really, how do I relaTonship?
40. I have a goal. Why do I care about that?
41. Sit down with the other person, one-on-one
42. What does the other person care about?
43. What’s the common thread that links you together?
44. What’s a concrete step they can take with you toward the shared goal?
45. A great example of finding common threads from last year’s Railsconf: Joe Dean’s talk on working with chari;es
46. ONE DIRECTION
47. Some good news (not about One DirecTon) (no One DirecTon reunion)
48. This is baked into agile already
49. IncorporaTng this into what you’re doing doesn’t mean you have to whole-hog change anything
50. Agile Organizing • Individuals and interacTons over processes and tools • Personal relaTonships as the building block of community
51. And from the manifesto… •  Build projects around moTvated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done. •  Use those relaTonships to build a community of individuals with shared goals
52. And also from the manifesto… •  The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self- organizing teams •  The community here is basically a self-organizing team!
53. And thus •  We have a great tool for building teams and communiTes called organizing •  We organize by building individual relaTonships with people on common ground •  This method is baked into agile so it’s an extension of what we’re doing
54. So now we have • A defined benefit from building community • The tools to start building community around the work we’re doing
55. What do we actually do, as leaders?
56. Idea #1: Make it a point to have a one-on-one conversaTon with every contributor
57. Every single person gets the welcome basket, even if they aren’t new
58. Idea #2: Make it straighlorward to get involved!
61. Idea #3: Escalate responsibility of community members
63. A different perspecTve
65. PS the github open source community guide is REALLY GOOD hmps://opensource.guide/
66. Remember this slide? •  Building a team/community around our goals •  By invesTng in individual relaTonships with members of that community •  Is not a big departure from what you are already doing
67. thanks •  ALLISON MCMILLAN THE NICEST PERSON ALIVE •  DCAF contributors in the room! •  People whose talk formats I ripped off (esp Lillie Chilen!), who gave talks last year •  JusTn Collins (Brakeman Pro), who helped out the DC AborTon Fund early on and who gave a talk last year •  Nadia Odunayo, who gave a talk last year •  Joe Dean, who gave a talk last year
68. QuesTons / The end….........? •  My name was/is: Colin Fleming •  Email: c3flemin@gmail.com •  Twimer: @ridethecatbus