User:Martind/Org Structure

We'll be a fairly distributed organisation, and our team will grow quickly; how we interact with each other is a key factor in getting it all to work. Let's try and find a balance between letting it gradually devolve into chaos, and being too formal about it.

A good approach to growing a volunteer organisation is to organise in teams, describe the expectations and interactions between them clearly, but within their remits give them a great deal of freedom in decision-making.

This is a proposal for such an organisational structure. The idea is to gradually adopt such a structure, and change it as we learn more.

TODO:

• Who/what manages overall logistics like dependencies, schedule, contacts?
  • This may become the remit of a dedicated team.
• Wo manages our task management and task reviews? (Each team?)

Prelude

A consideration in all of our work is that many core contributors are busy people with limited spare time on their hands; and there is a lot of work do to.

As a result we can make some fundamental assumptions:

• We prefer to adopt existing solutions, rather than building much from scratch.
• We aim to increase the level of personal satisfaction everyone gets out of their contributions.
  • We want to work with people who are self-motivated and get things done.
  • We want to find the right specialists, brief them well, and then quickly give them a great deal of freedom.
• We aim to limit any bureaucratic overhead where possible.

Teams

Teams are responsible for a certain aspect of the festival, e.g. a specific part our infrastructure. Within their remit each team is in full control of their activities, but they are expected to be open-minded about the expectations and needs of other teams.

We make a clear distinction between established/active teams, teams we're building up, and teams we want to build. This reflects our expectations of the respective teams.

Team Structure

Once a team is fully active it should have:

• A clear remit.
• A primary contact ("coordinator") and at least one secondary contact.
  • They will get @emfcamp.org email aliases.
• A wiki page with team details and key documentation.
• A lighthouse project.
• Some kind of planning process (fully owned by the team)
  • This could be quite informal, e.g. a weekly chat.

Coordinators/Contacts

The team coordinators are mainly responsible for information flow. This implies they need to be willing to spend much of their time communicating, rather than making things. Each team will appoint their own coordinator.

• They are firmly committed. We need to know that they won't just leave without a proper handover.
• They ensure everyone in their team is well-informed.
• They will introduce new people to the team and brief them well.
• They are in frequent contact with other coordinators and teams.
• They are physically present in camp planning meetings.

Documentation

Team documentation on the wiki should contain:

• Remit
• Key contacts
• Planning details
• Lighthouse project
• Meeting minutes

Team Induction

A basic team induction process ensures new team members are briefed well, and there are no misunderstandings on both sides. A great first step is to introduce them to other key people and get them to discuss current projects. (Other details to follow.)

Staff vs Volunteers

We may soon need to make a formal distinction between "staff" and "volunteers": the former are well-trusted and well-informed, the latter may only help out for short periods. Quite a few teams will heavily depend on volunteers, and we will soon need to build structures around that. (Induction, vetting, coordination, etc.)

Task Management

Tbd: tasks and task management, e.g. instructions for volunteers on how to file tasks; procedures for task reviews; etc.

This process should mainly be owned by individual teams, but some shared conventions should simplify interactions between teams, and help newcomers get started quickly.

Budget

Each team manages its own budget, together with the "Treasury" team which manages finances, and the "Sponsors" team which coordinates sponsorships and funding.

Committee

The committee (? name to be discussed) is a frequent planning meeting between team coordinators. It is facilitated by a chair, and minuted by a secretary. Our aim is to keep these meetings as boring and routine as possible; excited discussions about details should happen in teams.

Most team coordinators are expected to be physically present at each meeting. If a team's primary coordinator cannot attend they need to ensure someone else is briefed about the current planning state, and can speak on their behalf. Visitors are welcome, but are asked to observe silently until the meeting has ended.

Chair and Secretary

The meeting chair and secretary are appointed by the teams. They facilitate the discussion and ensure things run smoothly. In particular:

• They schedule and plan meetings, together with the rest of the team.
• They collect an agenda for each meeting and share it well in advance (aim for 24h.)
• They ensure any discussion focuses on important issues: anything that effects change, that moves things forward.
• They can suggest when more detailed discussions should be had with a smaller group.
• They ensure meetings are well-documented, in particular any decisions and key bits of new information.

Meeting Structure

During meetings there should be a clear distinction between discussion and decision-making stages.

A meeting may involve:

• A review of currently open tasks.
• Progress updates by teams.
• Proposals for the creation of new projects and teams.
• Any other important decisions that affect multiple teams.

A consensus protocol provides the decision-making process for these planning meetings. (Details tbd.)

Other considerations:

• Chair and team coordinators ensure tasks from previous meetings are followed up and resolved.
• Chair and secretary ensure that all decisions are recorded, along with new questions for teams, and other key bits of new information.
• If new topics are brought up during discussion they will be added to the end of the agenda.
• Chair and team coordinators ensure every team is informed of new tasks, new questions, and other key developments.
  • This may e.g. entail the filing of new tasks in Lighthouse.

Once a committee meeting has ended everyone is invited stick around and socialise; since all the key contacts are present this is a great opportunity to have discussions among the community, but also a chance to pull in prospective collaborators.