Groupings & subgroupings 0.2

For those who have not had a chance, please take a look at some of the comments about my last post, Groupings and subgroupings. These were all great and have helped me refine how we are going to start the process. Please keep sending your remarks.

As for the groups we discussed in the last post, one person suggested adding Documentation Writers to the list. I ran this by others and think it is a good point and we should include them as their a separate group. The list now contains

1) QA

2) Software Developers

3) Localizers

4) Marketers and Evangelists

5) Documentation Writers

It has come up a few times about the criteria for selection. The number one criteria right now is that anyone who might qualify for support must be an unpaid volunteer who is working on Mozilla projects. We want to make sure those are, in fact, the people who deserve the support. In all likelihood, we will review all the requests and then look at webtools like Bonsai and Bugzilla to see who has been volunteering and to what level. I’d be up for comments on this aspect. Please feel free to suggest other ways we should evaluate the levels of contribution that we should support.

Groupings & subgroupings

We’ve made some mention about how the community giving program will begin by reaching out to key volunteer contributors. Our first step has been to think about how to break up contributors into groups, and so we’re looking at various communities within the larger Mozilla ecosystem. My initial thought was that we could divide our Mozilla universe up into these clusters:

1) QA
2) Software Developers
3) Localizers
4) Marketers and Evangelists

Each of these groups could probably be split into subsections. Because our community is large and people focus on various specialized tasks, I’d like to use this forum to help us define the various groups and subgroups that make up the larger community.

I’ll use Software Developers in the following example. This group might be split into smaller subsections like

a.) Firefox, Thunderbird, and Gecko volunteers
b.) Extension developer volunteers
c.) Volunteers who work on webtools like Bugzilla and AMO
d.) Other application developer volunteers

Are there any other key contributor groups for software developers?

What about other subgroups under the main categories where we might make easier personal connections?

Early Stage Discussions

A good question arose from my last post that some may have seen:

In the early phases of the discussion, there was the plan to have multiple channels/processes for this community giving project. What’s the current thinking on that?

We plan to start with some communities we know could use support, like Q/A teams, software developers, and localizers. We’ll find out what they need by contacting them. But, this is only a first step to see how the program will function. After we have reached out to our contributors, we’ll then seek other means to provide support. That might mean creating a mechanism for nominating ideas that Mozilla should support. It may also mean bringing together Mozilla contributors for volunteer summits that will help foster support and development of projects. We’ll start reaching out to volunteer contributors this week to begin the process of discovering their needs.

Community Giving FAQs

New questions continue to appear, so I am updating the FAQs. Please have a look at the end of this list for new thoughts on our issues.

What is the Community Giving Program?
The program is just starting, so in many ways, we are defining it right now as we move along. Reading this blog regularly will give you a sense of how the program is developing, and more importantly, allow you to comment and participate in its formation.

How much will the program be giving?
The early idea is that our support will needs-based. We are going to find the volunteers in our community who have been and are helping Mozilla and ask them what they need. We will find out what they could use to make their volunteer efforts easier and more effective and we’ll provide that to them.

How does Mozilla find volunteers it might help?
Using our network of contributors and web tools like Bugzilla, we have a good sense of who is out there and who is doing what. We’ll ask what is needed and then ask who else is out there who we should meet.

Who decides what Mozilla gives?
First we need to find what is needed, then we’ll find out what is reasonable by categorizing the requests. We will then figure out what to give, likely by reaching consensus from many of the key contributors of various projects.

What will Mozilla give?
We’ll see what people need, but we have a sense it will be a combination of in-kind support, like hardware or software, and grants or donations.

How can you help?
Read this blog. Comment and participate in the program’s formation.

What if we miss someone?
If you believe you have been a critical contributor, please email me (stb@mozilla.com). We don’t want to miss any one who has made critical contributions and we think we’ll get to most people by running queries and emailing teams. And, from comments I’ve seen in my blog and from what I can gather from others, it will be up to the peers and team leaders to confirm if someone has been a key contributor.

What happens after the first cut at finding people?
As far as supporting key contributors, what happens going forward if new volunteers surface after our initial outreach? Do we continue to run queries and ping others to find people? Or, should we create a nomination process? Many believe that a community giving program should become a permanent part of our organization. Please send me your opinions on this one. My thought is that a formal nomination process through an on-line platform might be best (something like a public email address to submit volunteer names), but I would like to hear your thoughts and critique.

What else will the Community Giving Program be doing?
There is a lot we can investigate. I’ve mentioned that we want to bring people together from the community so they can meet in person to discuss new ideas and existing projects. Also, some have suggested supporting outside projects that are open-source, volunteer-based, but not specifically Mozilla projects. Can we help external people or projects in some fashion that enables them to maintain their work? At Mozilla, there are a lot of open-source projects that we use to support our work. How do we positively interact those program? I would really like to hear people’s thoughts on this point. It will help craft our strategy. If you have a thought, please post it.

The Community Giving Program

Three weeks ago, Mitchell introduced me as a new member of the Mozilla community who would be helping to figure out just how our organization would design a community-giving program. As a newcomer to the open source software world, it has been a tremendous three weeks for me to learn about Mozilla, our community, and what we might consider with this program going forward.

As Mitchell mentioned in her blog post, I have what some might consider a nontraditional background and will need some time to learn just how we come to our decisions and what might be best for our organization. But, I feel strongly that my experiences from the nonprofit and social entrepreneurship worlds will complement our efforts to design something that everyone understands, embraces, and helps succeed.

More on background…I spent several years at a very innovative organization named Ashoka, working to help social entrepreneurs build new ideas to solve really critical social problems. It was an inspiring time in my career because I worked directly with people who were very passionate about what they were doing. In my short few weeks at Mozilla, I find that same gestalt here that was present in Ashoka and the Ashoka Fellows whom we supported. That energy provides a high level of inspiration at Mozilla to help build something that is right for our community and for others.

And so, in this first blog post, I thought it might be best to describe what I have learned so far. Probably most obvious, this community-giving program will benefit greatly if I am able to speak with the as many people as possible in our community to learn more about the unique nature of our organization. I believe that the more discussions I have, the closer I will get to understanding just how our community perceives an effective grant-making program from Mozilla.

In my short time here, I’ve already had extensive meetings with more than a dozen key leaders and contributors. Each meeting offered some new insight for us to consider as we begin. I thought it might be best to relay in this message some of the major points that Mozilla will likely need to consider more deeply:

• Our volunteer community is deeply committed to the Mozilla project and we, as an organization, would greatly benefit if we can figure out the best way to “give back” to that community.
• In addition to supporting the community, is there a way that this program can support other ideas that are or have been critical to Mozilla growth and success? If so, what are those ideas and organizations?
• For Mozilla to create an effective community giving program, it should probably elicit two things from everyone:

1. Consensus on how we move forward, with the openness to iterate throughout the process until we get it right.
2. The specific needs that exist in the community. (i.e. Would our volunteer community benefit from software, hardware, scholarship, professional development, or monetary support? What else could we provide?)

• How is this community giving program different from the grant-making efforts of the Mozilla Foundation?
• What are the best ways to make consistent decisions about who we support and how?
• Do we focus on people who help with adoption of our products?
• How will this community-giving program expand and what impact will it hope to have on our community and on others?

I have also learned that Mozilla has always started simply with what we knew and then built outward. In a way, it is our tradition in developing new ideas. As this program grows, we’ll likely take similar steps to see what develops and grows.

To begin addressing these issues, many people have suggested different tactics to consider. They include the following:

• Surveying the Mozilla community to aggregate the needs of volunteers
• Hosting summits to bring together people who want to participate more deeply in volunteer efforts
• Creating a web portal to allow people to find out community giving program and submit detailed proposals of just how we might support them

As can be imagined, this process will take some time and, probably more importantly, the correct structure. But, it is going to be crucial for everyone to come together around the final iterations of the program and help move it forward just as we have done with several of other successful campaigns at Mozilla.

Look for a list of FAQs and more about this program soon.