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Team

The different facets of the Write the Docs community are kept running smoothly by a wonderful team of folks. We are always looking for more people to help organize conferences and meetups, help out with websites and guides, or take leadership roles in the community.

If you’re interested in helping out, get in touch with someone on the team you’re curious about. Messaging folks on the Write the Docs Slack is probably the best way to get in touch with folks.

Note

The folks with (team lead) next to their names are the best folks to talk to about how to join their team.

Terminology

Team
Group of humans responsible for a specific aspect of the community.
Team Member
Human responsible for performing the team tasks. Reports to the team lead.
Team Lead
Human responsible for managing the team. Accountable for the results of the team. Serves on the community board and votes on strategic direction and organizational processes.
Community Board
Group of all the team leads and conference chairs. Proposes and votes on budget, strategy, and process. The board chair schedules and runs the meetings, and publishes the quarterly updates.

How teams operate and interact

  • All membership and leadership roles are staffed by enthusiastic opt-in. We want to prioritize the well-being of our contributors, and we’re happy to have you if you’re happy to contribute to the community.
  • Each team operates independently except for actions that impact other teams or the community.
  • Each team is responsible for implementing and monitoring community guidelines, including CoC, within their team’s area.
  • Teams leads are paid positions and have a seat on the community board, which can propose and vote on internal organizational changes and processes. Team budgets are determined by the team leads and voted on by the community board.
  • CoreOps team members act as backup team leads in a case team lead steps down without a replacement.
  • Teams are generally comprised of volunteers. Depending on the scope and time investment of team members, they can step up to be a team lead after an agreed upon duration of service on the team.

Joining and leaving teams

Team members
  • Team members serve for a minimum of three months.
  • Membership renews automatically after joining. To step down from the team, members need to give a 14-day notice to the team lead before the end of the term. In case of unexpected change of circumstances such as illness or burnout, team members can pause their membership immediately by notifying their team lead.
  • Team membership requirements:
    • be an active member of the community for at least one year (online or at events)
    • be approved by the team lead and at least one additional team member from any team
    • satisfy the membership requirements of that team as specified in each team section
    • have sufficient English communication skills to perform the role in the teams, (English editorial skills are required in all teams that communicate in an official capacity, such as the Newsletter or Social Media team)
Team leads
  • Team leads serve for a minimum of one year.
  • Membership renews automatically after joining. To step down from the team, team leads need to give a 30-day notice to the community board before the end of the term. In case of unexpected change of circumstances such as illness or burnout, team leads can pause their membership immediately by notifying the CoreOps team or the community board.
  • Team lead role requirements:
    • be an active member of the community for at least two years (online or at events)
    • be approved by the community board
Want to join a team?
Send an email to support@writethedocs.org or contact the team lead directly.

Team Descriptions

Community board

Responsibilities

Organizational support
  • Strategic development for the organization and the community
  • Monitor and respond to emails sent to the Community Board team mailing list (average volume 1-2 emails per month), including reviewing and approving team lead applications
Meetings and reports
  • Meet quarterly to discuss community-wide projects and strategy, make internal organizational decisions, and give team leads a place to raise issues and ask questions
  • Publish a quarterly transparency report (“meeting minutes”) with important updates and any decisions that were made during the quarterly meeting

Membership

  • All team leads are included in the community board (no external membership)
  • The CoreOps team moderates the quarterly meetings and curates the quarterly report

Members

  • Mikey Ariel (board chair)
  • Team leads (including conference chairs)
  • CoreOps team

Core Operations (CoreOps)

Responsibilities

Business and financial administration
  • Financial and legal compliance
  • Trademark and brand development
  • Support and enable all teams and team leads
Organizational process and best practices
  • Triage incoming WEPs according to the WEP process that is defined in WEP0
  • Maintain and develop WEP format, templates, and requirements
Global Code of Conduct
  • Maintain and develop community-wide CoC policy
  • Monitor and process requests from the global CoC inbox
  • Consult and support CoC escalations from other teams
Infrastructure and tooling
  • Manage internal tools (email accounts, passwords, conference tickets, sponsorships)
  • Maintain Website pages for the community and conferences
  • Maintain and develop video archives and other online resources
  • Technical support for other teams (i.e. Slack, Newsletter, Conferences)
Technical and community support
  • Monitor and triage the Support inbox
  • Review and support incoming proposed changes to the Website (GitHub)
  • Develop and maintain commonly-used email auto-respond templates
  • At least one team member must check the Support inbox daily
Salary survey
  • Oversee and review the salary survey each year

Membership

  • Team members are appointed by the business owner of Write the Docs and approved by the community board
  • Team members are paid on a freelance basis according to budget availability

Members

Conference teams

Responsibilities

  • Manage their respective conference according to official WTD conference guidelines
  • Prepare and manage conference budgets, schedules, and resources (Web and print)
  • Conference chair (team lead) contracts with local vendors, venues, and services

Membership

  • The conference chair appoints team members for each conference
  • Conference-specific roles are defined in Event Roles and are subject to change based on regional requirements

Team leads (conference chairs)

Slack

Responsibilities

  • Monitor the WTD Slack space and handle CoC issues, rotation
  • Full team procedures and processes are currently in the process of being finalized in a separate WEP: WEP0002

Membership

  • Team members must have some previous experience with CoC handling or community moderation
  • Team members must be active in the WTD Slack space and available for moderation shifts

Members

Meetups

Responsibilities

  • Support local and regional meetups
  • Create and manage meetup.com accounts
  • Assist with CoC escalations from meetup organizers
  • Maintain a mailing list for meetup organizers
  • Update website with new meetups
  • Socialize information around meetups (new meetup topics, speaker ideas)
  • Maintain documentation on starting meetups

Membership

  • Previous meetup organization experience preferred but not mandatory

Newsletter

Responsibilities

  • Curate Slack conversations and distill them into brief newsletter stories
  • Write a monthly update on general goings-on in the community
  • Round up any WTD events or meetups for the upcoming month
  • Assemble and publish the monthly newsletter to the mailing list and the website

Membership

  • Team members must have English editorial skills

Members

Sales and sponsorships

Responsibilities

  • Serve as the point of contact for the WTD Job Board
  • Develop and implement strategies for the job board and other career-related channels for the community
  • Initial point of contact for community sponsorship requests and liaison with conference sponsorship contacts

Membership

  • Experience with business development, sponsorship management, or fundraising is preferred but not required

Members

Marketing and branding

Responsibilities

Social Media
  • Point of contact for the WTD accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn
  • Manage and develop social media strategy for the community
  • Source updates and publications from other teams and manage scheduled posts
Brand and design
  • Maintain and develop brand design assets
  • Coordinate web and print design with vendors
  • Supply design assets to other teams
  • Manage the community swag shop and support the conference swag shop

Membership

  • Team members must have English editorial skills and some experience with social media or brand management

Members

Learning resources

Responsibilities

  • Point of contact for the Learning Resources section of the community website
  • Curate and develop new sections and topics
  • Identify new contributors and help them get started

Membership

  • Team members must have English editorial skills

Members

Write the Docs Alumni

These are folks who have helped a lot in the past, but have moved on to other projects. We wouldn’t be where we are without them, and want to make sure they aren’t forgotten.