Determine the essential roles needed to operate Open Ulmus

[btopro]

'Determine the essential roles needed to operate Open Ulmus' #15 (comment). We need to have a baseline understanding of each role needed to run an Open Ulmus instance. These roles will be finalized in the wiki and any contributors (interns/mentees) to individual projects that run Open Ulmus (drupal open learning, etc.) will be updated on a project to project basis.

• Open Ulmus roles wiki - revising/finalizing roles in this wiki
• Open Ulmus roles google doc - Initial draft of roles

[gusaus]

I 'think' we want to figure out the roles/resources needed to build out the MVP and also maintain/ sustain ongoing. Should we continue to work this out in #1?

[btopro]

Maybe commit that doc you have on google docs to github so we can reference it better / increase transparency that there's something going on :)

[gusaus]

Maybe commit that doc you have on google docs to github so we can reference it better / increase transparency that there's something going on :)

Note you don't see my name as a team lead. I wanna focus on onboarding, outreach, community, fundraising, etc. That will be done mainly on behalf of Open Producer, Drupal Dojo, etc.

In terms of the project and process, the ideal would be for ELMS leads to run the show and use the entire development experience as an opportunity for people to contribute and learn.

So ya - whatever the most transparent format for scoping in the open... let's do it!

[gusaus]

@btopro Per our discussion regarding Open Ulmus as a Drupal Dojo project. I think we'll be able to direct resources to launch and maintain; also provide opportunities for some of the same people/partners work on multiple projects.

What would be a better way to list out these shared needs than our current system of scattered google docs?

[mmilutinovic013]

Hi @gusaus -- @btopro sent me here to help out with this task. From what I understand -- we are looking for a better way to organize role information for the community? I'd be happy to help out with this. I like the idea of centralizing some of that google doc here in the repo since the community gathers mostly on here, twitter, and slack.

[gusaus]

Per my long winded comments in the doc, I think once we clearly define our needs we can point potential contributors to this issue. Especially if @btopro can reference the doc in this issue's description https://docs.google.com/document/d/11g4tAxHIAu_LuTcDPx-9bFcBqBIxKt85KuKJeT1LvDM/edit?usp=sharing

[mmilutinovic013]

@gusaus -- This sounds good to me. I'm currently going through the document to try and establish some people for these roles and see if there are any additional positions that should be added. We may be able to get some younger (in college or just graduated) devs involved with the project soon -- so I'm going to keep this in mind for the apprentice roles.

I'm happy to help mentor people looking to get involved with ELMS:LN as well -- so if you have any people looking for more involvement...send them my way!

[gusaus]

There are several new people coming into #drupalopenlearning and #drupal-dojo in http://drupalslack.herokuapp.com/

As ELMS / Open Ulmus is going to house the curriculum and training materials from those programs, those rooms should also be a great source for contributors at all levels.

See everybody there?!?

[gusaus]

https://github.com/elmsln/openulmus.org/issues/3 is resolved, but it's looking like there are some gaps with regards to managing and sustaining https://docs.google.com/document/d/11g4tAxHIAu_LuTcDPx-9bFcBqBIxKt85KuKJeT1LvDM/edit?usp=sharing

In addition to being able to fire up Drupal Dojo's Twitch.tv at any time, we can begin to do a proper job creating new content https://github.com/DrupalOpenLearning/administration/issues/8 as a way to showcase and direct resources to ELMS and Open Ulmus.

We need to know what, who, how much $$ is needed to sustain.

[btopro]

project manager is going to be the biggy. Envisioning what it should provide to the rest of open collective, where there's overlap with dojo, what courses / trainings to pursue. From there, identifying technologies and personnel needed to properly author those courses/trainings.

This needs a PM who has technical and training space knowledge, having worked with Drupal / other technical communities would be a plus. I'd imagine this could be a part time gig, maybe 5-10 hours a week to get up and going. If needs are identified not provided by the platform or other collectives then getting those functionalities pegged for being worked on in the elmsln/drupal community.

[btopro]

I dono how much you pay a PM to get things up and going but you've gotta have a paid coordinator with a goal of getting at least 5 different communities to have trainings delivered via the system. From there you can figure out your next steps. This is currently on free tier though I'm paying personally since I already use free tier for other things.

[gusaus]

Per our follow-up in #drupalopenlearning (anyone not there already should visit http://drupalslack.herokuapp.com to join), the PM you're describing here is essntially the same as the ID role I was blindly asking about here :grinning: https://github.com/DrupalOpenLearning/administration/issues/8

What is poorly described could be the first of many trainings for Drupal Open Learning/Drupal Dojo.

I think we're just beginning to see the potential opportunity for providing services to other communities in OpenCollective - https://webpack.academy/ https://reactiveui.academy/

Focusing back on this issue regarding maintaining/sustaining Open Ulmus...

• Is there a need for PM/ID to manage Open Ulmus or does payment come from projects and trainings that run on top.
• Do we have people with interest/availability to assume this type of role? @kat-wehr?
• Would ELMS collective be the service provider?

Apologies if I'm asking confusing questions - most of this is uncharted OSS territory.

[btopro]

I'm only confused in that your asking me lol.

• payment question is a good question... maybe people can donate for courses / training w/ a % of that going to the collective and a % going to the elmsln collective to cover costs of the service existing? Payment workflow / gateway would need built. We're more the once you get through that stuff sorta scoping thing

[gusaus]

Webpack provides a good example of how it could work https://medium.freecodecamp.org/introducing-webpack-academy-bad0a4e23deb

If you do decide to pay for these courses, 30% of any funds generated from this platform will go directly to our webpack open collective.

We should probably have a separate issue or follow-up discussion on the topic.

With regards to roles needed to manage and maintain the site - is @mmilutinovic1313 working to identify? With the Drupal Dojo site now live, there may be similar needs for those potentially interested in working on multiple projects https://github.com/DrupalOpenLearning/drupaldojo/issues/5

[mmilutinovic013]

I have begun building out a "Getting Started with ELMS:LN" course for OpenUlmus. This can serve as a starting point for other courses that we build for other projects.

[gusaus]

There's some conversation in https://github.com/elmsln/openulmus.org/issues/1#issuecomment-331521363 pertaining to shared roles on multiple projects.

As an instance of Open Ulumus, the roles needed to manage and maintain Drupal Open Learning could potentially be identical https://github.com/DrupalOpenLearning/administration/issues/1#issuecomment-318171817

Many of the long terms roles for Drupal Dojo https://github.com/DrupalOpenLearning/drupaldojo/issues/5#issue-248103504 could also be shared.

@mmilutinovic1313 If you're still the goto person for sorting out these roles, would it be helpful to recreate https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LrShmkSJ4ewaUNSDtNX0UD1P-W7d0fvsw1blrdmkRn8/edit?usp=sharing as a wiki similar to what I did here? https://github.com/DrupalOpenLearning/drupaldojo/wiki/Team

[gusaus]

@mmilutinovic1313 We definitely should follow up with @danielrose28 and @djfusco regarding current interest/availability regarding roles discussed in https://github.com/elmsln/openulmus.org/issues/3

[gusaus]

@mmilutinovic1313 per our slack discussion, I'm wondering if some of the traditional technical project management responsibilities pertaining to the websites could be assigned out to somebody else.

i.e. what if we found a dedicated PM to handle open ulmus, drupal open learning, & drupal dojo sites... would that make your responsibilities as described by @btopro more doable? https://github.com/elmsln/openulmus.org/issues/2#issuecomment-327961621

[mmilutinovic013]

What would you envision the other PM's roles being as compared to mine? Would they be handling creating and managing tasks? Or building out the sites? Or something else? I'm assuming the roles you are referring to for me would be identifying areas that we need to address to improve the platform then?

[mmilutinovic013]

This may not be a bad idea as well as I only have weekends and evenings to dedicate to the effort. If someone was more full time for some of the logistical parts of this - I can focus on cordinating between groups and helping build out functionalities we need to sustain the collective etc.

[mmilutinovic013]

I do think we should have a working session to define roles via skype or google plus.

[gusaus]

@mmilutinovic1313 Again, I 'think' your role would be following what @btopro is describing https://github.com/elmsln/openulmus.org/issues/2#issuecomment-327961811

I dono how much you pay a PM to get things up and going but you've gotta have a paid coordinator with a goal of getting at least 5 different communities to have trainings delivered via the system.

That seems to be more focused on coordinating classes on Open Ulmus, Drupal Open Learning, and other ELMS powered platforms. If we're able to identify 5 or so communities with budget, that probably would fill up your available time.

I think that would justify the need for a separate PM mentor/lead to manage open ulmus, drupal open learning, drupal dojo and potentially other partner sites. Especially if that person is responsible for scoping out the cost for developing and maintaining each site. IMHO that still is our biggest need.

[gusaus]

@mmilutinovic1313 @btopro Assuming the roles needed to build/manage Drupal Open Learning (an instance of Open Ulmus) would be identical...possibly we can use the Drupal Dojo and Drupal Open Learning projects as a way to generate additional visibility and resources by locking down the roles here? https://github.com/DrupalOpenLearning/drupalopenlearning/issues/2

[btopro]

yup

[mmilutinovic013]

@gusaus I'm going to copy the roles section of the drupal open learning wiki here too if you are saying that the roles overlap

[gusaus]

@mmilutinovic1313 Regarding https://github.com/elmsln/openulmus.org/issues/2#issuecomment-336341779 I think the mentors/advisors/leads will be identical. Each site would provide an opportunity to train up a variety of apprentices.

Again, I'm going on the assumption that the Drupal Open Learning site would be an instance of Open Ulmus. So essentially that would be one of the ongoing, revenue generating, projects managed by the Open Ulmus team.

So ya - copy over the wiki!

[gusaus]

@mmilutinovic1313 What do you think about revising this issue (maybe adding something in the description) to 'Determine the essential roles needed to operate Open Ulmus' https://github.com/elmsln/openulmus.org/issues/15#issuecomment-336571044

...or something along those lines.

@btopro on semi related note - is there a way to add me and other collaborators to this repo? can't we add a team or something?

[btopro]

@gusaus g2g

[mmilutinovic013]

@gusaus -- Updated. Copying over the wiki now!

[gusaus]

@mmilutinovic1313 In addition to adding or revising roles (like your specific PM role https://github.com/elmsln/openulmus.org/issues/2#issuecomment-333592503) previously discussed... possibly we should list out all typical roles/requirements/incentives for producing a class. I believe this is something @btopro described before such Slack transcripts disappeared.

Instructional Designer? Developer? Writer/docs? Someone to produce videos? I have no idea...

Is there with all the job descriptions?

[btopro]

Instructional designer (someone to ensure there are meaningful objectives / the training plan builds knowledge in a logical way) Content Expert (whatever community is producing a course at that time) Developer (add functionality to the system) PM (make it all happen)

Doesn't necessarily have to be 4 people here but those are the 4 hats.

[gusaus]

• [x] @mmilutinovic1313 Can you add those roles and descriptions to wiki? Would also be good to see who else is interested/available to take on some of those roles.

[gusaus]

@mmilutinovic1313 Possibly we should have a separate wiki breaking down the operational roles we're defining here - https://github.com/DrupalOpenLearning/administration/wiki/Drupal-Open-Learning-program-staff

As Drupal Open Learning is essentially an instance of Open Ulmus we can further define roles on this side. Make sense?

[mmilutinovic013]

@gusaus -- so something like a "core operational roles" template for open ulmus. That way instances (such as Drupal Open Learning) can use this template to fill roles according to the recommended practices?

[gusaus]

As mentioned in https://github.com/DrupalOpenLearning/administration/issues/10#issuecomment-340582115 we're still trying to define roles with consistency across multiple projects and repos.

With Open Ulmus essentially the umbrella learning platform we should include a master list of roles, responsibilities and definitions in the scope of the project.

The most efficient way to collaborate on refining these roles might actually be to focus our attention back on this google doc https://docs.google.com/document/d/11g4tAxHIAu_LuTcDPx-9bFcBqBIxKt85KuKJeT1LvDM/edit?usp=sharing

[gusaus]

The following bits from @cleverington may also help us define these roles and responsibilities.

As a side-note the Project Owner / Project Sponsor are definitely items we’ll want to get filled in. Even if it is a single line (for example) with “Open Producers”, it at least gives a control chain to start marking up an Authority Matrix for project sign-offs and approvals moving forward.

In a buzzword reduction: The Site Builders, Designers, and Project Managers will probably have a solid level of autonomy, but (and especially with an endeavor this big), they’ll want guidance for “Big Vision” questions. Pie vs Cake. Pirates vs. Ninjas. Polymer vs. React. etc.

@btopro probably won’t ever care about what Readability Testing is done against the verbiage within the various Courses Hosted within the Drupal Open Curriculum, but the Program Manager should be able to reach upwards to ????? at Drupal Open Learning, who would touch base with ???? at Open Ulmus about getting a standardized testing method (such as the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level Testing) used on all Open Learning Environments.

Somewhat related, can we add @cleverington as contributor to this repo?

[mmilutinovic013]

@gusaus @cleverington - Check out my modifications and comments I made to the role descriptions on the doc. https://docs.google.com/document/d/11g4tAxHIAu_LuTcDPx-9bFcBqBIxKt85KuKJeT1LvDM/edit#

[mmilutinovic013]

Added @cleverington as a contributor as well

[gusaus]

As @mmilutinovic1313 @cleverington @ikit-claw and myself should be able to get the program up and running, I created a shared 'program manager' role and consolidated our multiple hat wearing responsibilities. We can refine this as we go, but I think combining all leads into one role will make it easier to allocate our time across projects https://github.com/elmsln/openulmus.org/issues/5#issuecomment-340910677

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11g4tAxHIAu_LuTcDPx-9bFcBqBIxKt85KuKJeT1LvDM/edit?usp=sharing

[mmilutinovic013]

Sounds good! I put what was on the doc into the wiki earlier and am cleaning up the formatting now. Should the doc be the same in each of the other projects we are collectively involved in?

[mmilutinovic013]

Does Budgeted time per month for the role then quadruple? 40 = 160?

[gusaus]

So who is the program manager responsible for budgets?!? If we hit the goals between 3 projects https://github.com/elmsln/openulmus.org/issues/5#issuecomment-340910677 that would be 160 hours total. Those hours would then be allocated to the 4 or so program managers. So roughly 40hrs each per month.

[mmilutinovic013]

Okay that's what I thought - Just wanted to clarify on the wiki / doc. With this info I may be able to close off some issues :)

[mmilutinovic013]

Also, @gusaus which one of us is the one responsible? I know I have one issue that deals with budgets, but we have some that are unassigned.

[mmilutinovic013]

1. Open Ulmus Core
2. Individual Project Team (Drupal Dojo, Drupal Open Learning, etc.)

[gusaus]

This is looking good! Adding this as related since whatever roles determined here could be the basis for the umbrella collective staffing list https://github.com/openlearninglabs/administration/issues/2

[cleverington]

Closing this task and changing https://docs.google.com/document/d/11g4tAxHIAu_LuTcDPx-9bFcBqBIxKt85KuKJeT1LvDM/edit?usp=sharing to 'Suggesting' format.

Further changes should be completed via Suggestions and reviewed by Program Team.

https://github.com/elmsln/openulmus.org/wiki/2.-Open-Ulmus-Core-Team updated as of 11/5/2017 version of document.

[gusaus]

Not sure we should consider this issue resolved until we're sure have enough staff/team members/person hours/whatever to manage the platform. Especially if there's going to be a customer/client facing service offering in the mix.

I think we should start by getting a realistic sense of roles and availability from @kat-wehr @michael-collins @btopro @djfusco and other currently involved with the projects. Aware that some of this work (like on the ELMS:LN platform side) is potentially in-scope with day job responsibilities, we probably need to get to a point where there's enough budget to cover 40hrs/wk of total person time dedicated to managing the platform.

Based on that I've reopened this issue and made some tweaks to the google doc above https://github.com/elmsln/openulmus.org/issues/2#issue-242679456

[btopro]

I'm happy to lend support in the form of platform development. I have a community to lead. While Open Ulmus was a dream of mine, I think I can best serve that dream by building out the next gen content authoring and presentation things we're currently building. They'll make Open Ulmus / anything produced here worth using because of how superior their UX is. I'm always here to further ideas and occasionally do some heavy lifting but I view myself more as support for @mmilutinovic1313 getting things going then me directly doing the building. I think I can reasonably put in 1-5 hours a week to keep conversations moving and big lifts as needed.

[mmilutinovic013]

After talking to @btopro today -- I'd be happy to take the lead in the direction that this platform should head toward. I have a clearer idea as to the short and long-term goals of Open Ulmus and would like to work with @cleverington, @kat-wehr, and @gusaus to get this platform off the ground as soon as we can.