intrigeri:
> sajolida (2021-02-03):
>> I've curated ⅔ of reports since 2017
>
> (I've asked sajolida for clarification privately as this is very
> different from the data I see. But anyway, this should not impact the
> analysis I did below.)
Sorry I messed up my calculation yesterday. It's more like ⅓ actually :)
I was pissed off and hurried when I wrote this email yesterday and I
didn't realize that this figure was totally unrealistic; though it
matched my state of mind at that time :) Mea culpa.
> My conclusion is that overall, this new setup did not reach its goals:
> the work is less tedious for sure, but most of the work is still done
> by the same few people.
+1
> - technical writers act as writers and editors, i.e.:
>
> - use our internal team monthly reports to write good quality
> contents, with a communication style that's consistent with the
> rest of our communication (for example, shorter than this
> email :]]] )
>
> - define a strategy, e.g. in terms of frequency (it could be that
> monthly is not the best, I dunno, I'm not trained at this kind
> of communication)
>
> - welcome contributions from volunteers and decide what to do with
> them
>
> - other teams share info, needs, expectations, and feedback with
> technical writers about the intended audience they have in mind for
> these reports (e.g. FT about Debian & Tor people, fundraising about
> potential donors, etc.)
>
> At this point this is meant to be half a proposal, half a conversation
> trigger. Perhaps you disagree with my assumptions and goals?
> Perhaps you have other ideas?
>
> Also, this proposal is clearly not perfect. For example, in an
> organization with more resources, folks trained/experienced at
> communication would handle the communication strategy and act as
> editors. In our current situation, my impression is that technical
> writing is the closest skill we have in-house to communication, hence
> this proposal.
I agree with your analysis. I'm not sure whether the technical writing
(TW) team is in a good shape right now to take this over. I really don't
want to add this to my TW plate which is already full. Maybe Cody can
take this over without my help. Sam is still in a trial period and
probably has too little general knowledge about the project yet.
More on the long-term, these reports could totally fit in the
responsibilities of a management-ish non-technical hire.
> Finally, I'm fine with either putting the reports on hold, or
> publishing them only when someone volunteered to curate them, until
> our technical writing capacity has increased sufficiently to cope with
> this additional task. I understand it is a matter of mere months
> now :)
And thanks a lot to emmapeel for taking over January's report.
--
sajolida
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