SUMO community discussions

Berlin Work Week and CIID Workshop

  • 3 Replies
  • Last reply by Paul
  1. guigs
    guigs 769 posts
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    [Copied and reposed from https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/berlin-work-week-and-ciid-workshop/29002/2] Hey folks!

    The week of May 14 to May 20, parts of the Open Innovations Team and the Mozilla Support Team have med with a company, CIID that has helped with research about the current SUMO community. From these recommendations and findings, there are some insights that will help influence the community strategy for SUMO going forward.

    If you missed the community meeting last week, there is also a short explanation of some of the project plans that came out of this work week. This week we will be taking some time to go through them in more detail. View the community meeting on airmo and streaming on Youtube.

    Review them in detail here as well Project Briefs

    Where did these project plans come from? And what are they? During the work week in Berlin, there were two parts to the workshop. The first part included an opportunity to look at 3 communities that were similar to that of the Mozilla Support Community. These communities included Wordpress.org, Adruino and Kaggle. Each of which had attributes similar to SUMO and had some that could team SUMO a trick or two. The case studies were focused on “contributor experience, supporting systems, incentive structures, adjacent community involvement, and channels for communication.”

    Some of the observations, research and findings can be reviewed and viewed in the presentation: Mozilla SuMo Case Study

    The second part of the workshop presented community metrics, and some design thinking around applying some of the recommendations from CIID. After a few hours of 10 people drawing and around slide 69, out came project ideas around the overall Support Community Strategy. Do you see any familiar faces?

    What else would you like to know? See any projects that are exciting or interesting? Please post what you think below.

    As the team starts to talk about the next steps for these projects around community strategy, a continued dialogue with the community is very important. I want to hear from you!

    See you online :)

    [Copied and reposed from https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/berlin-work-week-and-ciid-workshop/29002/2] Hey folks! The week of May 14 to May 20, parts of the Open Innovations Team and the Mozilla Support Team have med with a company, CIID that has helped with research about the current SUMO community. From these recommendations and findings, there are some insights that will help influence the community strategy for SUMO going forward. If you missed the community meeting last week, there is also a short explanation of some of the project plans that came out of this work week. This week we will be taking some time to go through them in more detail. View the community meeting on [https://air.mozilla.org/weekly-sumo-community-meeting-20180530/ airmo] and streaming on Youtube. Review them in detail here as well [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NWzJS86vJlExeJBVLLnpOrdPl_2loWTz4SVflvOXl6c/edit?ts=5b0587f0 Project Briefs] Where did these project plans come from? And what are they? During the work week in Berlin, there were two parts to the workshop. The first part included an opportunity to look at 3 communities that were similar to that of the Mozilla Support Community. These communities included Wordpress.org, Adruino and Kaggle. Each of which had attributes similar to SUMO and had some that could team SUMO a trick or two. The case studies were focused on “contributor experience, supporting systems, incentive structures, adjacent community involvement, and channels for communication.” Some of the observations, research and findings can be reviewed and viewed in the presentation: [https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1D-nSUsaTG_n3wQfnmKlmOSqOf1kApyd6wEKLOBKJUAQ/edit#slide=id.p Mozilla SuMo Case Study] The second part of the workshop presented community metrics, and some design thinking around applying some of the recommendations from CIID. After a few hours of 10 people drawing and around slide 69, out came project ideas around the overall Support Community Strategy. Do you see any familiar faces? What else would you like to know? See any projects that are exciting or interesting? Please post what you think below. As the team starts to talk about the next steps for these projects around community strategy, a continued dialogue with the community is very important. I want to hear from you! See you online :)
  2. Chris Ilias
    Chris Ilias 2450 posts
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    I don't recall going through this thoroughly last week, and I had feedback, so I'll post it here.

    Near the end, there's an idea to implement a pay-it-forward system, to encourage users to become contributors. If something like that were to be implemented, we would need a number of safeguards in place to prevent angry/uncivil users from being encouraged to answer other threads (contributors mark exceptions, only implement it on how-to questions, not troubleshooting questions).

    I try to think about the places where I became an active contributor, and the path I took...

    1. It usually begins with me finding an already existing thread that addresses a question I had.
    2. From there, I may look at other threads for better answers, or because I had more than one question.
    3. Then there is something interesting/entertaining enough that makes me come back regularly to see what new questions are being asked, and what the answers are.
    4. Eventually, one day, I see a new question that I know the answer to. And no-one has answered it yet! I quickly try to write the best answer in the world, and post it.
    5. ...I reload the page every minute to see if the user has responded...
    6. The user responds, thanking me.
    7. For a moment, I feel like I can answer any question thrown at me, so I try to answer another question.
    8. I find out my answer was incorrect. :( Maybe I'll post again, but I'll try to be more certain of my answer.

    Other contributor stories may differ, but that's the most common one I experience.

    On sumo, how can we encourage visitors to view other threads, and make it interesting enough that they will look at more threads regularly?

    • related threads in the sidebar?
      • if so, we should not send bad users to other threads, or link bad threads to each other.
      • List only how-to questions? It becomes less about what problems other users are having, and more about what other tips and tricks can we learn.
      • list most voted threads, but implement something to exempt some?
    • Send a newsletter of helpful threads?
    • If a person contributes more than once, invite them to the community forum?
    I don't recall going through this thoroughly last week, and I had feedback, so I'll post it here. Near the end, there's an idea to implement a pay-it-forward system, to encourage users to become contributors. If something like that were to be implemented, we would need a number of safeguards in place to prevent angry/uncivil users from being encouraged to answer other threads (contributors mark exceptions, only implement it on how-to questions, not troubleshooting questions). I try to think about the places where I became an active contributor, and the path I took... # It usually begins with me finding an already existing thread that addresses a question I had. # From there, I may look at other threads for better answers, or because I had more than one question. # Then there is something interesting/entertaining enough that makes me come back regularly to see what new questions are being asked, and what the answers are. # Eventually, one day, I see a new question that I know the answer to. And no-one has answered it yet! I quickly try to write the best answer in the world, and post it. # ...I reload the page every minute to see if the user has responded... # The user responds, thanking me. # For a moment, I feel like I can answer any question thrown at me, so I try to answer another question. # I find out my answer was incorrect. :( Maybe I'll post again, but I'll try to be more certain of my answer. Other contributor stories may differ, but that's the most common one I experience. On sumo, how can we encourage visitors to view other threads, and make it interesting enough that they will look at more threads regularly? * related threads in the sidebar? ** if so, we should not send bad users to other threads, or link bad threads to each other. ** List only how-to questions? It becomes less about what problems other users are having, and more about what other tips and tricks can we learn. ** list most voted threads, but implement something to exempt some? * Send a newsletter of helpful threads? * If a person contributes more than once, invite them to the community forum?
  3. vesper
    vesper 1182 posts
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    Thank you Rachel and Chris!

    This has now been made widely available through our blog: https://blog.mozilla.org/sumo/2018/07/04/state-of-mozilla-support-2018-mid-year-update-part-2/

    Thank you Rachel and Chris! This has now been made widely available through our blog: https://blog.mozilla.org/sumo/2018/07/04/state-of-mozilla-support-2018-mid-year-update-part-2/
  4. Paul
    Paul 1371 posts
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    Hiya

    Thank you for posting this and apologies for the delay in responding. Thank you also for posting the full report, it is a fascinating read.

    Picking up on some points from the two blog posts:

    A review of metrics and tools used to obtain them:- At the moment, the metrics seem fairly basic and (despite a bug to fix this) we lost some really useful tools as part of that almost-migration-thing that happened last year. Would the intention be to make metrics available to the community or is this looking at staff dashboards? I would not want metrics to lead to "competition" between contributors, but I would (personally) appreciate tools that help me to manage/monitor my own contribution.

    Backup and contingency plans for emergency gaps in community coverage:- Yup. I know that Mozilla is avowedly non-corporate, but we do need to consider "key person" risks and mitigate them. Unlike in a corporate environment where having two people for every role is the ideal that does not happen due to the cost implications, we do not have that restriction.

    I am already doing some work on this and also have experimented with the other (really important but less considered) side of this - key platform risk (we need to make sure that should a product be released on a new platform, that we can support it). Happy to discuss further.

    Community comparisons:- I think that these are valuable, but we also need to consider that we are a sizeable and unique community in our own way. It could be the case that should one of the other projects mentioned do some similar research, Mozilla Support could feature as an example to them.

    Contributors have ownership without agency:- I guess many of us either to not think about or realise the scale of the impact that we have when we are doing Mozilla Support activities. I guess this also extends to other teams and functions - the voluntary element behind the software that is invisible to many.

    I think that there is considerable opportunity for Support contributors to be an informed source of opinions and guidance for product teams. We use the software to a level where we can help others and in additon, to this, we can feed in the opinions and issues we see as we support users.

    Support propaganda:- Agreed on all points. Success in this could easily be measured by people just saying "yay, Support is great" (which is true!), but it would be good to see more meaningful recognition with teams contacting us to say "Support does cool stuff, we would welcome contributors views/help/assistance with a project".

    I can also attest to the benefits of linking up with new staff. I helped put this in place with a previous employer and it was a big success. The positive relationship built early on lasted well beyond the initial period.

    In closing, I would like to say that there is a huge amount in this and that I recommend all connected with Support read and take interest in it for that way is the best way to success. I also hope that we do not iterate away from these initial plans until they have all been attempted (regardless of the time taken) as it would be sad to look back and see some great opportunities being missed.

    This is exciting stuff.

    Hiya Thank you for posting this and apologies for the delay in responding. Thank you also for posting the full report, it is a fascinating read. Picking up on some points from the two blog posts: '''A review of metrics and tools used to obtain them''':- At the moment, the metrics seem fairly basic and (despite a bug to fix this) we lost some really useful tools as part of that almost-migration-thing that happened last year. Would the intention be to make metrics available to the community or is this looking at staff dashboards? I would not want metrics to lead to "competition" between contributors, but I would (personally) appreciate tools that help me to manage/monitor my own contribution. '''Backup and contingency plans for emergency gaps in community coverage''':- Yup. I know that Mozilla is avowedly non-corporate, but we do need to consider "key person" risks and mitigate them. Unlike in a corporate environment where having two people for every role is the ideal that does not happen due to the cost implications, we do not have that restriction. I am already doing some work on this and also have experimented with the other (really important but less considered) side of this - key platform risk (we need to make sure that should a product be released on a new platform, that we can support it). Happy to discuss further. '''Community comparisons''':- I think that these are valuable, but we also need to consider that we are a sizeable and unique community in our own way. It could be the case that should one of the other projects mentioned do some similar research, Mozilla Support could feature as an example to them. '''Contributors have ownership without agency''':- I guess many of us either to not think about or realise the scale of the impact that we have when we are doing Mozilla Support activities. I guess this also extends to other teams and functions - the voluntary element behind the software that is invisible to many. I think that there is considerable opportunity for Support contributors to be an informed source of opinions and guidance for product teams. We use the software to a level where we can help others and in additon, to this, we can feed in the opinions and issues we see as we support users. Support propaganda:- Agreed on all points. Success in this could easily be measured by people just saying "yay, Support is great" (which is true!), but it would be good to see more meaningful recognition with teams contacting us to say "Support does cool stuff, we would welcome contributors views/help/assistance with a project". I can also attest to the benefits of linking up with new staff. I helped put this in place with a previous employer and it was a big success. The positive relationship built early on lasted well beyond the initial period. In closing, I would like to say that there is a huge amount in this and that I recommend all connected with Support read and take interest in it for that way is the best way to success. I also hope that we do not iterate away from these initial plans until they have all been attempted (regardless of the time taken) as it would be sad to look back and see some great opportunities being missed. This is exciting stuff.