User:Ashughes/Iris Community Engagement Plan

Summary

This page tracks planning for the development of a community around the Mozilla Iris test automation project.

At present time, and since the creation of this wiki page, the following hurdles are known to exist within the project:

• biggest hurdle is structure and workflow due to refactor work
• logistical issue to on-board a new person
• would be nice to have a goal and understanding of how you're going to measure it (eg. X number of people involved) and what impact we expect that will have / why we need it
• need to think about impact of losing paid developers
• people who stumble in will contribute in some minor ways and not a result of something we have deliberately done
• we need to identify customers (mobile and other projects at Mozilla), invite you to a personal hack session to show you how to build a module and tests for your project. Rapid visual automation for your product.
• Another idea is to get someone who tests products in an emulator (Focus, Fennec, etc) and get them to hack with us on it.
• target people in the QA Org from phonebook - ask what they use for testing, how we could get them using Iris
• for second half of the year, if you can travel in North America, could use somebody who could take a trip to a college, youth group, hacker space, conference, etc. Give a hands on workshop with a local group.
• barrier to entry seems to be low, someone found us
• need an entry survey
• need to understand how people are discovering us
• identify issues and nice to haves through conversations with customers, use these issues to direct community
• blanket advertising won't work very well, needs to be focused on a specific area

The goal is to foster a healthy community of developers and customers alike.

Phase 1: SWOT Analysis

For more background on SWOT Analysis as it pertains to Community Organization see Wikipedia.

Strengths and weaknesses

Internal factors within an organization:

• Human resources — staff, volunteers, board members, target population
• Physical resources — your location, building, equipment
• Financial — grants, funding agencies, other sources of income
• Activities and processes — programs you run, systems you employ
• Past experiences — building blocks for learning and success, your reputation in the community

Opportunities and threats

External factors stemming from community or societal forces:

• Future trends in your field or the culture
• The economy — local, national, or international
• Funding sources — foundations, donors, legislatures
• Demographics — changes in the age, race, gender, culture of those you serve or in your area
• The physical environment —is your building in a growing part of town? Is the bus company cutting routes?
• Legislation — do new federal requirements make your job harder...or easier?
• Local, national, or international events

Elements to consider

Elements to consider in a SWOT analysis include understanding the community that a particular organization is working with. This can be done via public forums, listening campaigns, and informational interviews. Data collection will help inform the community members and workers when developing the SWOT analysis. A needs and assets assessment is tooling that can be used to identify the needs and existing resources of the community. When these assessments are done and data has been collected, an analysis of the community can be made that informs the SWOT analysis.

Steps for implementation

A SWOT analysis is best developed in a group setting such as a work or community meeting. A facilitator can conduct the meeting by first explaining what a SWOT analysis is as well as identifying the meaning of each term. One way of facilitating the development of a SWOT analysis includes developing an example SWOT with the larger group then separating each group into smaller teams to present to the larger group after set amount of time. This allows for individuals, who may be silenced in a larger group setting, to contribute. Once the allotted time is up, the facilitator may record all the factors of each group onto a large document such as a poster board, and then the large group, as a collective, can go work through each of the threats and weaknesses to explore options that may be used to combat negative forces with the strengths and opportunities present within the organization and community. A SWOT meeting allows participants to creatively brainstorm, identify obstacles, and possibly strategize solutions/way forward to these limitations.