[community] Support person

[Tommy Collison]

On 7/6/17 4:24 AM, Georg Koppen wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I know I am late, but maybe not too late...
>
> Shari Steele:
>> Hey all.
>> I don't think I'm going to be able to join this morning's meeting due to technical difficulties, so I'm adding a couple of comments below.
>>
>>> On Jun 26, 2017, at 12:08 AM, Roger Dingledine <arma at mit.edu> wrote:
>>>
>>> On Fri, Jun 23, 2017 at 04:41:57PM -0400, Tommy Collison wrote:
>>>> +Georg +Pastly +Catalyst +Steph
>>>>
>>>> Also -- this grant is now due the 7th, so we have a whole extra week!
>>> Thanks Tommy.
>>>
>>> Georg, Pastly, Taylor, it will be really useful to get your insights
>>> and preferences here.
>>>
>>> Here are some thoughts to get us going:
>>>
>>> Step zero, where do we provide support now? In Valencia I made a list:
>>>
>>> "What are our current places for user interaction / users to get their
>>> questions answered?"
>>> https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/org/meetings/2016WinterDevMeeting/Notes/TakeBackCommunityChannels
>>>
>>> Another interesting paragraph from those notes:
>>>
>>> "Suggestion: get one person funded who will prioritize and tend the
>>> community channels. A person that wants to help. We as the community must
>>> help this person. They don't have to answer all the questions themselves,
>>> so long as they create an atmosphere where people get answers. We'd pay
>>> them to get up to speed in Tor. We need to figure out what characteristics
>>> this person must have (technical, non-technical etc)."
>>>
>>> A support person whose job is to "tend the community channels" is quite a
>>> bit different than a support person whose job is to "assist in getting the
>>> support portal up and running". Where on the spectrum do we want to be?
>> This position is NOT for tending the community channels.  At least not at first, and it shouldn't be in the job description.  I think this is a full-time job without that.
>>
>> We thought of this position as an extension of the communications team.  The comm team gets lots of questions on social media and from the press that require an ability to explain technical concepts to non-technical people.  That's what this position is supposed to be.  This person will also help with the support portal.
> Reading the text in "What are your goals and desired outcomes for the
> person hired through the Technology Exchange? Be specific." it seems to
> me the second paragraph is about the extension of the communications
> team and the support portal you are talking about. This matches to
> Stephanie being the immediate supervisor.
>
> But I am wondering what role the first paragraph plays here. What
> additional work is the applicant supposed to be doing that is not
> covered by the second paragraph? I read "This person will be a bridge
> between Tor’s non-technical users and Tor’s development team" and was
> excited because I thought "Finally someone is helping with all our users
> having questions/issues, be they mentioned on IRC, mailing lists, the
> blog etc." But that seems pretty close to "tending the community
> channels" which it should not be according to you. What is its purpose
> then (assuming that first paragraph is not redundant)?
>
> Georg
>
Hey Georg,

Thanks for your note on this. Wasn't too late -- am submitting today.

I reread those paragraphs and edited them for clarity. The first
paragraph is a high-level look at what the job is. It uses vague
language (what does being a bridge between users and devs even mean?)
and broad strokes. The second drills down into the day-to-day -- they'll
be working with Steph, and taking some weight off devs who don't have
the cycles to follow up on press stuff.

In terms of support -- I expect this person not to be full-time on
support, but sometimes there are technical questions that need a
developer to answer properly, and that's where this person will step in.
As Shari said, tending the support channels is a full-time job in
itself, and we want this person to do more than that.

TC


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