edit Overview

This consensus poll is about changing the way we define and prioritize the work we do. We will begin to use the basic structure of the Distributed Planning Game right now and this consensus poll will help us to further refine the process. Our first full period under the Distributed Planning Game will be 1-15 Sep 2007 and the planning for that period will begin on AboutUs Upcoming Plan of Record. On 1 Sep 2007 we will move the Upcoming plan to the AboutUs Current Plan of Record and celebrate the completion of tasks on the outgoing current plan.

Each work group organizer (Dev, Content, Community, Finance and BizDev) will structure their section of the AboutUs Upcoming Plan of Record with a proposed list of projects/tasks for the upcoming period. Proposed organizers are:

• Development - Ward and Brandon
• Community - Mark and Ted
• Content - Chris and Tak
• Operations and Finance - Julia and John
• Business Development, SEO and PR - Ray

Projects can be suggested by anyone. They will be reviewed by work group organizers, aligned with our goals, broken down into manageable tasks and inserted into the Distributed Planning Game for prioritization. Tasks for existing projects can additionally be suggested by anyone and inserted into the Distributed Planning Game.

The proposed list of projects/tasks on the AboutUs Upcoming Plan of Record should be available 5 days prior to the beginning of the next period on AboutUs so that everyone can comment and reprioritize online. The work group organizers will finalize the priority lists and move them to the AboutUs Current Plan of Record on the day that the new period begins.

edit Summary Grid

edit Purpose

• To encourage direct participation by everyone in establishing what we work on and the priorities.

edit Goals

• To create a process for handling work done by the Development, Content, Community, Finance and BizDev teams such that everyone involved in those areas knows the current Plan of Record and can contribute ideas and help prioritize the upcoming "Plan of Record"
• To accommodate people who are working in any geographical location and any time zone
• To maintain a natural working rhythm
• To allow scaling to larger numbers of people

edit Plan

edit Planning Cycle

Each month:

• 1st - 15th
• 16th - last day of month

edit Work Group Organizers

A work group organizer is a person or a small group (if pairing) who does the following:

• During the period:
  • Seeks input from all project organizers/people working in that area. This can take place in the form of smaller group meetings, individual calls, IRC, etc.
  • Notes any new pieces of work
  • Matches new piece of work to a Strategic Goal
  • Submits new goals at the next Strategic Goal Review if the new projects do not fall within existing goals
  • Creates (at least) one manageable chunk (task) with measurable goals, from this new piece of work
  • Puts time estimates and $ estimates on the work
  • Prioritizes tasks
  • Encourages those who are close to individual projects to improve the task pages such that each one contains:
    • Description - A complete description of the task.
    • Why? - The business reason for the work.
    • Done When - A complete description of the expected results.
    • How can I help? - A list of actions to be done and meetings.
    • Useful Links - Links to the pages affected or referenced (templates).
    • Discussion - A place for everyone to discuss the task and its progress.
    • Task Lead - The person responsible for overseeing the task.
    • Task Resources - A list of the people working on the project.
    • Resource Estimate - An estimate of time and $ to be expended.
    • Evaluator - The person responsible for project QA and for declaring the project done.
    • Task Evaluation - A summary of how the project went, the resources expended, the start date and the signoff date
  • Reviews progress on task being worked on
• At the end of each period:
  • Celebrates and retires items that were completed in the prior period
  • Points to and plans for the new Plan of Record for the upcoming period