Transcript of a meeting held on 15-April-2008 on IRC between various WikiCoaches and a few community members, discussing some of the changes to the way AboutUs will be handling the organization of the WikiCoaching and paid article writing service. All times are in PDT.

I've broken this into semi-logical chunks to help navigate this, naturally the headers didn't appear in the actual IRC dialogue, but was just my attempt to bring order to a rather thick discussion. Other than adding headers, none of this discussion has been edited, truncated or revised. -- TakKendrick

edit Intro/Overview

• TedErnst joined the chat room. (10:15PM) [10:15PM]
• SaadSaeed joined the chat room. (10:15PM) [10:16PM]
• SaadSaeed: Hello Ted [10:16PM]
• KristinaWeis joined the chat room. (10:16PM) [10:16PM]
• KristinaWeis: Yes? [10:16PM]
• obed joined the chat room. (10:16PM) [10:16PM]
• obed: Hi Ted [10:17PM]
• Asad joined the chat room. (10:17PM) [10:17PM]
• TedErnst: hi saad, obed, all [10:17PM]
• NickBurrus joined the chat room. (10:17PM) [10:17PM]
• Asad: Hi Ted [10:17PM]
• Arshia joined the chat room. (10:17PM) [10:17PM]
• Aliaz joined the chat room. (10:17PM) [10:18PM]
• AyeshaAslam joined the chat room. (10:18PM) [10:18PM]
• asma joined the chat room. (10:18PM) [10:19PM]
• SaadSaeed: All right, i think we've managed to recreate the AboutUs main channel over here [10:19PM]
• SaadSaeed: lets start [10:19PM]
• Aliaz: hmmm [10:19PM]
• Aliaz: Is anyone here? [10:19PM]
• TakKendrick: Yup. I think nearly everyone jumped over here. [10:19PM]
• NickBurrus: /poke [10:20PM]
• TakKendrick: But, this will clear that channel up in case a WebUser needs help [10:20PM]
• SaadSaeed: So with the new changes to team organization, its my understanding that wikicoaching has now become a content domain [10:20PM]
• TakKendrick: Actually, Saad, I think of it as the opposite [10:20PM]
• TakKendrick: content got enveloped by the WikiCoaching team [10:21PM]
• TakKendrick: (sort of) [10:21PM]
• TakKendrick: let me back up and give my view of the puzzle so we're all on the same page. [10:22PM]
• TakKendrick: As our business model has changed over the past few months, it became increasingly clear that the two divisions (Community/Content) weren't exactly right. We had community members doing content (articles) and content people doing community work (coaching), all under the guise of "WikiCoaches" [10:23PM]
• TakKendrick: With Ray wanting us to eventually ramp up to being able to handle 10 new WikiCoaching clients a day (a day which is closer than we all think I suspect) [10:23PM]
• TakKendrick: We realized that the old model needed to be rethought a bit. [10:24PM]
• TakKendrick: also, we realized that the people (whether content or community) were doing a bang-up job at both tasks when Coaching [10:25PM]
• TakKendrick: So, the new division really is about having a "WikiCoaching" team, and how we can achieve the goal of 10 new clients a day with the people we have. [10:25PM]
• TakKendrick: Ad into this mix that some community people have been helping with Sales and this got murky really quick (and still is to an extent) [10:27PM]
• TakKendrick: so, I think this new model is an attempt to clarify the work that was already being done, while also recognizing the great work everyone has been doing. [10:29PM]
• TakKendrick: any questions thus far? [10:29PM]
• SaadSaeed: I think its normal to have people be part of multiple teams in an organization. [10:29PM]
• TakKendrick: Yup. [10:29PM]
• obed: Tak, now I'm confused at a higher level I'm not sure what "So, the new division really is about having a "WikiCoaching" team" means i.e. what divisions do we have now? [10:30PM]
• NickBurrus: You don't want to know what just happened to my mind. /hide [10:31PM]
• TakKendrick: Obed, I'm not sure what the answer is to that [10:31PM]

edit WikiCoaching and the current Community v. Content model

• TakKendrick: I think it's really saying instead of divisions, we have "work duties" [10:31PM]
• TakKendrick: some duties are clearly community based (RC, user engagement, support emails) [10:31PM]
• TakKendrick: and some duties would fall under the "content" structure (portal work) [10:32PM]
• Asad: where does the wikicoaching now fall? [10:32PM]
• TakKendrick: but largely, the thrust of the work needing to be done is WikiCoaching [10:33PM]
• TakKendrick: Again, I'm not honestly sure, but I think WikiCoaching might be a third division, composed of people from both "teams" [10:33PM]
• KristinaWeis: Question from the peanut gallery: What groups or who is doing RC or is this spread out among lots of people? [10:33PM]
• TedErnst: we're making this too complicated [10:33PM]
• Asad: That is still mainly community [10:33PM]
• TedErnst: Tak's group is doing the WikiCoaching [10:33PM]
• TedErnst: call that group whatever you like [10:34PM]
• TakKendrick: as it happens, WikiCoaching comes under my prevue, which also the former Content group [10:34PM]
• TedErnst: Obed and Asad are the only active WikiCoaches not in that group, and their WikiCoaching duties will go down, methinks [10:34PM]
• TakKendrick: Yes, Ted is right. I'd like to rename "my group" to the "Coaching and Portal team" [10:34PM]
• TedErnst: excellent [10:35PM]
• TakKendrick: rather than "Content Team" [10:35PM]
• KristinaWeis: Cool. [10:35PM]
• obed: cool [10:35PM]
• Arshia: nice idea [10:35PM]
• asma: Great Tak! [10:36PM]

edit Organization of "WikiCoaching and Portal creation" work

• TakKendrick: If you look at the chart, there are managers (which still isn't the right word) for the tasks I "organize" -- Mehr and Saad. In my mind, Mehr will continue to help manage portal work, while Saad will help manage WikiCoaching work. [10:36PM]
• TakKendrick: but that hasn't been totally discussed with Saad or Mehr, so it's not final. [10:36PM]
• TakKendrick: Meanwhile Steven W. is "managing" the Oldcastle portal [10:37PM]
• TakKendrick: naturally, everyone actually does WikiCoaching work, including those "under" Mehr and those "under" Mark in the community group (Asad, Obed) [10:37PM]
• TedErnst: and me too [10:38PM]
• obed: awesome, Its more clear now [10:38PM]
• TakKendrick: and Ted (who is under the management of ?) [10:38PM]
• Asad: • Asad doesn't like "under" but keeps his mouth shut [10:38PM]
• TakKendrick: Yeah, I hate "manage" and "under" because I think our structure is more flat than that. [10:39PM]
• TakKendrick: but there is some (semblance) of structure me thinks [10:39PM]
• Arshia: yes i agree with Tak [10:39PM]
• Asad: Yes, but that's beyond the agenda of this meeting... I think [10:40PM]
• KristinaWeis: So I'm clear, the main focus of the "Coaching and Portal" group is on paid content-ish stuff now...? [10:40PM]
• TakKendrick: yes Kristina. That's another way of saying that... [10:41PM]
• KristinaWeis: With less focus on the previous high traffic pages and the like...? [10:41PM]
• TakKendrick: probably, but we're still figuring that out Kristina [10:41PM]
• TedErnst: depends on how much paid work we generate with Sales, methinks [10:42PM]
• KristinaWeis: Okay, that's a good point. I like that other work if the paying stuff runs out. [10:42PM]
• TakKendrick: yup. Once we're at 10 sales a day, I imagine unpaid content takes a significant backburner [10:42PM]
• KristinaWeis: Certainly. [10:42PM]
• Arshia: how does you can differ sales with "Coaching and Portal" [10:42PM]

edit Portal work (upcoming)

• TakKendrick: meanwhile, we're about to start the First Aid "portal" work, which is some 16,000 pages. (Yes, 16 thousand) [10:42PM]
• TedErnst: what?! [10:42PM]
• SaadSaeed: oooh [10:43PM]
• KristinaWeis: Whoa... [10:43PM]
• SaadSaeed: we were thinking that extra zero was a typo [10:43PM]
• obed: wow [10:43PM]
• Asad: wow! [10:43PM]
• Aliaz: holy /// [10:43PM]
• AyeshaAslam: 16 THOUSAND?? [10:43PM]
• SaadSaeed: but wow [10:43PM]
• AyeshaAslam: wow [10:43PM]
• asma: That was a surprise..... [10:43PM]
• Aliaz: ummm we dont have a time limit on them there portals do we? [10:43PM]
• SaadSaeed: And what timeline are we projecting to get those finished? [10:43PM]
• TakKendrick: Yup. 16,000. I know. It's a multi-year project, so we don't have to do it all tomorrow [10:43PM]
• Aliaz: phew! [10:44PM]
• TakKendrick: and I'll have that tasked out in the next day or so. [10:44PM]
• shahzad joined the chat room. (10:44PM) [10:44PM]
• TakKendrick: yeah, you can see why Mehr has a "portal" team. We're going to be busy [10:44PM]
• shahzad: Hello Ted and Thanks [10:44PM]
• TedErnst: yw [10:45PM]
• TakKendrick: good news on the first aid work (which really is 5 portals/categories) is that it represents a bunch of sustained revenue for the next year, two or three [10:46PM]
• KristinaWeis: [10:46PM]
• TakKendrick: but that's probably a digression... [10:46PM]

edit How WikiCoaching and Sales mesh together

• TakKendrick: back to "WikiCoaching". Any other questions? [10:47PM]
• TakKendrick: Arshia, did your question get answered? [10:47PM]
• Arshia: yes, [10:49PM]
• TakKendrick: In my mind, the difference between sales and "Coaching and Portal" work is that "Sales" is involved in procuring leads, developing them into clients and making the sale. Once the sale is made is where the "Coaching and Portal" team really starts. [10:49PM]
• TakKendrick: It's almost a relay. [10:49PM]
• TakKendrick: Ted, Kristina, is that how you see the relationship? [10:49PM]
• TedErnst: yes [10:49PM]
• KristinaWeis: Yeah, that's about it. [10:49PM]
• TedErnst: and ideally, Sales would take the baton back from you once the work is done so we can sell more to the same clients [10:50PM]
• KristinaWeis: In theory [10:50PM]
• TakKendrick: and hopefully, that relationship/hand-off will be seamless. Unless I'm grumpy like I was this morning. [10:50PM]
• TedErnst: yes [10:50PM]
• TedErnst: we're not quite there yet [10:50PM]
• TakKendrick: (there are still seams) [10:50PM]
• TakKendrick: other questions? [10:51PM]
• mehrunnisa joined the chat room. (10:51PM) [10:51PM]
• KristinaWeis: One thing I want to make sure we keep up is good communication when it makes sense between the sales and wiki coaching teams, mostly if an issue arises but for anything else too. [10:51PM]
• TakKendrick: Yup. [10:52PM]
• asma: Of course, Kristina! [10:52PM]
• TakKendrick: And while we've got a few representatives from sales here now, let's take a moment to applaud their efforts. Especially the last two days: 8 sales to begin the week! [10:53PM]
• TakKendrick: Kristina even sold one during dinner tonight [10:53PM]
• KristinaWeis: Haha, thanks Tak. [10:53PM]
• AyeshaAslam: thats great [10:53PM]
• obed: • obed *claps* [10:53PM]
• Aliaz: *claps enthusiastically [10:54PM]
• SaadSaeed: what about communication with the clients, A) would wikicoaches to do all the correspondence after during article work would wikicoaches do the final handoff to client or would they refer back to sales? [10:54PM]
• asma: congratulations for Kristina [10:54PM]
• obed: good questions there Saad [10:54PM]
• TakKendrick: Saad, that is something we're still working out. Which does bring up another point while I've got the room right now. [10:54PM]
• KristinaWeis: I'm getting sleepy, but if you ever have questions about a client or page or whatever let us know and we can help since we talked to the person originally in most cases. [10:55PM]
• KristinaWeis: Oh to answer Saad... [10:55PM]

edit Some upcoming tools for the WikiCoach's toolbox (upcoming)

• TakKendrick: I'm working on some new correspondence "templates" to help do some of the heavy-lifting in communication [10:55PM]
• TakKendrick: which I'll be emailing everyone in the next day or two. [10:55PM]
• AyeshaAslam: my WikiCoach clients never write back [10:55PM]
• TedErnst: Tak, would be great to get those into the CRM - emails can be sent from inside the CRM itself, and then they're saved with the client's record [10:56PM]
• KristinaWeis: I think communication between Wiki Coach and client is important and that in normal circumstances it can mostly stay there. I think it's important to get feedback on how the page is progressing and make sure they're on the road to happy before it's finished... [10:56PM]
• TakKendrick: Yup, Ayesha, that's part of why we want to re-look at the correspondence we're sending. a) to try to encourage them to write back and b) to help set some deadlines in case they never get back to us [10:56PM]
• Aliaz: neither does mine [10:56PM]
• AyeshaAslam: yes because we might be done with the page but then when the client does not even reply to the closing mail...what do we do? [10:57PM]
• TakKendrick: and Ted, yes, once we're migrated to coaching using the CRM, we'll definitely want those in there. [10:57PM]
• KristinaWeis: Yes, I've had the same experience with wiki coach clients not getting back... so I think particularly when you're almost done a deadline for them to give feedback or something might motivate them to get back to us and help us from getting backlogged. [10:58PM]
• TakKendrick: I think if you can wait a day or two for those emails I'm working on, that'll answer your questions. One of them is really about how to "close" the work via email. [10:58PM]
• AyeshaAslam: ok cool... [10:58PM]
• SaadSaeed: Super [10:59PM]
• TakKendrick: I think the line I'm playing with right now is, "We think we're really close on this and would like to get any final input from you before we spotlight it. Please get back to me right away, if I don't hear from you in 5 business days, we'll go ahead and spotlight this." [10:59PM]
• TakKendrick: that's not exactly the right line, but you get the gist. [10:59PM]
• TakKendrick: and part of the close will be to ask for testimonials too. [10:59PM]
• KristinaWeis: I like that. [11:00PM]
• AyeshaAslam: yes thats good [11:00PM]
• TakKendrick: I'm still noodling with the line, but go ahead and use that or a variant if you like until I have these "template" correspondence to y'all over the next couple of days. [11:01PM]
• SaadSaeed: Another idea that Saliha brought up in Ray's meeting was to a checkup with a client after a month or two to see how they are doing, if there are new changes in their business, etc This helps us keep in touch with them and keeps a door open for furture 'asks' (i.e. selling category placement, informing them of new offers etc) [11:01PM]
• TakKendrick: Yup Saad, the big question here becomes "is that a Coaching duty or a Sales one" [11:02PM]
• TakKendrick: -- I suspect it's part of the hand-off back to Sales, but don't know entirely [11:02PM]
• KristinaWeis: I think it could go either way depending on who had the most/best interaction with them. [11:02PM]
• TakKendrick: okay. other questions about this part of WikiCoaching? [11:03PM]
• KristinaWeis: Goodnight all, and happy wiki coaching! [11:03PM]
• TakKendrick: night Kristina. [11:03PM]
• KristinaWeis left the chat room. (11:03PM) [11:03PM]
• TakKendrick: I do have a few other things to <quickly> mention while I've got the room. [11:03PM]
• SaadSaeed: hello> [11:03PM]
• AyeshaAslam: hi saad [11:04PM]
• TakKendrick: 1) I think some/all of you know that we're moving to the CRM system. There's a lot of bugs to work out, but eventually the coaching assignments and notes will be handled via the CRM, not the admin wiki. [11:05PM]
• TakKendrick: right now, we're sort of doing both while trying to figure out the CRM. I don't know when we'll "switch" over, but before we do, we'll be training everyone on the CRM. [11:05PM]
• TakKendrick: for now, don't worry too much about this, and just keep up the great work you all are doing on Coaching though [11:06PM]
• TakKendrick: just know it's on the horizon <eventually> [11:06PM]
• asma: Ok, Tak, We will know it by the time [11:07PM]
• TakKendrick: 2) Just as we're looking at how to make the correspondence into a strength, we're looking at fine-tuning the article writing quality and coming up with some "standards" for these (good categorization, internal and external links, etc). [11:08PM]
• TakKendrick: Again, this is more of an FYI right now, but as we come up with training materials to "Coach the Coaches" they'll appear in your email, and there might be another "Coaches" meeting on IRC on these. [11:08PM]
• Aliaz: about fine tuning articles [11:08PM]
• Aliaz: we recently did the oldcastle portal [11:09PM]
• Aliaz: and that was exhausting because most of the sites had the same material and the same links and were about the same thing there is only so many ways to write about one thing over and over again [11:09PM]
• TakKendrick: yeah, I know. [11:10PM]
• Aliaz: isnt there a way around that [11:10PM]
• Aliaz: like a generic page for all similar portal pages [11:10PM]
• Aliaz: these sites sell the same products [11:10PM]
• TakKendrick: probably not, but it's something to think about. [11:10PM]
• Aliaz: use the same images [11:10PM]
• Aliaz: are in relatively the same location [11:10PM]
• TakKendrick: The problem with the Oldcastle portal is that all those pages are all Oldcastle companies. But they also compete with each other [11:11PM]
• Aliaz: what we could do is make a generic page and then post links to these sites [11:11PM]
• TakKendrick: But, Steven and I have talked about coming up with some templates that do some of that work when they are so similar, yes. [11:11PM]
• Aliaz: hmmm [11:13PM]
• TakKendrick: Unfortunately though, I do think repetition is the nature of some of the work. Not to segue much, but one of my first newspaper jobs consisted on answering the phone from coaches and writing down results. There's only so many ways of saying, "The team won. Kate Smith scored two goals, backed by brilliant defense by Margaret Clark" [11:13PM]

edit More on Sponsors and Team Organizing

• AyeshaAslam: looking at the organization chart...Saad is now my sponsor/supervisor? so far as Mehrunnisa was my sponsor I had been sending her daily updates on what I did during the day...should i be sending those to saad now? [11:13PM]
• TakKendrick: Some nights I'd have to do 15 of those "one sentence" highlights in a row [11:14PM]
• TakKendrick: Ayesha, let's give that a few days to percolate. Short answer, yes, but I don't really know. [11:14PM]
• NickBurrus: Mind if I print this entire conversation out to reread so I understand what's going on? [11:15PM]
• TakKendrick: Sure Nick. I was thinking about posting it on the wiki so that people who couldn't make the meeting or came late can catch up. [11:15PM]
• AyeshaAslam: ok... [11:15PM]
• TakKendrick: Ayesha, the long answer is sort of... depends on what work you're doing... [11:16PM]
• TakKendrick: if you're doing portal work, you should report/check in with Mehr. If you're doing Coaching work, check in with Sa [11:16PM]
• TakKendrick: Saad [11:16PM]
• AyeshaAslam: well if im doing wikicoaching work I should presumably update saad while if its portal work I update Mehr? [11:16PM]
• NickBurrus: It's packed with information Tak. [11:16PM]
• TakKendrick: As you're part time, we sort of decided that rather than split your time a lot, you'd probably be doing mostly Coaching work, but that could change if you prefer the portal work [11:17PM]
• AyeshaAslam: ok got it [11:18PM]
• AyeshaAslam: and speaking of part time...I have to make a move take care everyone...ill catch up on the rest of the meeting if the chat is posted on the wiki? [11:18PM]
• obed left the chat room. (11:18PM) Reason: Read error: 113 (No route to host) [11:18PM]
• TakKendrick: ultimately, the idea presently is that Saad is your "sponsor" but that doesn't have to be so. [11:18PM]
• TakKendrick: I think we're almost done Ayesha, but we'll post it on the wiki, yes. [11:18PM]
• AyeshaAslam: ok... [11:18PM]
• TakKendrick: Have a good day! [11:18PM]
• SaadSaeed: Thats fine by me, my role as overlooking wikicoaching work is still undefined, but i hear it is to steer wikicoaching with a community focus on it. [11:18PM]
• AyeshaAslam: you too.. [11:19PM]
• AyeshaAslam: bye [11:19PM]
• SaadSaeed: we can talk about it Ayesha [11:19PM]
• TakKendrick: Yup, Saad. This is where I'm hoping to still discuss that with you this evening after this meeting [11:19PM]
• AyeshaAslam left the chat room. (11:19PM) Reason: "ChatZilla 0.9.79 [Firefox 2.0.0.13/2008031114]" [11:20PM]
• mehrunnisa left the chat room. (11:20PM) Reason: Read error: 113 (No route to host) [11:20PM]
• SaadSaeed: yep we're still on [11:20PM]
• TakKendrick: cool. Alright. I think we might be winding down here. More questions? [11:24PM]
• TakKendrick: Alright. Let me again reiterate that everyone is doing fantastic work. This "re-org" is really to help us maintain that great work while improving the throughput (more articles done quicker), engagement with the clients and just tweaking the article quality in small ways. [11:25PM]
• asma: Thank You Tak for your meeting and providing solutions for everyone [11:25PM]
• SaadSaeed: Ty for making it more clear Tak [11:26PM]
• Aliaz: clear? [11:26PM]
• TakKendrick: alright. then let's call this meeting done! If you have questions, just email me. I'll probably be in the IRC for awhile yet tonight too. [11:27PM]
• Aliaz: ook [11:27PM]
• Aliaz: TY [11:27PM]
• asma: See you later...... [11:28PM]
• NickBurrus: Awesome. Going to print this out. [11:28PM]
• TedErnst left the chat room. (11:28PM) Reason: "later, 'gator" [11:29PM]
• Aliaz left the chat room. (11:29PM) Reason: "ChatZilla 0.9.81 [Firefox 2.0.0.11/2007120411]" [11:29PM]
• TakKendrick: Nick, if you're going to print it out, then I'll probably sent it to the staff rather than put it up on the wiki. Unless you think it would be illuminating for the community to see? I'm worried it just might be too much. [11:30PM]
• TakKendrick: but as a major community member, is this discussion something you'd find fruitful if we posted it? [11:31PM]
• NickBurrus: It looks pretty cool for the community to see. [11:31PM]
• NickBurrus: I can get back to you afte rI reread it. [11:32PM]
• NickBurrus: And if somebody is researching the company to buy from, wouldn't they like to see discussions like these? [11:32PM]
• shahzad left the chat room. (11:32PM) Reason: Remote closed the connection [11:32PM]
• TakKendrick: I think there's no harm in posting it on the main wiki. I'm so transparent I don't show up in mirrors. Of course that's might be because I'm half vampire. [11:34PM]
• TakKendrick: alright. I've leaving this channel...