Deep dive on community management

DEEPDIVE ONCOMMUNITY MANAGEMENT DAN FRANC FOR GOOGLE DEVELOPER + OUTREACH OFFSITE JULY 8, 2011

EFFICIENT EFFECTIVE DURABLE SCALABLE= COMMUNITIES

I train

I love

I network

I have my passions

DEVELO- USERS, BIZ, PERS TEACHERS, ...

http://geolabs.com.br/pulse/

THE POINT FOR TODAY IS...: 1. COMMUNITIES (GTUG) CAN HELP DEVELOPER RELATIONS ON A GRAND SCALE2. THEY EMERGE GRASSROOT - AND THEY CAN BE HELPED3. THEY FOLLOW CERTAIN DEVELOPMENT PATTERN THAT CAN BE SUPPORTED AND ACCELERATED 4. LOCAL GOOGLE CAN BE INVOLVED INTO A VARYING EXTENT - THE CHOICE IS YOURS

COMMUNITY IS...

COMMUNITY IS A BUNCH OF CONNECTED PEOPLE

COMMUNITY IS A BUNCH OF CONNECTED PEOPLE (VIA A SHARED PASSION *))*) NOT NECESSARILY SHARED GOALS, INTEREST OR DEMOGRAPHICS

COMMUNITY IS A BUNCH OF CONNECTED PEOPLE. NOT A FOLLOWING, WHERE MANY FOLLOW ONE.

COMMUNITY IS A BUNCH OFCONNECTED AND INTERACTING PEOPLE.

COMMUNITY IS A BUNCH (TINY, HUGE... SIZE DOESN’T MATTER) OF CONNECTED AND INTERACTING PEOPLE

COMMUNITY IS A BUNCH OFCONNECTED AND INTERACTING PEOPLE, WHICH GIVES ITSMEMBERS SOMETHING: SENSE. “My belong to” “I life is assion” “I live my pbetter”

Bottom line of the nature of communities: To see a community develop, you need to support creation of an environment of connected and interacting people, which makes their life better. Structures without these elements might not be acommunities and the community power might not be applicable to them.

PEOPLE LOVE THE SENSE OFBELONGING TO A COMMUNITY

Text Text“Sorry ladies. Geeks only.” EVEN GUYS. EVEN THE IT GUYS. cartoon credit: +Lub Beyer

BUT COMMUNITY ISN’T JUST A CROWD. IT’S A TRIBE.

PEOPLE LOOK FOR THEIR TRIBE

RELATIONSHIPS: FAMILY ACTIVITY: SPONTANEOUS CREATIVITY: WILD & CHAOTIC PARTICIPATION: ENGAGED LOYALTY: HIGHPEOPLE LOOK FOR THEIR TRIBE

LET’S HELP THEM FIND IT!

WE NEED A PLUMBER, AGARDENER AND A GATEKEEPER BUT HEY, WE DON’T NEED A BOSS!

?CAN WE PROVIDE THESE?

?AND WHAT’S IN IT FOR US?

RELATIONSHIPS: FAMILY ACTIVITY: SPONTANEOUSCREATIVITY: WILD & CHAOTIC PARTICIPATION: ENGAGED LOYALTY: HIGHAND WHAT’S IN IT FOR US? IT MUST BE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME, WHAT’S IN IT FOR MEMBERS. YOU ARE ONLY ONE OF THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS, AFTER ALL.

Attract to tech Build loyalty Get feedback Build buzz Learn about dev needsBuild awareness Educate the system Find developers Have apps doneTap the innovations AND WHAT’S IN IT FOR US?

IT’S NOT AMARKETING TOOL !

old school relationships community communicationwe launch campaigns to the community we insert stimuli into community we communicate one way the community talks to us it’s the community members who talk it’s only us who talk about us about us we talk to a community we are members of a community we do market studies the market explains itself to us

BUT: MEMBERS’ INTEREST MUST GO FIRST. ALWAYS.

Bottom line of the tribal leadership:You have to ﬁnd out what your audience is passionateabout - best by listening to the existing chatter, whichalso proves that this passion has the power to connect.Then create a mechanism for people to relate to one another based on that passion. Be aware of the beneﬁts for you, but don’t buildeverything on them and don’t see the community asyour marketing branch. That’s the zen way of getting from communities what you don’t cling to.

BUILDING A COMMUNITY

“INSPIRING COMMUNITY GROWTH”

1. DESIGN 2. SEEDING3. SILENT LAUNCH4. PUBLIC LAUNCH5. SUSTAINABILITY

IT DOES TAKE TIMETO GETTO THESTARS

TAKE ONLYONE STEP AT A TIME SO THAT YOU CAN BACKTRACKEASILY. BETTER MANY SMALL STEPS THANONE BIG LEAP.

BUT ONCE THECOMMUNITY GETS ROLLING, NOTHINGCAN STOP IT.

Bottom line of the community evolution:Newly evolved communities follow similar patterns of their growth but you never can be sure how the individual steps will look like and how long they will take. But once the mass of energy, people and connections is created, it’s undestructible.

1. DESIGN EMBRACING GTUG

DECIDE ON THE BENEFITS who the GTUG will be mainly for about? Will members benefit and how? Will organizers benefit and how? Will Google benefit and how?

DECIDE “WHY” A COMMUNITY right way to achieve the beneﬁts?Is a community the In your country and around the passion you identiﬁed.. is there potential for a community ? Does the management support the initiative?

ENVISION THE CULTURE Values Norms Behaviors

ENVISION THE CULTURE Values Norms Behaviors THIS IS HOW IT’S OFTEN DONE, BUT IT’S NOT NECESSARILY GREAT. DEFINING JUST BEHAVIORS OR RULES DOESN’T PROVIDE A STRONG GUIDANCE FOR NEW INITIATIVES OR IDEAS.

ENVISION THE CULTUREValues Norms Behaviors

DECIDE ON THE SUPPORT FORM• EVENTS • “VIP TREATMENT” of organizers • room hosting • beta tests • event co-‐organization • Google access • logistics & catering support • special events • banners, branding • “insider info” • promotion • PROMO & PR• CONTENTS • GTUG promotion • speakers • activity promotion • online/oﬄine kits

DECIDE ON THE SUPPORT FORM• SWAG • web, domain, templates • for members • meeting spaces • for organizers • NETWORKING• MENTORING/COACHING • door-‐opener to Google partners • technical • door-‐opener to friendly press • organizational • door-‐opened to other groups• PLATFORM CREATION • FINANCIAL SUPPORT • “central” group

DECIDE HOW FAR YOU WANT TO GO• AT THE MINIMUM: • OK, BUT...: • announce GTUG in your • “Build it and they will come” country, possibly by an event or syndrom two • Internal champions are not so • have someone in Google be passionate as external responsible for ongoing community members promotion of the idea and handling enquiries / support • chapters won’t be coordinated -‐ little eﬀect multiplication • support won’t be coordinated -‐ lots of communication will be needd

WANT MORE?THEN DECIDE IF YOU HAVE THE BALLS... ... to deal with community speciﬁcs: ... long run ... unpredictability ... more facilitation than management ... shared ownership ... work with volunteers ... creating a non-‐corporate atmosphere

Bottom line of the community preparation: You have to decide whether a community is a right form for your goals and how much you want to be involved.At the minimum, you can setup the tone and create an “empty garden” for seeds to arrive (hopefully).If you decide to support a community, you must learn a non-hierarchical managerial style and let go your control of ownership.

PREPARING2. SEEDING THE GROUND

GTUG CHAPTER INCUBATION PROCESS

WHO IS WHO? [National le vel power-‐l eaders] [Google] rs apter leade [Chapter organizers] Individual ch GTUG [Power members] activit recipie y n ts est [General inter IT’S REALLY NOT AHIERARCHICAL PYRAMID, IT’S MORE A WEB OF members] RELATIONSHIPS. MANY ROLES ARE ALSO [OPTIONAL].

FORM A CORE ORGANIZER GROUP

ID POTENTIAL GTUG LEADERS• WHERE TO LOOK ? • WHO TO LOOK FOR? • other communities -‐ JUG, Barcamp, • communicative people Hackerspace, HUB, etc. • people “in the growth mode” • student organizations etc. • Nice to have features: • bloggers • already organized events, • active online community communities participants • developer personae • startups • ... start looking for key personalities • your network and network of your friends

INSPIRE THE CORE GROUP• TO GET GOING: • incubate a chapter • submit the GTUG application• TO DO EVENTS: • ideas for contents, format • oﬀer of speakers• TO COMMUNICATE AND COORDINATE: • participate in many-‐to-‐many communication

ACCEPT SHARED CONTROL old school control community control our company people create values our community members create valuesour company “owns” people who create our company “attracts” people who values create values our company owns the product or the our company participates in the platform ownership of the community productsour company owns all know-‐how or can the knowledge is spread among choose to open it community members decisions in our company are top-‐down decisions in our community are spread and hierarchical and non-‐hierarchical

YOU WILL NEVER DESIGN A PERFECTSYSTEM. EVEN WITH COMMUNITIES,IT’S AN ITERATION AFTER ITERATION

Bottom line of the seeding phase:It’ll be as good as will be the people who will actuallybe the gravity points towards which other organizers, members and activity recipients will be attracted. And if you manage to get those leaders under one umbrella, you will create a potential to multiply theireffect and help creation of a truly national community. Don’t plan too much though.

OPEN IT,3. SILENT LAUNCH BUT STAY CALM

WHAT TO DO HERE?• Keep running events but be prepared for a lot of ﬁnetuning• Do some promotion for them, but not overdo it• Keep personal networking• Focus heavily on the seed group of organizers• Open up the scale for more complex / longer events

REMEMBER:IT. TAKES. TIME.

BUT IT CAN’T BE STOPPED, ONCE IT GOES, EITHER

Bottom line of the silent launch: Just hold your horses!Watch, reﬂect, change (anything).

4. PUBLIC LAUNCHGET PUBLICLY AND GROW EXCITED

NOW LET EVERYONE KNOW...AND EXPECT SOME WAVES OF INTEREST.

FOR THEGROWTH, FORGETABOUT A CENTER. THE MOVEMENT IS DEFINED BY THE CHAPTERS

YET ANOTHER GOLDEN MANTRA You can’t make people join GTUG, become organizers or create events. All you can do is to create an attractive environment that will stimulate all this.

PEOPLE CONTENTS ATMOSPHERE SECRET RECIPEOWNERSHIP FREEDOM INTERACTIONS

PEOPLE CONTENTS ATMOSPHEREEMOTIONS SECRET RECIPEOWNERSHIP FREEDOM INTERACTIONS

Meh. “Emotions”. “Mantras”. It’s all about numbers.So cut the #crap

HOW TO MEASURE THE COMMUNITY?• QUANTITATIVE INDICATORS: • # of forum posts • # of events • # of feedback collected • # of participants per event • # of pageviews / uniques • # of chapters • # of organizers • # of positive @mentions

HOW TO MEASURE THE COMMUNITY?• QUALITATIVE INDICATORS: • the assesment of GTUG leaders / superleader • the assessment of Google coordinator • the quality of events • the impact of activities • the activities of the community inspired by GTUG

Bottom line of the public launch: Be ready for start of a great diversity in chapters(form, activities, tech focus). Stimulate it - it helps you. Also it’s time to start looking more closely at how you’re doing. And again: change anything and without too much dancing around.

5. SUSTAINABILITYLET IT GROW.AND LET IT BE.

IT MIGHT RUN ON AUTOPILOT.

BUT ONLYFOR A WHILE

COMMUNITIES ARE LIKE A MOON. THEY’RE EITHER GROWING, OR DECREASING.

ALWAYS CHANGE THINGS, ALWAYS ADD THINGS.

AND WHEN THEIR TIME COMES, LET THEM GO

Bottom line of the sustained growth: Don’t go on autopilot.The energy/resources that you’ll get by seeing many of the things done by the community can now be spenton new projects, new chapters, new dreams - and on dealing with leadership succession and activity terminations.

AND THAT’S IT.

OH, ONE MORE THING.

DO IT FOR PEOPLE AND THEIRLIVES, NOT FOR YOU. I train

CREATE A POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP ATMOSPHERE I love

CREATE A FREE SPACE FORCONNECTING AND INTERACTING I network

AND LET PEOPLE LIVE THEIR PASSIONS and I have my passions

Daniel Francdan@gug.cz@danfranc, @unisona, @gugczfacebook.com/gugczlinkedIn: Daniel Franc

Deep dive on community management

by palmstrom on Jul 08, 2011

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