TL;DR As part of the RepsNext a group of experienced Reps has been assembled to improve Reps resource request cycle times. This will enable all Reps to have more impact. This group, called the Review Team, will review bugs as of Monday the 5th of September.

The background of the decision

It all started when we were working on the the future of the Reps program (also known as RepsNext). We realized that resources are a crucial part of the Program. In the past our budget process had been going extremely fast and easy. Unfortunately, it has slowed down due to multiple factors: 1) the program had grown but processes were not scaled appropriately, 2) Reps were not providing enough information on their initiatives, 3) mentors and council were not reviewing budgets on time, and 4) people were focused mainly on decreasing cost instead of maximizing impact.

Those factors created a lot of frustration across the program and disengagement among Reps. We also identified that we wanted to move away from just an events program to a program that would enable Reps to have all the resources needed (hardware, budget, helping documents, guidance on where to focus their energy) in order to have greater impact in their community. We want Reps to be able to do more and not constrain them. For that reason we’ve created the Resources Working Group.

Decisions made in the Reps Working Group

After the Working Groups were formed, we’ve started having meetings on early February, 2016. The conversations were long and impactful and involved both Reps and Council members.

The following decisions were made:

There will be a specialised track for Reps called the Reps Resources . Reps that will join that track will be handling resources, aligned with our priorities and helping their fellow Reps with them

. Reps that will join that track will be handling resources, aligned with our priorities and helping their fellow Reps with them Since the Resources Reps will be highly trained there won’t be need for mentor review in our budget workflow

in our budget workflow A Review Team will be formed which will be responsible to review resource requests in order to take the burden from the council.

If you want to see how was the whole progress of the group, you could find more about it here

Reps Council and Peers Meeting Decisions

On the Reps Council and Peers Meeting held in April 2016 in Berlin we decided that we will implement our decisions step by step. First, we introduce the Review Team replacing the council for bug review. Then, we gradually start the training for our Resources Reps.

Review Team formation

In the London All Hands (June 2016) the council has agreed on onboarding 5 experienced Reps along with 1 employee and 1 council member on taking the responsibility to be part of the first Review team. You can find more about their selection criteria and responsibilities on this github issue.

The Review Team will be assembled from the following people:

Ankit Gadgil

Dian Ina Mahendra

Faisal Aziz

Flore Allemandou

Irayani Queencyputri

Konstantina Papadea

Priyanka Nag

The Review Team won’t take full responsibilities at once. Instead, there will be a 4 weeks transition period, where the Review Team will be coached by the council in order to better understand the needs of the program and effectively review the budget bugs.

For the first 2 weeks, the Review Team will follow all the upcoming budget requests by giving feedback as an advisor reviewer. For the next 2 weeks, the roles will be reversed: the Review Team will be the primary reviewers with the Council taking a supportive role. This transition period will start this Monday September the 5th.

What’s Next

Of course, we need to understand if our assumption of forming the Review Team will help us reduce cycle times in the program. For that reason, we will track approval time for budgets via bugzilla and how satisfied are our Reps with the new decision (via sending out feedback surveys to all our Reps).

Moreover, we will continue investing in the Reps Resources by working on the training for the Reps that want to join the track.

I am really happy for all the changes that have been made and more excited for what’s to come.

Special thanks to all the people who volunteered on contributing to this crucial domain 🙂

Onwards Reps 🙂