WikiLearn - Introduction to Partnership Building (computer-graded exercises) - video: Planning Action and Sharing Reality

@metadata	sourceLanguage "en" priorityLanguages "es" "fr" "ar" "ru" "zh" allowOnlyPriorityLanguages true description "video in Introduction to Partnership Building (computer-graded exercises) - Basics of partnership building for Wikimedia volunteers, with computer-graded exercises." label "WikiLearn - Introduction to Partnership Building (computer-graded exercises) - video: Planning Action and Sharing Reality"
display_name	"Planning Action and Sharing Reality"
subtitle-120-4170-1	"We will move on for now to our second topic."
subtitle-4980-9900-2	"The second topic is shorter and it's about planning action and sharing reality once we"
subtitle-9900-13870-3	"have the partnership."
subtitle-13870-15340-4	"So what if they say yes?"
subtitle-15640-19480-5	"After all of our preparation, and after negotiating the meeting, like we discussed"
subtitle-19480-23140-6	"last time, what if the partner says, "all right, yeah, that sounds like a great idea,"
subtitle-23140-30880-7	"let's do this. Let's agree!" So assuming we have agreed on a partnership, it is time to"
subtitle-30910-36520-8	"derive actions, to say, "All right, now that we agree on the goals and on the principles"
subtitle-36520-40870-9	"and on generally who does what, let's create a project out of it."
subtitle-40870-49890-10	"Let's create concrete, actions, steps, with a budget, if necessary, with a timeline,"
subtitle-51650-57240-11	"to move this forward, to make this happen." And a project plan can be done any number of"
subtitle-57240-60450-12	"ways. And I'm not going to teach you how to manage projects."
subtitle-60450-67230-13	"That's a well understood problem from a different field, and is out of scope for this"
subtitle-67230-69930-14	"course. But I will give you some general tips."
subtitle-73020-77370-15	"Over and beyond the fact that it's a project that needs to be managed like any project."
subtitle-78060-83340-16	"The first tip I want to give you is that we are going to be working on this together, but"
subtitle-83340-84800-17	"apart."
subtitle-84800-85960-18	"Together, but apart."
subtitle-85960-90990-19	"Because generally we volunteer Wikimedians work in conditions that are quite different"
subtitle-90990-94150-20	"from the conditions of the partner's staff."
subtitle-95190-100170-21	"Leaving aside the pandemic, most of our partners work in offices, work during working"
subtitle-100170-102770-22	"hours, work during the working week."
subtitle-102780-107040-23	"And we don't."
subtitle-107430-111720-24	"We may do a lot of our work at night, or on weekends, or whenever we can."
subtitle-112470-118010-25	"And so this basic mismatch can lead to a lot of misunderstandings or unmet expectations."
subtitle-118020-125150-26	"And the best way to handle that is to communicate and share expectations."
subtitle-125160-132510-27	"For example, if you don't discuss it in advance, your professional partner may be"
subtitle-132510-136410-28	"quite offended to keep receiving emails from you on Sunday."
subtitle-137560-142210-29	"Just as an example, because they might perceive it as a kind of aggression on your"
subtitle-142210-147790-30	"part, like you implicitly expect them to answer on Sunday, not knowing that you're a"
subtitle-147790-149980-31	"volunteer and the weekend is when you can do work."
subtitle-151420-156670-32	"So again, this is easy to resolve, if you just share this expectation in advance, and"
subtitle-156670-162280-33	"remind them, "you know, we're volunteers; we work all kinds of strange, crazy hours."
subtitle-162280-166150-34	"We absolutely don't expect you to answer on the weekend, or at night."
subtitle-166150-171070-35	"But please be tolerant of the fact we work when we can, and we're going to send emails"
subtitle-171070-173940-36	"and reports and things in all kinds of hours and days."
subtitle-173950-179020-37	"Obviously, we only expect you to answer when you're able, in your working time and your"
subtitle-179020-180160-38	"working week, etc."."
subtitle-180340-182890-39	"So this is a trivial example, but I've seen this happen."
subtitle-183160-188890-40	"I've seen this actually sour relationships when people did not discuss this expectation"
subtitle-188890-191170-41	"and really perceived the other side as being aggressive."
subtitle-192280-193300-42	"And that's a shame."
subtitle-193570-199990-43	"So start from this notion that we have different expectations of what the work would"
subtitle-199990-202450-44	"look like. We are under different obligations."
subtitle-203590-205720-45	"Your partner has a boss."
subtitle-206320-208360-46	"You don't, as a volunteer."
subtitle-209500-214030-47	"I mean, you still have some accountability, of course, to the general community, to your"
subtitle-214030-215620-48	"affiliate board."
subtitle-215890-217150-49	"But you don't have a boss."
subtitle-217390-218640-50	"You don't really have a boss."
subtitle-218650-224950-51	"It's a different way of engagement, than your professional counterpart on the"
subtitle-224950-231010-52	"partner's side. So again, I'm just sketching the very general lines of differences, to"
subtitle-231190-236260-53	"help you understand why there might be difficulties in communication, and why it is"
subtitle-236260-240040-54	"so important to have clear communication."
subtitle-240580-247270-55	"So first and foremost, obviously you must have clear contact points on both sides, and"
subtitle-247270-251500-56	"ideally not just one contact point, but at least one backup contact."
subtitle-251500-255400-57	"If for whatever reason, someone is unavailable, things shouldn't be completely"
subtitle-255400-256790-58	"stuck until that person is back."
subtitle-256810-261830-59	"There should be at least one person who can also be asked, even if, you know what, the"
subtitle-261910-263840-60	"backup person doesn't know."
subtitle-263860-265690-61	"Still, you had someone respond."
subtitle-265690-267760-62	"You had someone say "Yes."
subtitle-267760-269280-63	"I don't actually know the answer."
subtitle-269290-274030-64	"We do need to wait for this other person to be back." Still, it makes the other side feel"
subtitle-274030-277960-65	""Okay. We're not completely abandoned, there's someone listening on the other end,"
subtitle-278260-285220-66	"etc." So it's best to have at least two people ready to communicate on either side."
subtitle-285490-290680-67	"It is also useful to have a regular standing meeting, a recurring meeting."
subtitle-290680-295900-68	"It can be every week, it can be every month, depending on the timeline and the level of"
subtitle-295900-300310-69	"busyness of the partner and of you, or your volunteer capacity."
subtitle-300490-305200-70	"And it's good to have that standing meeting rather than to have to schedule it every time"
subtitle-305200-309160-71	"anew. Because then even if you had a really slow week and for whatever reason you didn't"
subtitle-309160-310540-72	"get anything done, that's fine."
subtitle-310540-312960-73	"You can shoot people a quick email and say, "Hey, you know what?"
subtitle-312970-314760-74	"We have nothing to report this week."
subtitle-314770-318310-75	"If there's nothing much on your end as well, we can just skip this week if that's okay"
subtitle-318310-320290-76	"with you." Most people are like, "great!"
subtitle-320290-325840-77	"Awesome, skipped!", but you don't have to then reorganize it and reschedule it for next"
subtitle-325840-330280-78	"week. So standing meetings are a good idea and if there's not much to report, you cancel"
subtitle-330280-333880-79	"it or you shorten it and everybody's happy to get their time back."
subtitle-335210-341930-80	"But the most important thing is that you actually have shared reality, meaning that"
subtitle-341930-348390-81	"you see what the partner sees, that you share this sense of where things are."
subtitle-348410-350630-82	"And I cannot emphasize it enough."
subtitle-351260-357440-83	"One of the failure modes of a Wikimedia partnership is that the project is going one"
subtitle-357440-360680-84	"way, but the partner has no idea."
subtitle-361070-363650-85	"The partner is certain that it's going another way."
subtitle-364400-370700-86	"The project is encountering difficulties, but the partner has no idea."
subtitle-370940-371960-87	"Or the other way around."
subtitle-372260-376010-88	"The partner is sure that nothing is happening, but the project is actually doing"
subtitle-376010-378560-89	"great. The partner just didn't have a view of it."
subtitle-378560-380420-90	"They didn't have a way to see it."
subtitle-381050-384650-91	"So that's what I mean by shared reality, right?"
subtitle-384980-390830-92	"Ideally, both sides of the partnership should be looking at more or less the same"
subtitle-390830-396530-93	"view, the same dashboard, if you will, the same sense of where things are."
subtitle-396530-400580-94	"And of course, there are practical limits to the level of detail that your partner may"
subtitle-400580-405440-95	"want. They probably don't want to follow every talk page conversation for every file"
subtitle-405440-412010-96	"and every article, but you need to create whatever makes sense in your relationship and"
subtitle-412010-413810-97	"in the context of your partnership and its scale."
subtitle-414620-420410-98	"Whatever makes sense as a shared reality that you all agree on and that you discuss"
subtitle-420410-424120-99	"every meeting, whether it's every month or every week, etc."
subtitle-424130-428770-100	"And to do that, you can use whatever works for both sides."
subtitle-428780-434840-101	"You can use a Google sheet to organize some things on a spreadsheet."
subtitle-434840-439070-102	"You can use a Gantt chart, you can use a Trello board or some other product that"
subtitle-439070-444500-103	"implements the Kanban model, of having tickets and tasks and moving things around,"
subtitle-444500-445850-104	"whatever works for you."
subtitle-445850-448720-105	"I'm really not recommending one solution over the other."
subtitle-448730-452780-106	"Maybe your partner would have very strong preferences and would say we have to work in"
subtitle-452780-455060-107	"this way and maybe not."
subtitle-455570-460040-108	"My advice to you is err on the side of simplicity, right?"
subtitle-460040-466700-109	"Start simple. And if you feel that you need more systematization and more bureaucracy,"
subtitle-466700-471830-110	"then add it. Don't start with a super complicated tool."