VIP Guidelines - Part 1

in #utopian-io6 years ago

A year ago, I started writing about homesteading. Then I got more involved on the platform. My activities included fighting abuse, supporting mamas, producing @SteemitWeekly, and working with Utopian.

My first #iamutopian post is the beginning of my Utopian journey.

Would you care to join me?



Outline

  • Overview of VIP Guidelines
  • Difficulties Encountered
  • How I Joined Utopian

Yes, yes. Guidelines again.

@Didic wrote the second part to his Drawing the (Guide)lines series. You should read it and get a glimpse of where Utopian is heading.

We have a lot going on, deadlines to beat and guidelines to polish. I assure you, we're not broken records.

As Utopian's VIP Club Manager, establishing the guidelines is my top priority.

There are no rules. We have guidelines.

image.png
Pixabay: Support by Wokandapix

VIP Guidelines

Scenario 1: VIPs in place, how do we take care of them?
After my final onboarding call, it was obvious that we needed a more strategic way of managing our VIPs. @Elear, @Knowledges, @Suesa, and different Community Managers took turns with this responsibility. The way Utopian is progressing, this is not sustainable.

Like any company, there should be a point of contact for critical company services. My current role outside Utopian is exactly this - point of contact for IT and business departments. The gatekeeper for the technical and the non-technical.

Pin this on my forehead, it's Suesa's apt introduction.

image.png
Taking off with my new role...

After joining all the private group chats, this is the first thing that came to my mind:

How on earth will I keep up with all these group chats?
to be answered later on...

Drafting the guidelines was...interesting. It was a result of my observation of the current VIPO Club situation and how to improve our relationship.

Part of the guidelines include managing:

  • communication for each project
    ++ This covers private group chats.
    ++ This should help with Elear's direct messages and chat support queue.
    ++ This should help with unnecessary pinging of Community Managers.
  • task request protocols
    ++ This covers reviewing task request document for completeness and clarity.
    ++ This should help Didi's workload on refining TR. My goal is for Didi to edit TR documents once
  • project members and their contact information
  • "wiki" for each project
    ++ Last 2 bullet points cover who's who on a project. The resulting document should be the go-to notes for anyone in Utopian management. It should also help with transitioning a new VIP manager. That is, if I switch to a different role.

Scenario 2: No VIPs, where do we look for projects to pursue?




When I joined Utopian, I wanted to understand where @Elear was coming from. What drives him and how I can help achieve that goal. I ran into this post, when he signed the document (with his Dad's pen) making Utopian a registered company.

Consultation, ideation and creation of online platforms and Open Source software solutions for public, personal, and corporate applications (blockchain and automation systems for the generation and management of virtual currencies); creation and management of online communities for the realisation and promotion of Open Source software and online platforms; software production; tech consulting.
https://steemit.com/utopian-io/@elear/utopian-is-officially-a-registered-company

We have projects in the VIPO club that are already on the Steem blockchain. Utopian's goal is to reach out and draw more investors and Open source supporters. How can we do that?

Our translation category is already supporting Open Source projects on Crowdin. That is where we would start looking. We can cherry pick the top projects in line with Utopian's vision. Special niches are what we're eyeing for. Blockchain, cryptocurrency, machine learning, AI, and IoTs, to name a few. These are not set in stone. So hold your horses and don't start throwing stones at me :)

Scenario 3: When to add and when to drop
Elear's post, Talk to the CEO, drew some heavy discussions.

I was mentioned on one comment thread.

image.png

When do you continue supporting a project? When do you stop supporting a project?

Gathering feedback, suggestions and running projects on measurable metrics are critical for sustainability. At one point of a project, some form of audit needs to happen.

This is something I will be working on, as soon as possible.

Difficulties/Impediments


Open Source Initiative keyhole
The Open Source Initiative [CC BY 2.5 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons

Open Source is a growing initiative. Not all are too keen on adapting, sticking to the name brands (with dubious code most users become hard of hearing).

@Techslut shared an article on the Utopian Open Source Show. Why most developers are not contributing to Open Source? It's spot on.


Source: sdtimes.com

This should give you an idea on what we're facing. It should also give us the drive to push Open Source's wider adoption. Utopian community, as the front-runner!

On personal impediments, this position is part time. With my full time job, I work 30-40% onsite and can't attend to DMs and anything blockchain related. The IT infrastructure guys made it so. On days I work remote, I can set aside break time for VIPO tasks needing my attention.

Background

It's been over a month since Utopian posted the VIPO Club Manager position. I read it on the 16th of October, same day it was out. I was glad that Utopian is finally going to dedicate a staff member to take care of the VIPs.

After 5 days, I had a nagging feeling. I checked the post again and sure enough, there were only 2 comments expressing interest.

I re-read the post with these 2 points in bold letters in my head:

  • part time dedicated manager
  • "Speaker to developers"

Heck, I can do that! That's what I do.

I'm already busy with the Anti-abuse initiative, @Steemflagrewards, and @Steemitweekly. But here I was, brushing the dust off my neglected LinkedIn profile. Drafted a no-nonsense email and hit Send!

A few calls after, the rest is history.

I'm Yam, Utopian's VIPO Club Manager. If I'm not tracking abuse, I'm working towards Utopian's success. Join me and the Utopian family. Cheers to Open Source!

Stay tuned on my next VIPO Club update

Sort:  

Welcome to the #iamutopian sphere! Your contribution is highly valued. I appreciate your effort on this post, and your attempt to make the VIPO's club better.

There is a lot of things to say about this post, but I'll center on business niches. As you suggested, we can pick from those projects that are related to the purpose of Utopian. Pretty fine. However, Utopian could also conduct a huge visibility campaign to attract some awesome project. I have worked as a marketer for some real-life business, and I understand the effectiveness of visibility in business.

Please note that while the CM hasn't changed the footer, I am not scoring #iamutopian posts based on the questionnaire. They have their own metric, and that will be the case until we go live with the new guidelines and new questionnaire, which will be comprehensive enough to reflect these types of posts.

Your contribution has been evaluated according to Utopian policies and guidelines, as well as a predefined set of questions pertaining to the category.

To view those questions and the relevant answers related to your post, click here.


Need help? Write a ticket on https://support.utopian.io/.
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[utopian-moderator]

Thank you for your review, @tykee! Keep up the good work!

Thanks Tykee.

Agree, Utopian should conduct a visibility campaign. We actually need all our Utopian family to spread the word outside Steem. For all-out visibility campaign, I believe it's Katerina's realm (which I would like to learn as well).

The niches picked are generally the target we want to approach. And when they do come knocking on Utopian's door, we have guidelines for assessing which project we want to support. I will share them in future posts.

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Thank you for sharing the beginning of your Utopian journey.. It finds me at a point where I have only just started to realize (still a little bit) what this is all about. This is very helpful information and I will be using them as a point of reference for my exploration.

Cheers to Open Source!

You're welcome. The guidelines consumed the first month. Learning about the different projects we support took some time as well.

Thanks for stopping by! You're doing great on your new role. Let's get this company (Utopian) visible out there.

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