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It is a week dedicated to the Governance of KOSS.
Our intention behind organizing the Governance Review Week is to help the core team members measure their level of involvement in KOSS. The week also promotes open discussions between Seniors and the Core team members. We want each one of our members to be frank with their batchmates as well as seniors in sharing their opinions and perspective on every aspect of KOSS.
We also review how KOSS performed as a team in the past year. We identify our problems and discuss solutions. We want to make sure we eliminate all forms of toxicity from KOSS (It can be habits of how we do things, or some Core Team members themselves.)
We physically meet for 3-5 days for 3-4 hours each day. We put up few questions in advance and the Core Team Members have to think and give their answers or their take on the subject. All the second years individually speak for a few minutes. The time limit is decided and followed. We later discuss the answers given by the CTMs. The members send their answers on the Google Group thread of the day. The sessions are recorded and put up on our archives.
Executive Heads discuss the involvement and membership of each Core Team member. If they find someone not being a good fit to continue, this is the time when the team is updated and they are laid off (See Onboarding/Offboarding).
After the week, Core Team members become the new Executive Heads and Executive Members (See Governance), quickly followed by an Introductory Seminar and the Selection of new members.
A new version of KOSS Documentation is released. It is suggested to scrutiny everything which is written over here. Detailed changelog should be published which answers, "What changed and Why?", "What things worked out really well?", "What more should be written?", etc. Alumni of KOSS will receive the changelog via email, and it will be published in the repository as well.
- Evaluation. We want Core team members to review their year and contributions to KOSS
- Executive Heads want to understand the priorities and values of the new batch. They form the questions to do so.
- This is a great time to know and identify potential Executive Heads on an individual level.
- Self-awareness of all the members.
- Questioning the principles of KOSS. We discuss and make serious policy changes to how things are done.
Who were the CTMs?
Class of 2017
What were the dates, times and venues?
| Day | Date | Time | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Jan 29, 2019 (Tue) | 9:30 pm (3.5 hours) | JCB Laboratory Complex |
| Day 2 | Jan 30, 2019 (Wed) | 9:00 pm (3 hours) | JCB Laboratory Complex |
| Day 3 | Feb 01, 2019 (Fri) | 6:15 pm (2.5 hours) | Nehru museum |
Link any Photos/Videos/Audios of the days (Unlisted videos) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvR6QxlsxrWqHfVWbilcBcBiSYWqldEXQ
What were the questions/topics day wise? (Link to the answers/Google Group thread)
Day 1 - https://groups.google.com/d/msg/kossiitkgp/wFGCjKuoM-k/JK91jCVWFgAJ
- Question 1 (1.5 mins)
- There were multiple events/workshops organized internally and externally. Share your “wins-list”! Here is your chance to show-off your contributions made to KOSS. Do not underestimate any kind of contribution. Be precise and exhaustive.
- Question 2 (4 mins)
- We at KOSS have noticed that we have a developed a toxic culture of delaying the work and tasks to the last moment. Though some tasks and timelines are planned, they are not executed properly.
- What do you think is the root cause of this issue?
- As an executive, what steps would you take to eliminate such a culture?
- Would you prefer distributing workload with deadlines to each member or rather have a committed sense of ownership within the group and have people take tasks on their own?
- Question 3 (2 mins)
- Any organization is driven by a strong bonding nature between the members.
- Is there a communication gap in KOSS? Mention evidence if you can recall.
- Think of an idea to overcome it?
- How will you increase the bonding among the new members and as well as the entire juniors and executives batch?
Day 2 - https://groups.google.com/d/msg/kossiitkgp/DmO7K-CZnOQ/UTfVzASxFgAJ
- Question 1 (4 mins)
- From what you have observed in your own batch, what are the qualities/characteristics you will be looking forward from the incoming batch? How would you be the judging these criteria?
- From this year we have decided to go for forms for the first round. (Similar to what GitHub and other tech companies do)
- What are the questions that you would like to add there? How are you going to judge based on these questions?
- What are some good red-flags would you use to remove false positives?
- How would you plan the interviews and panel (size, composition)?
- What should be the ideal size of the batch?
- How do you present KOSS to them i.e. value they will gain from KOSS?
- Any other comments on selection apart from what we discussed?
- Question 2 ( 3 mins)
- Why do you think these events were started in the first place?
- Suggest one new event(workshop/seminar/different genre) that we should conduct in the upcoming year.
- Why do you want this to be executed?
- Give a brief overview of how would you go about organizing it as the Executive responsible for the event.
Day 3 - https://groups.google.com/d/msg/kossiitkgp/-t4l9WdJYhs/HlS8UpzCFwAJ
- Question 1 [3 mins]
- How was your year working in KOSS?
- Mention at least 3 things you learned at KOSS.
- Which event(s) did you enjoy?
- Think about the time when you joined KOSS. Which of your expectations have been met and which ones have not, yet? What were some of the unexpected things you overwhelmingly enjoyed, which you hadn't expected?
- Question 2 [2 mins]
- Mention one thing that you want to change about KOSS (be it the culture, the hierarchy structure, the management or anything that you feel will be harmful in the long run)?
- Question 3 [2 mins]
- Is KOSS different from other societies? Why/Why not?
- How is KOSS helpful to you? ( We try to spread open source ideas, etc. for the people in campus but what about you? )
Who were the CTMs?
Class of 2016
What were the dates, time and venues?
| Day | Date | Time | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Feb 4, 2018 (Sun) | 9:00 PM (3 hours) | Nehru museum |
| Day 2 | Feb 5, 2018 (Mon) | 9:00 PM (2.5 hours) | Nehru museum |
| Day 3 | Feb 6, 2018 (Tue) | 9:00 PM (2 hours) | Nehru museum |
| Day 4 | Feb 9, 2018 (Fri) | 9:00 PM (4 hours) | Vikramshila garden (Rao canteen) |
Link any Photos/Videos/Audios of the day
Unlisted videos/playlist
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4r4nk1QKdQ&&list=PLzumvJj1-3nB-p7awDUJ9kMz9--fkDbIs
What were the questions/topics day wise? (Link to the answers/Google Group thread)
Day 1: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/kossiitkgp/WxBNzdCBb5Y/U0cCf-mTBwAJ
- Question 1 (4 mins)
- We conducted numerous flagship events/seminars during the past year, e.g., KWoC, Summit, Git workshop, Dual boot best, GSoC seminar.
- Why do you think these events were started in the first place?
- What order would you suggest for the organization of the Autumn Sem events? Why?
- Why and how do you think new ideas come up? How would you, as an Executive, promote innovation of ideas in the team?
- Suggest one new event(workshop/seminar/different genre) that we should conduct in the upcoming year.
- Why do you want this to be executed?
- Give a brief overview of how would you go about organizing it as the Executive responsible for the event.
- Question 2 (2 mins)
- At KOSS, we believe that before organizing any event, it’s important to discuss the pros and cons. The ability to listen to others and being humble about your idea is of prime importance.
- We encourage people to share their passion for technologies with the team. Thus, we appreciate transcending the “senior”-”junior” hierarchies (as long as its mutually respectable) in order to share your thoughts and opinions. At the same time, it is required of every member to take ownership of their work and readily accept their mistakes.
- Share an instance when you took a stance about something you are passionate about.
- As a “senior”, how would you promote this culture among the team, especially the newcomers?
Day 2: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/kossiitkgp/WxBNzdCBb5Y/XtzHMunyBwAJ
- Question 1: (3 mins)
- The ability to communicate clearly with the team members forms the basis of any successful organization. We created the KOSS Slack Workspace to facilitate everyone to share their opinions with others and stay connected.
- What’s your take on current state of intra-group communications in KOSS (i.e. Senior - Executive, Executive - Juniors, Senior - Junior)? (1 min)
- How do you communicate with others in KOSS? (20 sec each)
- Batchmates
- Executives
- Seniors
- According to you, what should one post publicly on channels and what should be discussed in private or DMs? (1 min)
- Question 2: (2 mins)
- Let’s now focus on our hierarchy and what should be expected of the different batches in KOSS. (30 sec each)
- Ideally, what should be the role of Executive Heads?
- What should be the task of Juniors/newcomers?
- What should be governed by the Seniors?
- How do you get the team members involved in the proceedings of KOSS?
Question 3: (1 min)
- Do you agree that the level of comfort between “seniors” and Executives is more than that between “juniors” and (seniors + Executives)?
- If so:
- Why do you think it exists?
- One suggestion on how we can bridge this gap.
Day 3: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/kossiitkgp/H1A5SG8RV1g/LKLGdHpACAAJ
- Question 1: (2 mins)
1. What are the qualities and experiences do you look for while inducting first-year students?
2. What are some good red-flags would you use to remove false positives?
3. How do you present KOSS to them i.e. how would KOSS generate value for them?
Mention the reasons for each of your answers.
- Question 2: (2 mins) How do you plan to spend the year with them, especially the first few months? How should we increase the communication between new people and the old members? Does having a room help? What are some crucial problems and how can we solve them? One example is the inertia to join Slack.
- One important note:
- It's totally unethical for us to not listen to the person who is speaking, does not matter if they are our senior, batchmate or junior. If we do so, it's a waste of none other than our time. We should prioritize listening over speaking.
Day 4: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/kossiitkgp/RHlFh8Cv8po/eQNh_geTBAAJ
- Question 1: (4 mins)
- How was your year working in KOSS?
1. What activities did you work on?
2. Mention at least 3 things you learned at KOSS.
3. Which event(s) did you enjoy?
4. How did you help in organizing Open Source Summit?
5. Do you think your colleagues worked more than you for KWoC/Summit? How could you have helped them?
6. Think about the time when you joined KOSS. Which of your expectations have been met and which ones have not, yet? What were some of the unexpected things you overwhelmingly enjoyed, which you hadn’t expected?
- Question 2: (2 mins)
- Do you think KOSS has any toxic element (event/culture/person) which you think might harm in the long run? Why do you think so? What’s your proposal to deal with it?