Glimesh Plan of Action

[Heiwa]

We did try some organizational layers in the past but here are some of the differences.

• I will be a single point of contact for these teams regardless of us setting up leads. Also if there is an issue with leads I will be an open form of communication to deal with those leads.

• I will be requesting tasks to be done by volunteers directly as opposed to the past where it was asked in an open format.

• I will be the one responsible to make sure these tasks are getting done.

• I will be managing the projects so there aren’t so many hands in the pot.

At this point in the venture without some sort of business structure we are going to need another person to step up and take on these responsibilities and that is what I am primarily doing. This is something that did not happen in the past. Sure there were people who took on the lead roles and there were teams established but at the end of the day a lot of opinions and thoughts were shared but that stuff eventually fell to the wayside because like you said there was too much arguing, conflicting personalities, and overall direction was difficult.

I am committing to create a different environment which is something I could never do in the past. My previous job made it impossible for me to commit. Now I am in a new job where I can commit to these things.

I think what might help is to understand what I actually do and my role. For Glimesh I helped write stuff. TOS, ROC, Blogs… I did some legal research and some tax / payment research. And then I am a pretend mod lol… Honestly when was the last time you saw me mod anything… I don’t really have an active role at Glimesh other than what I had done in the past.

For my actual working position I am a project manager. I negotiate with businesses to write contracts for our company, I work with nationwide accounts to ensure they are happy with our services and we are getting as much money out of them as we can, I work with our marketing teams to ensure our clients are up to date on what we can do for them with the suppliers we have, and I work with our account managers to make sure they are selling our products to their fullest potential.

Now I don’t throw out a flex for no reason. I hate talking about myself and I am not always the most confident individual… The reason I say this is because these are things that I do for work everyday. I mention it to hopefully easy some worries on the plans and structures. I also mention it to hopefully build your confidence in myself taking on something like this. Because I do just what I am offering here for a living for a large company. I work across product, marketing, and sales on a daily basis. And I work with other companies to help them do the same. I mention this to at least say that I am not just making this all on a whim of an idea but applying principals from the companies I work with.

This also is something I have never really been able to offer to do in the past. I help push very successful teams in my line of work. And I believe we have the right people here to help get things done, we just need someone to link everyone together and push things forward. I am in a position now to do that and I am asking the community, Clone, and others to trust me to do that.

In terms of team leads I agree that having a lead there to approve everything can be a problem. But that is something that we can discuss when we get to that bridge. Right now we don’t have any team leads. And we need some form of quality control, we need a way that when things are made they are done to a standard and they are done ethically. Now how that approval process is done can be a later discussion, but my very initial general suggestion is we need that level of structure where someone can make a decision and it can happen and that someone can be the final word in decisions. This is a very common business practice to have people who make the final decision at all levels of the process.

For the advisor aspect I love the idea. I just don’t think we are there. But it is something we can definitely consider.

For the team leads I don’t think we are ready for them day one. For clarification I will myself be running each of the teams to start. Over time I think it will become more clear who is a lead and how they operate. I personally would never want someone in a position of lead if they are a detriment to Glimesh and its image. That is where trusting the process will have to come in that those who are assigned lead positions are being put there because they are truly champions of the community and represent Glimesh well and fairly. I think as well that if there is a team of volunteers I am initially working with and the consensus of that group that individual X would be a good lead than they would be in a position for that running. The only thing adding a lead to a team would do is take my direct involvement out and I would then follow up with that team lead instead. For what its worth I think that a volunteer group could have multiple leads as long as they were someone we could trust with that role.

So hopefully my book can ease some concerns and explain a bit more of the motivation behind the leads. Please though I am open to feedback. Just want to paint this picture for you.

[skonzii]

I cannot +1 this enough. In my mind I see the road map document posted earlier evolving into a multi-faceted approach covering all different areas. Dev is still a part of it, but so are the other areas. It will definitely look much more intimidating - but it should, there’s a lot of work that a lot of people will be making progress on.

[skonzii]

I appreciate the flex. Throughout this conversation my mind immediately went to a project management structure and having someone who is experienced in that area would be imperative. (I share similar experience if it is helpful, as well).

The one concern I had while reading through this is that it could be a heavy lift for you if you’re acting as PM as well as Track Lead (TL) for the different tracks of work. I would suggest implementing TLs as soon as it’s feasible. To your point, the choice of TL isn’t an easy one and there’s always a risk of lifting someone who isn’t prepared or the right choice for that, so there’s a balance there that needs to be observed.

Otherwise this all makes sense to me as an outline of the process.

[Paco1342]

On paper, for now at least, Heiwa will be acting lead for any vacant lead spots. In reality, he will be backed up by members of the team as needed until we can fill those spots. I think it will be beneficial for the teams, Glimesh, and the community for us to really take the time and make sure we are choosing the right people for the job. Being able to lean on myself and others when necessary will allow him to spread himself out a bit more than normal without wearing thin (at least that is the dream!). Of course, we don’t want to drag the search out forever but I also don’t want us to get tired of the search or feel pressure to fill an empty spot.

Speaking personally here, in my mind the ideal lead really needs two major things - knowledge of the subject matter, and a fundemental understanding of Glimesh. The person should “get” our ideals, our ethos, and our mentality in regards to the major aspects of Glimesh. Somebody who doesn’t care about transparency wouldn’t work. Somebody who isn’t concerned about equality and fairness among the community will not fit. Somebody who doesn’t consider the community and what they want as well as how things will impact them isn’t going to cut it. We need somebody who can not only understand the work to be done, but also why it needs to be done a certain way. Without that buy-in to the soul of Glimesh, it’s going to be a rough journey and I don’t know if we’d ever make it to the end that way.

[Shinzakura]

@Saffrox

In my opinion - for marketing it might just be worth focussing just on social media presence/engagement for now. Just to let people know that Glimesh is still fighting strong and growing.

FOr the most part I agree, but I think there should be at least some emphasis on “street teams”, people who can go to pop culture conventions (e.g. anime cons, scifi cons, etc.) and try to get the word out. We already have one anime con that has tried to work with Gilmesh and it would be a great idea to have a booth there when the event goes on (disclosure: I have been involved with getting Glimesh and Miryokucon, so these experiences are from my point.) LIkewise, there is another anime convention, Tekko, in the same regional area as Glimesh HQ. While I don’t expect Clone to drop everything and go there, we can always see if there’s a local streamer who might be interested. Other places apply as well.

Social media is great and all, but sometimes it takes handing out a couple of t-shirts, notability cards and things like that to get attention as well.

[Shinzakura]

@Cykotiq

I read thru heiwa’s document, and my first thought was that it felt like a “groundhog day” moment. We tried this in the past on discord. We can’t do the same thing and expect different results. We have learned from past experience that we struggle with project management/ leadership/ organisation. We tend to either a) go overboard with it, animosity/tensions rise, arguements break out, discussions fragment and fizzle out, and people stop helping out of frustration (because their stuff never gets used) /burnout OR b) we have no leadership, poor organisation and nothing gets done.

As someone who has submitted stuff in the past only to see it fizzle into oblivion, I am glad to see Heiwa’s differences from the original part. You are right that too many times in the past Glimesh (and I mean all of us, not just those in the past) have seen “insanity” from trying the same thing over again. Even if Heiwa’s changes to the status quo are minor, hopefully it will be enough to break the dam.

[Heiwa]

Hi All

Thanks for the feedback. I had made some adjustments particularly around the development section based on some feedback. Given its Monday I am going to start working on getting some of the initial processes labelled in the plan started.

I will keep this post updated with what I am doing and make sure everyone is informed throughout the process. To start with Stage 1 will be establishing some semblance of each team listed in the document and a rough first draft expectations document.

These will be posted in the already existing forums of the Building Glimesh forums. Once these general outlines of each team are done and if we get any expressed interest in people joining those volunteer groups we will start on stage 2 of establishing some initial goals with the current plans listed at the bottom of the document.

We are currently in Week 4 of 2023. My goal will be to get at least a basic structure by Week 6 so that we can start execution of plans by week 7. We might have to adjust these goals some to make best use of our time but I am hopeful with the crew we currently have and those involved that we can make that happen. All planning will initially begin very simple to make sure we can accomplish that initial time frame.

Also if anyone has additional feedback on the document or the process please still free to share. This process will be a living document as Glimesh grows.

[Chalk]

Just catching up a bit now. Been away for work in a tiny town with a terrible motel internet connection.

Loving the ideas to try and get things back on track. I know that a few times we’ve made notes of things stagnating (like Marketing for example) and have sort of have a brief discussion with nothing really coming of it, so keen to give it another go.

Highly agree with the above point by @Cykotiq around trying to involve more people outside of the core-team. I think one thing that has really held us back is having the same people take over much of the roles and it led to both them being overworked/burned out, as well as really disenfranchised others from contributing because they felt their involvement was not wanted.

From my own perspective I am still more than happy to try and help out where I can. In this instance I think Marketing, particularly around the social media presence is where I am suited. I made a thread a while back around the lack of action on the various social media platforms and how we really need to attack it in a smarter way, but again that conversation fizzled out because of concerns around timeliness, quality control of the content, and misinformation regarding the associated DMCA risks.

If we are able to get a couple of volunteers together, and get a solid content schedule made then we could definitely start producing some content on a regular basis. As I’ve said previously, I am enough experience creating videos and more than happy to do that. The biggest issue we’ve had is not having any direction or guide to what we should be making, and the struggles between creation and content uploaded. For example, one of the videos I created for the TikTok it took nearly a whole month between creation and release. This is far too long so being able to work with/to a content schedule should hopefully alleviate that problem.

[jambuzzed]

Oh lord, i hope i hit the right button :'D

Hey folks!
I read through the plan heiwa made and the corresponding discussion on builingglimesh and … i’d really like to discuss a bit with you.
First of all - and no questions here, this was also mentioned several times - it’s great work and therefor u get a big Thank you, Heiwa.

While reading through the discussion and the document itself, i got a bit of a bad feeling. I will just write them down here, as short and compact as possible.
Heiwa as a bottleneck of decision making was already mentioned, but i feel like it wasn’t considered as that much of a risk - which i would highly disagree.
It’s never a good idea to put a single person into a decision making or crutial position, because it will kill a lot of speed and agility in the working progress - no matter if they are backuped with people or not. Maybe u can explain the (“staff”) structure behind this, if i got that fundamentally wrong.

What i am missing as a customer and user is a … vision. A clear goal, a mission - where do you wanna go, what do you wanna be?
There is a lot of effort, a lot of fixing, but it feeld uncoordinated and random. Like there is no common goal, u are aiming at as a unit. I strongly agree with artofcod (hope i read that right in the comments on the blog/website), that a roadmap, a clear roadmap is super super SUPER important.
U need to know where to go as a whole. Not just a vague idea.
If i ask you, what is your vision as a building team of glimesh? What is your mission? What do you wanna be one day? - What would be your answers?
And no, they dont have to be super detailled and intimidating - quite the opposite.
They need to be clear and simple and understandable to everyone, not just u, but every user u reach out to.

One point, i really stumbled over while reading, was the marketing
Bc the first question that came to my mind was - what exactly do you wanna promote?
What does glimesh have, that streamer and user want? What would convince me to join u and not kick?

If u ask me, being visible is one thing. But being at service, being a working platform that moitivates me as a streamer to switch the channel, me as a user to stay here - that is far more important. It may sound rough, but right now, there is not much more than the low timelag that makes glimesh stand out - from a plain user’s point of view. And ofc, i understand, this is a community project, where people work additionally and voluntarily for no money or profit. But you guys are also a company, glimesh is not just a simple website, u have revenue reports and stuff, u pay taxes - so you need to know, where to go and you need to find YOUR way. Marketing feels like the last thing you need right now. There is a rather small active community of streamers, no real active glimesh user/viewer community, at least from my point of view. A lot of people gave me the feedback, they can’t even watch the streams bc they are too heavy and it buffers, they don’t get sound or they are just frustrated with the design. Promoting this could drag Glimesh into a bad light, that it really doesnt deserve. But people dont always see potential, they mostly see whats there - or whats not there. And they will remember. If u have a working platform, streamer and user are happy with - the marketing and word-spreading will all come by itself. Streamers will happily switch to your platform, users will come over to chill here - but u have to make it a place, that these customers want! So use the possibilities you have, to figure out WHAT people need, what they want - and what they dont want or ask for. Goals and Not-Goals are equally important to prevent scope creeping, to prevent you from putting work and effort into stuff, that isn’t acknowledged or honored.

[Heiwa]

Hi Jam! Welcome to the forums!

I appreciate the feedback and this whole plan of action is just one step towards more planning.

My hope is that this will be a general layout to get things moving towards a future goal. That is where my stage two comes in.

Stage one is first we establish the teams

Stage two is teams make the plans / we all review the plans

Stage three is teams do the plans they just made.

So right now I am working on some general team guidelines for each of the teams mentioned. From there they will be reviewed, and once those are reviewed we will work on getting some teams established with those who want to be active contributors. The only time I would be leading the teams is if there is no team lead setup.

Once the teams are established with a lead and some members we would move onto stage 2 where those teams would establish a 3 month roadmap of ideas that they believe they can reasonably accomplish in the next three months. The hope and direction would be for the teams is to start getting initial processes setup. I didn’t outline this in the document because it would be something for the teams once established to talk over. I also wanted to make sure that other teams reviewed what each team was planning and that their strategies considered these things

• Is this plan reasonably achievable in 3 months?
• Do we have the resources / connections needed?
• What will Glimesh primarily benefit from this strategy?
• What are the key performance indicators for this strategy?

Then stage 3 that execution and revaluation period is where we check in and make sure things are working as planned.

So I am hopeful that the peer review in stage 2 will help keep everyone on the same page, and it acts as a check & balance to ensure we are working towards the same goal. Then stage 3 is intended to make sure that things are still working out before it gets too out of hand.

But hopefully that clarifies some things.

[jambuzzed]

Barely, i mean i read the plan of action in the shared document above. That’s quite literally the same and it still makes me wonder how you wanna make sure that u are working into the same direction.

There are no team leads in the beginning, right?? So … you will be the bottleneck? Or is there no chance that you become a bottleneck bc you dont really decide or permit anything? Maybe thats the point i am missing.

[Heiwa]

So I think what I might not be clear on is how the work should flow.

My role in everything is to provide direction, not necessarily tell people what to do or how to do it. The only time I would make a decision or Glimesh staff would be if the team could not internally decide what to do.

So Marketing for example - I will give a few of scenarios of how things would play out.

1. Marketing team decides they want to launch a full blown campaign. They are looking at 4 posts a day, plus video content once a week, and they want to start making reoccurring events to build up the community. I personally think that is a great idea, but lets say their is only 1 person in marketing and as others have stated the platform still needs a little cooking. I would talk to that marketing person to let them know why we wouldn’t want to do something at that time. It would be my decision (or the other team leads) in that case to point them towards a less aggressive approach to ensure we don’t burn ourselves out. I would then suggest to create content that can be used over the course of several months and then we can make plans to get to that point. We would work together to try and make things work how they envision in our current scale.

2. Lets say the Marketing team can’t decide on what to do. One part of them wants to focus on just Twitter and another want to spread out to Twitter and TikTok while some of them want to go to every social possible. If there is disagreement in the team itself I would then step in and make a decision based on what each contributor has talked to me about.

3. Now lets say Marketing makes a plan of content and presents it to everyone. The community loves it, the other team leads love it, but lets say I am not a huge fan of it. That doesn’t mean I can just say no I don’t like it so I won’t approve it. Because all our work should always be done in the open I don’t need to police everything the teams do. Now if I get people from other teams mention to me that they think a design or marketing post is not suitable for us I will have to step in at that point. But I shouldn’t need to monitor and approve everything that goes through. If I am asked by a team lead or a contributor for my opinion I will share that, but approval will not be necessary from me.

Now to address the beginning and I think this is where the real concern stems from. There are no teams and no team leads so I will be taking point on all those things. Yes there is potential for me to become a bottle neck in these instances. But the hope and goal is to establish these teams and these leads so I don’t have time to become a bottle neck. We have a lot of talented folks who I am relying heavily on to make this process work. Because I personally can not do it all.

If we have someone for example who wants to do design but they don’t want to be a lead and I am that lead I am going to be relying heavily on the community, the designer, and others to make sure things are going in the right direction. The goal and expectation of the team leads is to not become a roadblock but more be a facilitator who can organize the work for the contributors and present it to the community. I wouldn’t think of them as a bottleneck but more like a filter for what goes into and out of teams. And it does slow things down and can become a stopper but we need this level of organization to keep things in order.

Now if a team lead is consistently a bottleneck that is where I would also step in to find out what is going on. When I am the team lead I will not be looking to make constant approvals but would be just directing traffic so to speak so we can keep things flowing. The only time something should be bottlenecked is if it doesn’t meet our standards or vision and that is a decision that should be made by multiple people not just one. The expectation of any lead would to avoid becoming a bottleneck. If a team lead starts becoming a bottle neck we will need to evaluate why and try to rework the process. The goal isn’t to create an approval chain though, more like checks and balances to ensure we are consistently working together and in the same direction.

Hope that helps. And I appreciate the feedback as well. I want to make sure that this makes sense all around.

[skonzii]

I’m not a fan of how this reads. This reads as though the PM is the decision-maker in a lot of circumstances, and I don’t believe that should be the case. The PM should help with direction, scheduling, and vision of the project(s). The Team Leads should be working with their teams to come to decisions, complete the work, and then work with the PM on scheduling. If there’s a stalemate or an issue with the Team Lead, then the PM would assist with making decisions to move the project forward. The PM should be more of a conductor than an orchestra member.

[Heiwa]

How you described it is how I intended it.

The PM is there to assist when needed and only if a team cannot come to a decision the PM should be the arbiter in the discussion.

The PM would also give direction if something is truly not in line with our vision and goals, but that should also come with insight and feedback from other teams / Glimesh staff. The PM should not be the sole decision maker.

But thanks for pointing that out. How you described things is exactly how I would envision it working.

[Heiwa]

Hey All,

Glimesh General Contributor Guidelines

Hi All, Here is the initial guidelines for Contributing to Glimesh. This document will become the foundation to contributing to Glimesh. Think of this as the initial outline and further details will be shared for each specific team. Paco, Kristoff, and I worked on this general document. Any questions, concerns, feedback is greatly appreciated. Here are the Design Guidelines. These will need an additional portfolio designed to add to them. Here are the Business Guidelines Marketing, De…

FYI. Here are the initial guidelines for some of the teams. This will be the starting point for getting the teams established. Still some additional work that needs to be done, but thought you all would be interested in reviewing.