My plea.
Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 16:23:07 -0800 (PST)
From: Ka-Ping Yee
To: Zephyr Teachout
Subject: Building Volunteer Trust
Dear Zephyr,
I'm writing to you because I have the greatest respect for you and
your transformative work on this campaign. I hope my suggestions
will be helpful.
Some great things and some not-so-great things happened yesterday.
Of course, I was thrilled to see the endorsement from Gore. It's a
terrific boost to the campaign. Congratulations!
The Project Commons was also released yesterday. Unfortunately, as
I'm sure you've noticed by now, many volunteers are upset about the
problems with the software and the surprise release. The feedback
forum is filled with complaints and desperate pleas to revert to the
previous set of online tools.
I am compelled to write to you today by deeper reasons than to
complain about software bugs. There is something more serious
happening here. The Dean campaign is built on people. We all know
it; we've all said it. That's what makes us different: this campaign
brings people together.
The most important element of bringing people together is trust.
I've met and talked to some of the grassroots organizers. They love
Dean. They will do anything for him. That's what keeps this
campaign going despite setbacks like yesterday's release. But trust
in the national campaign headquarters is weakening. I tried to
promote DeanLink to them. They mentioned to me that they didn't find
DeanLink very useful. Some of them say they don't feel the national
website is providing the support they need, or even describe the
national tools as getting in the way, instead of helping them achieve
their goals. So they are choosing to do it their own way instead.
That means they're less likely to share methods and resources. The
next time the national campaign asks them to do something, fewer of
them will do it. We have to stop this trend and rebuild that trust.
I think we are at a turning point. Because of the incredible growth
we've enjoyed, and in part because of Al Gore's endorsement, it is
especially important to make sure that the volunteer community stays
connected to this campaign.
Yesterday, that trust took a severe blow. Grassroots organizers
aren't sure they can rely on the national tools anymore. Their old
URLs are broken. They don't feel like they were in the loop when the
decision was made to launch. They have less confidence that the
national campaign is listening to them.
I'm impressed and disappointed. I'm impressed at how hard everyone
has been working on the software in Burlington. I'm disappointed
because that effort could have been spent more effectively.
I feel especially bad for Clay. He must be going through a terrible
time right now. He has worked incredibly hard on integrating these
tools into a new system, and now he's getting a wave of negative
feedback when he deserves appreciation and recognition. I've been
there. It's disheartening. No one wants that to happen again. All
of the fabulous talent on the development team ought to be directed
at producing happy, empowered volunteers.
This campaign has found some of the best people to build these tools.
It has a fantastic candidate. It has a huge base of motivated,
hard-working volunteers. A major effort was made to integrate these
tools into a single unit. This should have been a big step forward,
right? What went wrong?
I've thought about this pretty hard. The Burlington team has
excellent programmers. But there is clearly a lack of usability
training and release experience. As one of my friends puts it,
programming is one of the few fields in which there can be differences
of multiple orders of magnitude in productivity. Individuals can
really do big things, and that seduces programmers into thinking they
can do everything alone. It's easy to get used to working as a lone
wolf, coding late into the night, and to forget that there are people
out there who are actually using this software and that you have to
work with. I think Zack gets it; he's been working with the whole
DeanSpace team and we know that we all need each other to succeed.
I have three specific recommendations.
- Get usability help. Apply user-centered design principles.
Find a good usability engineer. - Develop better release procedures. Set a timeline for testing
software before it is launched. - Most of all, listen to the people. Show the volunteers that
their input is valued and treat them with respect.
There isn't just one grassroots. It isn't safe to assume that we know
what's best for them; we have to ask them. We can begin by listening
to the calls on the forum: people are asking for simplicity and
reliability. Let's aim for that. Then we should choose a few key
volunteers and set up partnerships with them. Put the programmers in
one-on-one conversations with the users, so they can come to
understand each other and address their needs. Cultivate a group of
volunteers to help do beta testing.
I've made this offer to you before and now I will make it again. Put
me on the national software team. You know that I can deliver
results; I delivered Visible Volunteers when you asked me to. I'm
asking you to trust me now. My classes have just ended. In the new
year, I will be able to work as a full-time volunteer. I will be in
a position to lead a development project or to become your usability
engineer.
I now believe it to be an advantage that I'm not in Burlington. I'm
"on the ground", to use the phrase reporters love, out here among the
volunteers. I can see what they do and talk to them face-to-face. I
can help you avoid the kind of tunnel vision that a team can get when
the whole team never leaves the office.
I've copied a few other people on this message. I've done so because
they are involved in the development or use of these kinds of tools,
and maybe you'll have a chance talk to them and see what they have to
say about the need for usability work. Yes, I am trying to get your
attention, because I believe the situation is critical. I'd like to
open a dialogue about how to fix it, and then help you fix it.
I hope to hear back from you soon.
Thank you again for everything you have done for this country.
Ping