Outreach programs/Lessons learned

We compiled these lessons learned after our first participation at FOSS Outreach Program form Women:


 * We can't assume technical people don't need a basic introduction.
 * Our community is complex and we use several tools and channels of communication.
 * Many people are not used to open source transparency, and we push it to the extreme.
 * Many people are not used to the wiki way and for us this is a given.


 * Proposals must go through public community review
 * They must be felt relevant by their stakeholders.
 * Mentors' judgments are good! But not enough if they come alone.


 * Proposals must consist in one project only.
 * The term is too short for efficient change of projects & mentors.


 * Proposals must specify a clear and measurable outcome.
 * No vague goals difficult to assess at the end of the program.


 * Proposals shouldn't depend on Wikimedia Foundation's short term priorities.
 * Interns shouldn't be bothered about WMF teams sudden changes of plans.


 * The first contribution must be related with the type of project proposed.
 * A main purpose of this contribution is to assess the skills of the candidate in relation to her proposal.


 * Two mentors are required for each intern.
 * It's a lot less work for each.
 * Second mentor can be really secondary, but must be following what is going on just in case.
 * If one mentor drops there is still another one to push until the end.
 * All the better if mentors are also in different locations, forcing good remote collaboration.


 * Teams having daily contact via IRC have more chances of success
 * Even if it's only common hours of basically idling.


 * Monthly reports must be required and plugged to Wikimedia's monthly reports routine.
 * Difficulties coming up with a decent report or delays delivering are a good symptom of deeper problems.
 * Learning to explain your work is sometimes as important as the work itself.


 * Interns must send a summary of their project at wikitech-l at the end of the program.
 * A blog post is good, but as a complement or "web version" of the mail sent to our main community channel.