Note: A revision of the Community Teams Agreement for 2023 is underway and will be published here soon.
Background and Purpose
The Umbraco Community Teams Initiative is a collaboration between Umbraco HQ and dedicated community volunteers, with the mission of fostering a friendly sharing culture.
Each team has a clear focus, process, and is run by a group of skilled and dedicated volunteers. Five of the current teams were initiated and are led by Umbraco HQ, and one, the Accessibility Team, was formed and is fully run by members of the Umbraco community.
- The Documentation Curators
- The Core Collaborators (formerly known as The PR team)
- The Package Team
- The Unicore Team
- The Backoffice Team
- The Accessibility Team (100% community-driven)
This agreement establishes and defines the terms and conditions for participating in the Community Teams.
A community team is defined as ‘led by Umbraco HQ’ when an HQ employee is actively involved in running the team and is working closely with the community volunteers. This position is called Steward and has so far been held by an HQ employee.
The agreement is presented to the Community Teams listed above for approval and information. The teams that don’t fit the definition of ‘being led by Umbraco HQ’ are offered the option to adhere to all sections of the agreement, except for the parts: ‘Selection and Organization’, and ‘Validity and Re-application’.
Selection and Organization
Joining a Community Team led by Umbraco HQ is done through an application process. Historically, the Documentation Curators and the Core Collaborators teams were formed in their initial setup by invitation made to specific active community members. In order to enable a more inclusive process, the applications and re-applications will be the default way for future selections.
The review of the applications and the final selection of who joins the team are managed by the team’s Steward.
The organization and work process of each team are established by the Steward in agreement with the team members. Each team decides independently on the best way to manage their activities.
Once a team is formed, it is advised to outline focus areas, goals, main activities, and communication channels. All these elements are made publicly available on the Community’s website.
Validity and Re-application
Ideally, a team opens a public application on a yearly basis. Being part of the team is in principle valid for 12 months, or until the next team application, with the possibility to re-apply when the applications are open.
The re-application to stay in the team follows a similar selection process and requires that the current team members submit information on their reasons for wanting to stay involved including recommendations on what to improve or change.
Each time a member’s re-application is confirmed, team members will be asked to accept the most current version of this agreement.
The Umbraco contribution code of conduct and values are at the center of the selection process and continue to govern the initiative. Any failure to adhere to the code of conduct may result in removal from the team.
Program Benefits
The Community Teams get access to a list of benefits provided by Umbraco HQ. The benefits are personal and cannot be transferred, shared, or assigned to another person.
The benefits are not limited only to the Teams led by Umbraco HQ; any team initiated by the community and whose name is listed in the agreement (Section: Background and Purpose) will have access to the following benefits:
- Dedicated badges - Access to a digital badge to use in email signatures and website. Additionally, a badge is linked to the profile on the community’s website Our. (Note: The badge will be soon made available to the teams. A notification will be sent once the badge is ready).
- Access to HQ working facilities - Umbraco HQ can open its doors for the team’s members to use its facilities to work and connect with the HQ teams.
- Support of advocacy initiatives - Aid for payment of travel expenses to do a talk or workshop covering Umbraco at a conference or meetup. The approval of the expenses depends on the topic covered, location, and size of the event, as well as the budget allocated by Umbraco HQ.
- Annual visit and dedicated events - The teams’ members are annually invited to a 2-day visit to Umbraco HQ in Denmark. The travel expenses are covered by HQ and coverage of the visit is published on the blog section of umbraco.com along with HQ’s social media channels. Additionally, Umbraco HQ will set up regular virtual events to share news and information with the different teams. *Please note that the annual HQ visit does not apply to sounding board teams, who meet virtually 4 times a year.
Confidentiality
The information shared by Umbraco HQ, during the collaboration with the different members of the Community Teams, is the confidential information of Umbraco HQ unless expressly stated otherwise.
Privacy and Protection of Personal Information
Umbraco HQ collects the following information for the time of activity of a Community Team member:
- Full name
- Company name / Employer
- Country of residence
- Profile picture (for blogging purposes)
- Motivations to join the Team (for blogging purposes)
- Work/Home Address (for swag or other deliveries)
- Email address to send communication relevant to the Teams’ work
- Link to the profile page on Our
Umbraco HQ uses and protects the information shared by the members of the Community Teams according to our privacy guidelines.