Season of Docs/Admin guide

This is a guide to administering Wikimedia's participation in Google Season of Docs based on the 2024 program.

About Season of Docs

Google Season of Docs (GSoD) provides grants to technical writers to work on documentation for open-source software projects. Grants range from $5,000 to $15,000 USD depending on the project's budget.

Finding the announcement

Google typically announces Season of Docs in late January or early February. I haven't found any good way of being notified, so the best you can do is regularly check Google's Season of Docs website around that time.

Creating a timeline

Based on Google's schedule, create your own timeline for the program. For an example, see the schedule we used in 2024. Remember to update the schedule with {{Done}} as the program progresses.

Things to keep in mind:

The initial kickoff date is when the project page and Phabricator tag are fully set up and ready to receive project ideas and technical writer statements of interest.
There should be enough time between the date that you stop accepting project ideas and the date you submit the application for you to create and submit the application. Be aware of any holidays.
There should be enough time between the date that you stop accepting statements of interest and the date you announce the selected technical writer for you to review the applications and make a decision.
There should be enough time between the end of the project and Google's case study deadline for you to write and submit the case study.

Launching the project

Once Google announces the program, you can start working on project kickoff tasks.

Find a co-admin

Google requires two program admins, which is a good idea. You can choose to split tasks between admins or have one admin acting as a backup for the other. Based on my experience coordinating payments, it would be helpful if one admin was WMF staff.

Reach out to Finance

Reach out to Helen Pang on the WMF Finance team (or whoever holds the Controller position). Introduce yourself and the project, and ask for their support dispersing payments. Give them an overview of the payment schedule.

Create a project page

Create a project page at Season of Docs/YYYY, and link to it from Season of Docs. Use the initial version of Season of Docs/2024 as an example. I recommend reading the case study from 2024 so see which parts of the process you may want to change.

Create one or two project ideas

You'll want to populate the project page with one or two project ideas. This gives technical writers something to work with while still leaving space for people to submit new project ideas. Use the 2024 template and Google's organization application template as guides. Remember that a clearly-defined scope is essential for a successful project.

Create a project tag in Phabricator

Create a Phabricator tag titled "Season of Docs YYYY". See this example request. Here's how we organized our Phab board in 2024.

Be prepared to respond to talk page posts and Phab tasks

Once you launch the project, you'll start receiving Phab tasks with statements of interest and comments on the talk page. Make sure you have your notifications set up so you can respond to these.

Send announcements

Once you're ready to go and the project page is published and ready, send an email to wikitech-l announcing the program. Here's the announcement from 2024. Note that it's good to be clear that we will need to be accepted by Google first in order for the project to move forward. I also recommend posting an announcement to the WMF Slack and the Write the Docs Slack.

Add WMF to the list of interested organizations

One of the main ways that applicants find out about us is through Google's Season of Docs repo. Submit a PR adding WMF to the list of interested organizations for your year.

Mark the kickoff phase as done

Mark the kickoff phase in your timeline as {{Done}}.

Responding to technical writers

As you receive statements of interest from technical writers, check to make sure they have included all the necessary information. You can ask followup questions to help them clarify their proposal. See the 2024 tasks and the 2024 talk page for example responses. You should respond to all tasks and all talk page posts with at least a "thanks for your interest" message.

Submitting the application

Once you've kicked off the project, the next big milestone is submitting the application. Keep a running doc with a history of your decisions and how you made them. You'll need this later on.

Decide if you'll include a support volunteer in your budget

In 2024, Google offered a stipend of $500 USD to community members who would help answer questions, review work, and generally take on a considerable mentorship or guidance role in the selected documentation project. Having a support volunteer can be a great help during the project. You'll need to know whether you plan to have a volunteer before you submit your application. There should be a section on your project page announcing this role, so keep an eye on the talk page to see if anyone volunteers. You can always try to recruit people who might be interested by posting on their talk pages.

Choose a project

Choose one project to move forward with based on the community feedback you receive and the interest from prospective technical writers in their statements of interest. In your application, Google will ask how many technical writers have shown interest in your project.

Decide on a budget

Look at the statements of interest you've received so far and decide on a budget based on Google's guidelines. Choose a higher value so you have more flexibility in hiring later. Add $150 for swag from the Wikimedia store, and include $500 for a support volunteer if you have one.

Create a proposal page

Create a proposal page at Season of Docs/YYYY/Proposal with your application. Make sure to include everything that Google asks for in their docs. You can use the statements of interest you've received to help create your timeline. See the 2024 proposal for reference.

Submit the application

Follow Google's process to submit the application. Don't leave it until the last day in case something goes wrong. Update the wiki pages if you're accepted. If you're not accepted, document this on the project page and decline all open Phab tasks with a note.

See Open Collective on Office Wiki (restricted access) for information about WMF's Open Collective account.

Selecting a technical writer

Congrats on being accepted! The next milestone in selecting a technical writer. It can take a significant amount of time to evaluate all the applications, so feel free to start this process before applications technically close.

Close applications

On the application due date, update the project page to reflect that applications are now closed. If any additional applications come in, politely decline them.

Evaluate applications

Create a spreadsheet and evaluate the applicants based on a standard set of qualifications. For 2024, we used:

available work hours
tech writing experience
open-source experience (non-WMF)
Wikimedia experience
endorsements
writing samples

In 2024, we chose not to interview applicants.

Identify the top three candidates

Choose your top three candidates and rank them in order of preference. Remember to document your decision-making process in your running doc. Keep in mind that there may be restrictions on countries where WMF can send money, such as countries sanctioned by the US.

Send notifications

In 2024, I sent an email to our selected technical writer very early on the announcement day. I was able to get a response from them quickly confirming their acceptance. Once I received this, I went ahead and posted the public updates. Hopefully this same process works for you. Ideally you'd want a confirmation from the selected technical writer before announcing publicly in case they decided not to accept for whatever reason.

Comment on each Phab task you received, moving the accepted task on the workboard and declining the rejected tasks with a message. See this accepted task and this declined task from 2024 as examples. I recommend offering rejected applicants the opportunity to email privately to receive more feedback. This is a nice thing to do in exchange for their time and interest. Remember to update the project page with your decision.

Project kickoff

Now that you've selected a technical writer, set up a kickoff meeting with them. (Follow this same process for the support volunteer if you're working with one.) Prepare an agreements doc establishing your communication and working norms. I recommend following the process from the 2024 agreement.

You may want to plan to provide the technical writer with extra support during their onboarding phase.

While the project is in progress

Google will periodically ask for project updates via a Google form. In 2024, these were very simple: is the project on schedule, is the project on budget, etc.

Payments

Be aware of Google's payment dates and communicate clearly and in advance with your participants. Confirm with them whether their bank accepts wire transfers; if not, you can ask Finance to do an ACH transfer. Ask the participants to send an invoice for the correct amount. See the 2024 agreement for a description of what should be in the invoice.

Invoices contain sensitive account information, so ask participants to send them securely, such as through the secure mail feature in Gmail. I recommend asking participants to send their invoices to you as the admin to be checked for completeness before being sent to Finance.

In 2024, we followed this process:

Finance completed WMF's tax information in Open Collective
Google sent us a credit through Open Collective
Finance transferred the funds from Open Collective to a WMF bank account
Participants sent their invoices to Finance
Finance initiated transfers to participants

See Open Collective on Office Wiki (restricted access) for information about WMF's Open Collective account.

Completing the project

Once the technical writer has completed the project, you'll need to do a few things as an admin to wrap up the project.

Submit the case study

Google asks admins to write a project case study. Follow their template, and submit the case study following their instructions. See the 2024 case study as an example.

Send announcements

Send an announcement that the project is complete to wikitech-l and post to the Season of Docs/YYYY talk page. Make sure to thank everyone who contributed. Here's the announcement from 2024.

Update Season of Docs/Past projects

Add the completed project to Season of Docs/Past projects.

Update this guide

Update this admin guide with any tips or new processes and examples that you used during your program. Thanks for continuing Wikimedia's participation in Season of Docs!