MN Collaboration tools: Difference between revisions

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==Collaboration Tools==
Maker Nexus uses a variety of tools to facilitate communication, collaboration, and dissemination of information inside and outside the organization. Some of these are self-hosted and administered by members (e.g. this wiki and our badge system), while others are provided to Maker Nexus as a hosted service (e.g. #Slack and #Google Workspace). Although tools, techniques, and technologies are always changing, the following list is what we currently rely on, and encourage members to use as well. If you are interested in testing out new software tools, you can create a [[committees|committee]] and pitch the idea on Slack.
We have several tools that serve different needs. We have standardized on the following tools at this time. As you work with us, we do not want to splinter into a plethora of other tools. Please use one of these or engage the larger group on Slack to discuss a new tool before starting to use it.


===Slack===
===[[http://makernexus.org|Website]]===
Slack is a group chat system. If you want to arrange for training, or you have some question about a machine, this is a good place to start. It is for contemporaneous communication. It is organized into "channels". You can read any channel. If you "join" a channel then you will get notifications every time a message is posted there. If you are away from Slack for a few days, you might have 100 little notes to read; you might want to just skip them and get back into the conversation at the current point.
The Maker Nexus homepage is the public-facing entry portal to our organization. It has the most current information about the Maker Nexus organization. Website content is overseen and managed by the [[Communication Committee]].


To control the amount of traffic you get from Slack ...
===[[Slack]]===
* By default you will be joined to the major equipment area channels: 3dprinters, lasercutters, textiles, electronics.  
[https://slack.com/|Slack] is a popular, proprietary group chat platform used by many enterprises and organizations. Discussions are organized into "channels" based on topic and function like many other online chat systems such as [https://matrix.org/|Matrix], [https://discord.com/|Discord], or [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat|IRC]. Slack is the primary way to engage in low-latency, ephemeral communication with other members and staff and is great for things such as arranging for training, asking questions about machines, suggesting ideas, and sharing pictures of project progress or your pets.
* If you are not interested in these areas, you can "leave" the channel. You can always join again if your interests change.
* You can turn off notifications for each channel you have joined.  


===The Wiki===
===[[Google Workspace]]===
This wiki is a repository of slowly changing information. Here we try to document more factual things, after they have been hammered out by a group. This wiki is public. Anyone can read what is here. Anyone can contribute. You can sign up for a wiki account in the upper right corner of this screen. This wiki contains information about Maker Nexus. It also serves as a knowledge base for the larger community of makers around the world - you can see that on the home page of the wiki.
Google workplace provides a large collection of the tools that we use regularly, including email, documents, spreadsheets, calendars, :


===email===
manage documents, and time.
 
===[[Main Page|Wiki]]===
This wiki is a repository of public information. Here we try to document more factual things, after they have been hammered out by a group. This wiki is public. Anyone can read what is here. Anyone can contribute. You can sign up for a wiki account in the upper right corner of this screen. This wiki contains information about Maker Nexus. It also serves as a knowledge base for the larger community of makers around the world - you can see that on the home page of the wiki.
 
===Email===
info@makernexus.org  Someone from the steering committee monitors this email daily. If you need something or have some question, don't hesitate to send in an email. Please try to put something descriptive in the subject line.
info@makernexus.org  Someone from the steering committee monitors this email daily. If you need something or have some question, don't hesitate to send in an email. Please try to put something descriptive in the subject line.


===MN Website===
===EZ Facility===
The public face of Maker Nexus, [http://makernexus.org our website] is the entry portal to our world. It should have current information about the Maker Nexus organization. Only our communication team can change the website.
Our CRM
 
===Google Suite===
We have a full G-Suite account. Every paying member of Maker Nexus will receive an email account in our domain. This email account will give them access to our team share. All information that resides outside of this wiki should be in a Google Doc format.


We maintain several "team drives" in GSuite.
===Team Drives in Google Drive===


* MN Members: Where the vast majority of documents live. You must access this using your @makernexus.org Google account.
* MN Members: Where the vast majority of documents live. You must access this using your @makernexus.org Google account.
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Public Share
===Public Share===


Documents in the Public Share are available for the world to view. They often have a link to them from a page in this wiki.
Documents in the Public Share are available for the world to view. They often have a link to them from a page in this wiki.
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All that could have been done in a day by one person without any of these tools. However, if the issue is contentious or very complex, the tools help the team converge on a solution.
All that could have been done in a day by one person without any of these tools. However, if the issue is contentious or very complex, the tools help the team converge on a solution.
==Tools We Are Testing==
===Trello===
We have a few people using Trello for To-Do list management. Ask and you can be added to the group.
==Tools We Do Not Use==
We specifically avoid the use of desktop files that are emailed to each other. If you've ever done this before, and who hasn't, you know how easy it is for those to get out of sync and suddenly no one knows who has the latest version - and sometimes the document forks and you have a mess on your hands.
===BaseCamp===
We tried BaseCamp but found that it did not add a lot of value. It had poor integration with G-Drive. It hid too much information from users.
===Asana===
It is only free for 10 users. We need tools that can be used by the entire organization for free - or very, very, very low cost.
===One Drive===
We want to limit our toolset and One Drive duplicates GDrive.
===Drop Box===
We want to limit our toolset and Drop Box duplicates GDrive.
===Microsoft Office===
We have GSuite from Google for free to all members. We want all our documents in native GDoc formats for easy collaboration. If you originate a document in a Microsoft format, please import it to a native GDoc format when you add it to our GDrive.

Revision as of 00:44, 12 September 2021

Maker Nexus uses a variety of tools to facilitate communication, collaboration, and dissemination of information inside and outside the organization. Some of these are self-hosted and administered by members (e.g. this wiki and our badge system), while others are provided to Maker Nexus as a hosted service (e.g. #Slack and #Google Workspace). Although tools, techniques, and technologies are always changing, the following list is what we currently rely on, and encourage members to use as well. If you are interested in testing out new software tools, you can create a committee and pitch the idea on Slack.

[[1]]

The Maker Nexus homepage is the public-facing entry portal to our organization. It has the most current information about the Maker Nexus organization. Website content is overseen and managed by the Communication Committee.

Slack

[2] is a popular, proprietary group chat platform used by many enterprises and organizations. Discussions are organized into "channels" based on topic and function like many other online chat systems such as [3], [4], or [5]. Slack is the primary way to engage in low-latency, ephemeral communication with other members and staff and is great for things such as arranging for training, asking questions about machines, suggesting ideas, and sharing pictures of project progress or your pets.

Google Workspace

Google workplace provides a large collection of the tools that we use regularly, including email, documents, spreadsheets, calendars, :

manage documents, and time.

Wiki

This wiki is a repository of public information. Here we try to document more factual things, after they have been hammered out by a group. This wiki is public. Anyone can read what is here. Anyone can contribute. You can sign up for a wiki account in the upper right corner of this screen. This wiki contains information about Maker Nexus. It also serves as a knowledge base for the larger community of makers around the world - you can see that on the home page of the wiki.

Email

info@makernexus.org Someone from the steering committee monitors this email daily. If you need something or have some question, don't hesitate to send in an email. Please try to put something descriptive in the subject line.

EZ Facility

Our CRM

Team Drives in Google Drive

  • MN Members: Where the vast majority of documents live. You must access this using your @makernexus.org Google account.
  • Steering Committee: A group of people who volunteer a significant amount of time to keep the makerspace running. The few docs here are about making id badges, policies under discussion but don't have agreement from the steering committee yet, draft versions of the monthly report to members, etc.
  • Donation Processing: Our donor's personal information is kept private. This team drive supports those few people in the organization who are working on donation programs.
  • Finance: A few people who work on accounting tasks have access to this.
  • Operations: A few documents pertaining to the operations staff at MN. Things like personnel scheduling, vacations, etc.
  • Board of Directors: Only available to official board members. Being an open organization, we try to keep very few documents here. However, some information must be tightly held. For example, personnel docs, contracts with strict NDAs, working documents that the board has not gotten to the point of sharing the proposal with others, etc. If you want to know what's here, ask a board member.


Public Share

Documents in the Public Share are available for the world to view. They often have a link to them from a page in this wiki.

Anyone can view this share drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1OVtDCs4H-r3UAqqseN0YeRGuM22ZraeF?usp=sharing

An Example

As an example of how these all might work... Someone thinks we need a privacy statement (good idea!). On Slack the start a new #privacystmt channel and posts in the #general channel their interest and ask people to join them in the new channel. After some lively discussion the group realizes that this is going to take some group work and longer term focus. They chat in Slack and decide to create a new folder in our GDrive to capture their ideas. They gather some existing privacy statements from other places on the web. They create a new Google Doc and begin assembling a privacy statement. They involve the steering committee, since this policy will need executive approval. Eventually we have a privacy statement we can all support. It's added to this wiki to document it. That new wiki page is locked to prevent random editing. A link to the wiki page is added to the website. The folder on the GDrive is Archived.

All that could have been done in a day by one person without any of these tools. However, if the issue is contentious or very complex, the tools help the team converge on a solution.

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