[Blog Post] How to start a workgroup within the Julia community

blog/2024/08/starting-workgroups.md

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+@def title = "So, You Want to Start a Julia Workgroup?"
+@def authors = "Hetarth Shah, George Datseris, Jacob Zelko"
+<!--
+TODO: Add this last
+   - @def published = "3 May 2024"
+   - @def rss_pubdate = Date(2024, 5, 3)
+   -->
+@def rss = """How you can start your own Julia community workgroup."""
+
+## Introduction
+
+Hey there, this post is dedicated to all those people who want to start a working group in julia. If you already have one, there might be some helpful tips for you too.
+
+#### What is a working group?
+
+As per [Julia's official website](https://julialang.org/community/working-groups/#working_groups),
+
+> A working group is a group of people that are interested in working on a common topic. Working groups are informal and have no official authority. All working groups have a public channel on the Julia Slack.
+
+Not only this but most working groups regularly hold meetings, everyone is free to attend these meetings and discuss about the topics which they want to. Most meeting schedules are posted on julia's community events calender but one can also find relevant links in the respective slack channels.
+
+Alright, now that we know what a working group is.
+
+#### Gaining Members
+
+> You created a working group now what?
+
+You need members hence the "*group*" part. If you already had members and wanted to a space where everyone could work/discuss on similar topics good for you. But if you don't have, you can announce about your working group on different social platforms so that people know about your group and maybe join it too. You can also post about your working group in other channels like `#general`, `#introduction`, etc. but please be mindful to not spam it into these or any other channels. People are very welcoming in Julia community but that doesn't mean one should misuse their goodwill.
+
+Ok, we now have a working group with enough members in it. Let's move forward with topics which help you in maintaining a healthy environment for your working group.
+
+## Developing an agenda
+
+After creating a workgroup, it makes sense to have a goal, things to work or discuss on for the members. So, usually one should create an agenda for the workgroup which basically is a roadmap or list of things/events which will be done in an upcoming week or month or year.
+
+It really helps to direct the efforts and accomplishing things faster if you have agenda/roadmap planned out. But a word of caution, don't plan too ahead in the future. It is best to decide small roadmaps lasting a month or so. This will also give enough chance to all people in your workgroup to sufficiently take part in more events than a tightly packed week long or sparse year long planned agenda.
+
+Ask the members if they prefer certain activities more than other activities. Take into account all opinions if possible, this will help in preparing/refreshing your agenda every month have new events, plan liked activities more and remove the ones with less/no response. You can post about agenda or upcoming events in other slack channels(of course respecting the decorum) and promote the events on the social handles to gather more eyes to your workgroup.
+
+Some positive things you could introduce is to appreciate new talent joining or appreciating new contributors each month. This helps in keeping the workgroup active, also keeps an positive vibe and the morale of both old and new members is raised.
+
+## Setting up a time
+
+We have members and you have planned a nice agenda with consultation of the members. The next step is to decide a time for the events such that you get the most participation and people also get a chance to digest things which they have attended. The best thing you can do is ask the people about the timings which they are most comfortable with. Add a poll for upcoming events with appropriate options for different times which takes in consideration of most timezones. If by any chance, the event gets cancelled or reschedule try to notify everyone about the update status as soon as possible to avoid any conflicts and save member's valuable time. Try revising the times quartely, half-yearly or yearly so that new and old members can adjust things as per their updated schedules.
+
+## What to do next with meetings
+
+You have now successfully organised an event and all members are happy with it too. There are some more points which can improve the already better things to the best.
+
+A meeting won't have at infinitium time for everyone, they will have a limited time window to discuss things. It is but obvious that not all topics will be covered, what one can do is at the end of the meeting one can ask that if someone wanted to talk about something but wasn't able to due to time restrictions or some topics are left from the original agenda and then you can add those topics for the next meetings. This way, topics will be covered and no one will be left unsatisfied.
+
+Additionally, you can also have a document in which you write down short but relevant minutes of meetings so if someone wants to take a look to get a better context for the past events they can and possibly leave some useful comments if they want.
+
+## General tips for being a workgroup leader
+
+Other small things you should take care while being a workgroup leader is, you should always introduce and appreciate the new attendees and contributors to the channel whether it is on weekly or monthly basis. If you have a package with similar motives as of the workgroup you can talk and/or introduce it and encourage people to contribute to it or atleast check it out. Organize talks from people of other workgroups, external attendees, special contributors, etc. You can also have talks about organizational stuff like code architecture for a project or package, managing flow, release schedule, onboarding new contributors, documentation, tutorials, blog posts and many more things!
+
+Always keep space for open ended discussions and questions in the channel and guide the people to right medium when they post non-relevant questions, always keep calm you don't know your response could be the someone's first impression to the entire community.
+
+And lastly, don't be too stressed about everything. Keep calm, not all months/weeks/days could be packed with action. Some might be slow, some not! No one expects a tightly two week packed agile sprint with meetings and planning poker. This is open-source, there are other people you can always depend upon reach out to them, many are eager to help out whoever they can to their best of the abilities.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+We hope this blog covers all your doubts regarding the who's, how's and what's of the workgroup in its entirety. If not, always feel free to ask stuff in Julia Slack. Thanks and see you again soon!