Organization administrator responsibilities

Current phase:
Project finalization. See timeline.

The organization administrators taking part in Google Season of Docs have certain responsibilities towards their open source organization and towards Google.

This document describes the responsibilities that apply across all participating open source organizations. Individual organizations may have additional roles and responsibilities. Talk to your organization's administrative team for more information.

Organization administrator responsibilities

These are the responsibilities of the administrators within the open source organizations.

Your responsibilities towards Google

  • Define organization participation, organization selection criteria, and organization-specific operating procedures
  • Submit the organization application and be the organization’s representative
  • Serve as communication liaison with Google
    • Respond to any inquiries from Google within 72 hours
    • Report violations of the Participant Agreement (for example, harassment, plagiarism, fraud)
  • Ensure all deadlines are met (for example, evaluations, survey responses)
  • Perform administrative tasks regarding the Program for the Organization, including completing the application process to receive funds through Open Collective; responding to surveys from the Google Program Administrators; producing the Project Proposal Page, the Final Evaluations and the Case Study; and completing Followup Evaluations
  • Provide and maintain an adequate Project Proposal Page
  • Oversee the overall progress of the Organization and the Project throughout the Program
  • [New for 2023] Link to the Google Season of Docs site from your Project acknowledgements page or any similar Project page. (Badges will be available by the end of the 2024 Google Season of Docs) program.)

Your responsibilities towards your community

  • Define organization participation and procedure
  • Communicate expectations before the program starts
  • Communicate technical writer selection, continued participation, and dismissal policy
    • Describe how Participant Agreement violations and failure will be handled
  • Continuously evaluate community interaction with technical writers
    • Recognize conflicts of interest, interpersonal issues, and step in if necessary
  • Let your community know when more help is needed
  • Ensure adequate and appropriate responsiveness to technical writers, particularly near holidays

Your responsibilities towards your technical writers

  • Let technical writers know how, when, and why to contact the organization administrator
  • Ensure technical writers are introduced welcomed to the community
  • Communicate organization-specific requirements (for example, time, coding, communication, licensing)
  • Communicate organization-specific expectations (for example, behavior, best practices, visibility)
  • Work with the technical writer to set deadlines and deliverables
  • Monitor communications and ensure inappropriate behavior is addressed
  • Ensure technical writers understand their responsibilities and are given adequate notice of any problems
  • Ensure technical writers are paid for their work on the schedule and in the amounts agreed to by the organization