Organization administrator guide

Current phase:
Case studies published. See timeline.

This guide is intended for organization administrators applying for or participating in the Google Season of Docs program.

Should your organization participate in the Google Season of Docs program?

Use these questions to help you understand whether your open source project or organization should participate in Google Season of Docs.

Does your organization or project:

Believe new or updated documentation would help achieve a goal or solve a problem in your project or community?
Have an initial understanding of or hypothesis for how you would measure the success of your documentation project?
Have community members willing to help recruit, evaluate, and onboard a technical writer, and who would be available to answer questions and provide other support during the project (6-8 months, including the application period)?
Have a community member willing to serve as the organization administrator and coordinate creating the application, responding to questions from the program administrators, and submitting monthly evaluations and the final evaluation and case study? The organization administrator should also be willing to answer followup surveys after the completion of the Google Season of Docs program.

Your organization should also meet the program eligibility requirements, including being able to create an Open Collective account.

The organization application process

The organization application process has two phases: the exploration phase and the application phase.

Exploration phase

Although Google Season of Docs applications open February 22, 2024, we strongly suggest that organizations take the time to complete the steps in the Exploration phase before submitting their application.

Create a project proposal page. The proposal page includes a list of key needs, goals, or problems, possible documentation solutions, and possible metrics. This page should be public, and allow for community contribution and discussion. Include information for technical writers who would like to participate—where should they ask questions, express interest, or go learn more about your project? We suggest adding an email address for contacting your open source organization about Google Season of Docs. However, we strongly advise against using a personal email address as the email address for contacting your open source organization. (See the project ideas list for examples.)
Publicize your proposal page in your community channels and add your organization to the list of interested organizations in the Google Season of Docs GitHub repository. You may also want to share your link in the #season-of-docs channel in the Write The Docs Slack. The promotion and press page includes logos and other content that you can use when talking about Google Season of Docs.
For each documentation idea, consider what experience and qualifications a technical writer would need to work successfully with your community and organization. What skills would your community be able to help a technical writer develop (for example, using GitHub or your docs toolchain)? (See the guide for working with technical writers.
Ask for volunteers to help answer questions from interested technical writers.
Begin reviewing any submitted statements of interest from technical writers interested in working with your project.

Application phase

Choose the most promising idea from your proposal page. Each organization may only submit one proposal. Some things to consider:
- Which idea has received the most interest from technical writers?
- Which idea will help solve your project's biggest problem? It's better to choose a riskier idea that would have a bigger impact than an idea for a documentation project that is more likely to be completed but won't make a significant difference to your project.
- Does the idea require participation by specific members of your community? Do they have the time to participate?
Create your proposal, using the proposal template. Make sure you understand and include:
- The problem you want to address
- The scope of the documentation you want to improve or create
- How you will measure the success of your documentation
Your proposal must also include a budget. Incomplete proposals cannot be considered.
Submit the Application Form by the application deadline April 2, 2024 at 18:00 UTC. Accepted proposals will be announced on April 10, 2024.

Project development and reporting

Organization administrators should understand their responsibilities during each of the program phases.

Project kickoff

If your organization has already selected a technical writer or writers for your project, have a kickoff meeting with your technical writer. You should collaborate with your technical writer to create a schedule for the work and regular check-ins.
If you received multiple statements of interest from interested technical writers, make a public announcement of your technical writer selection or otherwise inform applicants of your decision.

Grant payments

Google Season of Docs will deposit 40% of the grant funds in each organization's Open Collective account after they have hired a technical writer, starting on June 11, 2024. We recommend that organizations create a payment schedule with technical writers based on project milestones, including a payment at project kickoff.
The remaining 60% will be deposited into the Open Collective accounts of organizations that complete and submit their final evaluations and case studies, starting on December 13, 2024. All successful projects will start to receive final payment on December 13, 2024
See the payments guide for more information about creating an Open Collective account.

Project status reporting

Organization administrators should fill out the monthly status reports within a week of receiving the link to the status report form (link will be sent by email, so check your spam folder if you haven't seen it).

Project final evaluation and case study

Organizations must complete and submit both the project final evaluation and the case study before December 10, 2024 at 18:00 UTC to receive the remaining grant funds.

Final evaluation

The final evaluation and case study forms will become available to organization administrators no less that one month before December 10, 2024 at 18:00 UTC.

Case study

The Google Season of Docs case study is the key deliverable of your organization's participation in Google Season of Docs. Keeping a weekly log of project updates will help you create your case study. For each week, record project progress (including links to pull requests, issues, or conversations, where useful), what went well (or not well), things you learned, and questions that were asked.

Read creating a case study for additional information and be sure to follow our case study template to create your case study. You will submit your case study as a link in the case study form.

Your case study will be published on the Google Season of Docs site, so keep that in mind when including information about your project.

Followup surveys

Accepted organizations are required to participate in at least three followup surveys to help track the success of Google Season of Docs projects over time. The followup surveys are key to our understanding of the impact of Google Season of Docs.

Forms

Form	Link	Deadline
Organization application	Organization applications are now closed. Join the announcement mailing list at season-of-docs-announce to stay informed.	April 2, 2024 at 18:00 UTC
Organization payment information	Organization payment information phase complete. If you need to make changes to your organization's payment information, please contact the Season of Docs administrators.	May 22, 2024 at 18:00 UTC
Proof of technical writer hiring	Technical writer hiring phase complete.	May 22, 2024 at 18:00 UTC
Monthly evaluations	The monthly evaluation phase has closed.	See timeline
Case study submission	Case study form	December 10, 2024 at 18:00 UTC
Final program evaluation	Program evaluation form	December 10, 2024 at 18:00 UTC
Followup surveys	Form available during followup surveys phase (May 1, 2025).	See timeline

Related information

Review the Google Season of Docs timeline.