Episode 8: The Journey So Far  ## Metadata - Author: [[Sustain WP]] - Full Title: Episode 8: The Journey So Far - Category: #podcasts - URL: https://share.snipd.com/episode/587c7b5a-3ad8-4616-90df-ce03348041de ## Document Notes ## Highlights - **WordPress as Sustainability Leader** - WordPress should aim to be a sustainability leader by optimizing code and promoting inclusive community events. - Leading by example can inspire other platforms to prioritize digital sustainability. Transcript: Speaker 1 During the interviews, I also asked the guest about one wish that they could ask and it would come true, like having a magic wand in terms of WordPress sustainability. We start with Bertie Talsem, who would like to see WordPress being a sustainability leader, so it's a reference to other projects. Speaker 6 My ultimate desire is an vision that WordPress emerges also as a permanent and influential leader in the realm of digital sustainability, but also paving the ways for other platforms So that they can follow, but also not only focusing on the code optimization, but also in the technical aspect, but also the efforts of organizing the inclusive community events, onboarding Contributors and funding contributors and be also a leader for this. Let also we can showcase our true potential for sustainability. I think by doing so, WordPress can serve as a shining example and inspire other platforms to recognize the immersed impact on sustainability and to shape better digital future. ([Time 0:03:44](https://share.snipd.com/snip/462f17e6-8893-46d3-9fd9-30aa909fe8be)) - **Automattic to Lead by Policy** - Automattic should lead with the best sustainability policy among tech companies, covering business operations to code and hosting. - Publishing the policy as open source would push sustainable practices into the community. Transcript: Speaker 1 Talking about WordPress being a leader, Tung Ringwood would like to see automatic being a leader on sustainability, so it's a reference to other companies. Speaker 9 Okay, I'm going to be a bit naughty and I'm going to say that my wish would be that automatic word takes the lead and they would publish the best sustainability policy of any tech company In the world, not just in the WordPress community, and that they would look at it from like right from their like business operations through to the code, through to the hosting, and They would publish that as open source and push it into the community as a whole. ([Time 0:05:16](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c5bc34f1-eec0-47d3-9ffe-3f84ae1662e1)) - **Train and Fund for Sustainable Governance** - Organizations using WordPress should be trained and funded to sustainably govern their WordPress systems. - Certification like B-Corps could boost sustainability efforts in the WordPress ecosystem. Transcript: Speaker 1 In the same direction, Team Freak would like to see organizations that use WordPress to understand how to run them in a more sustainable way. Speaker 7 There isn't one magic wand thing that I could say, but like, you know, making sure that teams are trained, that there's adequate funding, that there's responsible and resilient organizational Governance, like those kinds of things are the things that we've seen over the past 25 years of being in business trip up people getting in the way of being able to like, you know, make WordPress a successful part of their business ecosystem. And so just, you know, helping organizations to really truly understand how to sustainably govern WordPress based systems, I think is a really, really, really wonderful thing. And of course, you know, as an advocate of B-Corps, I'm always a fan of saying anybody who is running WordPress sites or even automatic itself could become a certified B-Corps and really Make a huge difference not only in the WordPress community, but also in the B-Corps community. ([Time 0:06:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/ca92f067-44c8-4c77-a794-3b8db2ac30d2)) - **Efficiency Through Database Restructuring** - Restructuring WordPress database for efficiency could greatly improve performance, especially for sites with many metadata entries. - Modernizing the stack, even with backward compatibility challenges, would accelerate sustainable tech advances. Transcript: Speaker 1 Regarding more technical aspects, Adan Sipastin would like to see a restructuring of the database to be more efficient. Speaker 4 Probably like restructuring the database would have a massive effect. I know, you know, I don't know how common it is in small sites, but like at the enterprise level, we often would take all kinds of crazy data structures and then cram them into WordPress's Database structure. You know, where you can create custom tables in WordPress, but it's way more typical for people to kind of use the tables that we have. And, you know, there's things about the tables that make them less efficient, like which things are having index on them. Like I know the meta table is very inefficient and that when WordPress sites start to have a lot of meta, they become really slow. So I guess if I had one thing I could change would be like to magically rewrite the database schema so that it was all more efficient. I think that's impossible to make that change. I'm maintaining the retro compatibility. Backwards, I think, you know, like just to look at one other project, which is I work with Drupal as well, surprisingly. And they made a huge break when they went to, I think, Drupal 9 or 8, maybe it was 8. And basically you had to rewrite your site, like, to go to the next version. And that, you know, I, while that seems horrible for developers and a lot of people are stuck on version 7. At the same time, I'm really envious of them from a technological standpoint because they were able to just adopt all of these new things. Like, like, Composer would be really nice if we had, like, if we used Composer, you know, just just being able to modernize our stack, I guess, we're very, we're very committed to backwards Compatibility. And that commitment makes changes much harder. So my wish is that changes would happen faster. Again, without breaking things yet. ([Time 0:07:10](https://share.snipd.com/snip/0da5487c-d4b8-45a9-a77a-eab66315c23c)) - **Capture Chemistry in Online Events** - Develop online WordPress events that capture the essence and chemistry of physical gatherings. - This would reduce environmental impact and increase accessibility by lowering economic barriers. Transcript: Speaker 1 In the context of events, Julia Golom would like to see online events that are able to capture the essence of the physical ones. Speaker 6 I think that there is a huge and untapped potential for creating successful online community events for WordPress. And when events are online, when we gather online, it reduces the amount of air travel that we do. It reduces the amount of waste that's created in setting up booths and whatnot. And I have the sense that this is untapped potential, that we haven't really nailed the online event format. And there is such a gift in gathering in person. I want to continue to have WordPress events that bring people together in person. I think those are so, so, so important and so valuable and so beneficial. And if I could wave a magic wand, we would have that say we would find a way to transport that chemistry that we get in person together and create really cool, really engaging, stimulating Creative online gatherings. ([Time 0:09:19](https://share.snipd.com/snip/7d715c73-6624-49c7-a97c-3c596fe137bd)) - **DEIB and Contributor Support** - Make WordPress a DEIB-first project and improve onboarding and support for contributors. - Focus on social sustainability through better inclusion, equity, and contributor retention programs like mentorships. Transcript: Speaker 1 With the social part, Harry Sanker says that he would use the magical wand to make WordPress a DEIB first project and get more contributors that are properly onboard and supported. Speaker 2 If I had a magic wand that would fix all the problems with social sustainability, I would start with DIB, that is diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. We absolutely need to be better at this in WordPress. So that's currently a DEIB working group, which is actually working on improving the DEIB of WordPress. So I would love to see that happen. I would love to have us have our, have the entire project have DEIB first, like how, as I suggested, it's the same with the first. So to build a culture of DEIB, it's not an easy journey. I mean, of course, we are good. WordPress community itself has made commendable progress in diversity. We have a diverse speaker program. We're doing our best, but I think we need to do a lot more to make sure that our contributors feel equitable, that our work is equitable, that they feel included, that they feel a belonging In the project. So it's a cross-team effort, and I would really, really like that to happen in the project. The other big problem with, or big area that needs to be improved is to increase, improve the contributor pipeline that we have for this. This was discussed extensively at the Community Summit. We need more contributors coming in. And we need folks, like the, so many folks who come in, they make contributions and they make go. We want them to stay. So what can we do to do that? So I'm part of an initiative by the contributor working group on, we did an experimental mentorship program, it's a huge success. We noticed that the folks who, first of all, majority of the folks who participated graduated, 90% of them did graduate, and we are seeing them, like all of them are making active contributions Towards this point. So there is value in mentorship. So similarly, like to bring out initiatives to improve the, first of all, to get more contributors and to second need to give them support, to give them the support that they need, which Allows them to continue contributing sustainably. And we really need to support our contributors and to help them grow. So how can we provide our contributors the support? I mean, especially given the fact that many of them are volunteers. Of course, not everybody wants to be sponsored. Fonsoring is not the only way to do it. Like there's a bunch of things that we can do. I know of several stories where folks, they have actually grown by contributing to workers. Like folks have actually landed jobs or really found professional success through workers. So there's a bunch of things that can be done to support our contributors and to help them grow as individuals to help them learn skills. And last but not the least, I think this is this is a key part of sustainable social sustainability as well. WordPress is the most popular content management system in the world. And it is estimated that we have, I mean, we make more than 40% like we are market share is for 40%. So we have, we have millions of users out there. Yes, it's pretty short. So how can we help our users sustain as well? I mean, it's a tall order. We obviously cannot go down. We can, we mean, we are already finding a hard time even supporting our contributors. So we may not be able to do the same level of support that we do for our contributors as much as we do our use. But I'm sure we can do a lot of things. Maybe we can start by making our software better, like making sure that WordPress is usable enough. It's making sure that it's accessible, making sure that it helps users meet their needs directly. So by improving the products, that's one area that I'm thinking of, but I'm sure there are others as well. ([Time 0:11:01](https://share.snipd.com/snip/c2614ddc-f6d6-44e1-a07d-9d2a5950a578)) - **Funding Support for Contributors** - Ensure all WordPress contributors seeking help get sponsorship or support quickly to avoid hardship. - Connect contributors with organizations or funds to provide timely assistance and sustain contribution. Transcript: Speaker 1 With the magic want, still on his hand, and regarding the economic part, he would like to see all people get funded, so no contributor has to suffer. Speaker 2 I want all contributors who are seeking help to get sponsorship. So if you are a contributor that is looking for help, my magic wand would get them sponsored. So if you, if you are in a need for help, you are able to find help directly. It could be anyway, it could be by connecting you with somebody. It could be by connecting you with an organization who's willing to sponsor you. It could be by, it could be a fund which sponsors contributor. So to have that out there and to make sure that it happens fast, so that no contributor has to suffer, that would be my wish. And to maybe add a related wish to that, we have a strong pipeline of contributors coming in who get all the help and mentorship and support that they get. So economic and social sustainability that I keep in one below. ([Time 0:15:03](https://share.snipd.com/snip/484f5927-a289-4174-9aed-3d88a3431f09)) - **Diversify Funding Recipients** - Allocate WordPress funding to a diverse group, including freelancers and people from developing countries. - Involve contributors with different backgrounds and even non-WordPress users for fresh perspectives. Transcript: Speaker 8 I think the main thing I would ask for within, within WordPress sustainability is that we have funding that can be allocated to a more diverse group of people that can contribute to the Project. Not just contributes, not just contributions to the sustainability team, but contributions to all of teams. We need people from developing countries. We need people who are working as a freelancer. We need people who are from very different kinds of backgrounds. Maybe we even need people who don't use WordPress to contribute. You know, imagine the different kinds of thinking you would get from people who are actually not WordPress users. It would be quite interesting. So that would be my main wish is to see funding which enables people who aren't the usual suspects to contribute to the project. ([Time 0:16:06](https://share.snipd.com/snip/80a701ad-e760-4a9a-8454-44a5d22afe43)) - **Use Metrics to Improve Health** - Trial open source tools like Gromore Labs to create dashboards measuring the project's health. - Successful metrics and dashboards can guide sustainability improvements in WordPress development and community. Transcript: Speaker 1 Of the project. Speaker 3 I mean, the really grand, should I hit the lottery kind of wish, would be to fund a lot of contributors. But on the more realistic side of things at this time, I've been checking out some of the tools that are out and available for the dashboards area. Knowing that we have various stakeholders that need different bits of information. I think one of the wish lists that I have is to successfully get through trying out at least one of the tools that are already out there. One that I'm especially keen to look at from the chaos group is Gromore Labs and it's open source software. It is under the hood for those that are familiar with what an Ospo is, open source program office. There's a group called the Terja that just helps corporations track their open source contributions. They're using Gromore to get their dashboards. So the source of it all is Gromore. And Gromore can do all kinds of interesting things. But to make this really key for the WordPress project, Gromore doesn't yet support tracking track. Speaker 6 That's a nice quote. Speaker 3 And also does not yet support WordPress in terms of it would get an RSS feed, but it wouldn't necessarily see that someone edited or revised a thing. But it can ingest slack, GitHub, all kinds of things. There's a really long list. So I think in a practical, what can I do in the near future? I want to test the software out with one of the things. And if it goes well, take it to meta and say, hey folks, here's a tool that will simplify some of this. Let's start with simple, start simple, get something going, and then we can build on more as we go. I think I would really like to see that run its course, maybe within the next three to four months, do an experimental trial, and let it grow after that. Once we get through a trial phase with something like that, see if that would be best for the whole project. I think just continually coming back to this, like we need stats, dashboards isn't moving us forward. ([Time 0:17:18](https://share.snipd.com/snip/309050b1-f6b0-49b3-82be-fc28b8b5a006)) - **Cross-Team Sustainability Collaboration** - Encourage contributors from various teams to dedicate time weekly to the Sustainability Team. - Cross-team collaboration raises internal awareness and strengthens sustainability efforts in WordPress. Transcript: Speaker 1 He would like to see more contributors in the sustainability team and having people from other teams collaborating with it. Speaker 5 I would love to have way more contributors in the sustainability team. Speaker 4 That's so nice to hear. Speaker 5 I'm not saying that just because of you and the rest of the people involved there, but I think it would be very nice, the same as we have, I mean, it doesn't need to be like full-time contributors Or not meaning 40 hours, which would be amazing, but I mean, if I contribute two hours or eight hours, for example, I wouldn't need to have the eight hours in the sustainability team. Maybe I'm just a polyglots contributor, but I'm going to spend one or two hours a week in the sustainability team to know what you are doing, how can I help? So having people from other teams, because they know their reality and they know how to improve the project from the inside. So I would really love to see more people from other teams or even onboarding new people from two other teams and then tell them, hey, take a look here, spend one hour a week, go to the meetings, Print the documents or whatever, and then the team would grow, but also you will raise the awareness in the rest of the WordPress teams. So I think that would be very, very cool. Speaker 1 That would be an amazing wish to become true. So yeah, yeah, indeed, if you are listening and you are somehow intrigued by what we are doing in the sustainability team and you are part of one team or you want to become a part of our team, You are more than welcome. And yeah, that wish would be nice to become true. ([Time 0:19:39](https://share.snipd.com/snip/86b74aa8-586c-4f29-b7ee-1de9dbf5265e))