Vision for the next iteration of the LiteFarm team

Date

Part 1 - Mar 18, 2024

Part 2 - Mar 25, 2024

Participants

@Lite Farm
@Anto Sgarlatta
@David Trapp (I know you may not be able to join, so kindly leave some thoughts if you have time)
@Duncan Brain
@Denis Dovganyuk
@Joyce Sato-Reinhold
@Larisse Cavalcante
@Loic Sans
@Sayaka Ono
@Hannah Wittman

Goals

Decide the best way to respond to the departure of @Anto Sgarlatta and @Lite Farm phase down, specifically:
- What roles should we hire for?
- In the short term, how should activities transition
- In the long term (post hire), who should take on which activities?

Discussion topics

Item	Discussion

Item	Discussion
Should we hire new teammates? If so, into what roles?	Focus on hiring the PM first +3 Need to hire a: Product / project manager of some sort Open to creative solutions on how we hire / fill engineering role
Which of @Anto Sgarlatta's activities MUST be picked up be someone else before April 1st? Important note: We’ll be down to 2 people for most of April / May	Writing user stories Code reviews? @Anto Sgarlatta is currently reviewing every PR but this could be modified Github permissions User experience / front end orientation
Tech lead: long term strategic:	Moving the code base in the right direction - RFPs
Which of @Anto Sgarlatta's tasks SHOULD be picked up by someone stepping into that role eventually?	Final decisionmaker and owner on architectural decisions Single point of contact for feasability discussions with @Loic Sans (can be with the wider group in the interim) Mentorship
What should a Anto replacement role look like?	More of an engineering manager vs. a tech lead vs. senior / architect?
Should we review the Tech Lead hiring process?	Anto felt it was a decent balance. We would at the very least need to redistribute activities for each interview to different team mates. Feedback that the way we described and assessed the technical assessment was Shouldn’t we have the PM on-board to evaluate their ability to work well together? +1 Could have a 1-on-1 between the two candidates (if the timing works out)
Which of @Lite Farm's activities MUST be picked up by April 1st (when he goes part-time)?	To be discussed on Mar 25, 2024 based on discussion of https://lite-farm.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/LITEFARM/pages/1472036874/Vision+for+the+next+iteration+of+the+LiteFarm+team#Product-activities
Which of @Lite Farm's activities SHOULD be picked up April 1st (when he goes part-time)?	To be discussed on Mar 25, 2024 based on discussion of https://lite-farm.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/LITEFARM/pages/1472036874/Vision+for+the+next+iteration+of+the+LiteFarm+team#Product-activities
Which of @Lite Farm's activities MUST be picked up by the time he drops off payroll in June?	To be discussed on Mar 25, 2024 based on discussion of https://lite-farm.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/LITEFARM/pages/1472036874/Vision+for+the+next+iteration+of+the+LiteFarm+team#Product-activities
Which of @Lite Farm's activities SHOULD be picked up by the time he drops off payroll in June?	To be discussed on Mar 25, 2024 based on discussion of
How does the PM to UBC relationship look like?	@Lite Farm : Coordinating vendor relationgs + purchase orders Services on credit card Troubleshooting payroll Grant reporting on progress against deliverables
How do we operationalize specific deliverables for FY2024?	@Lite Farm's intention is to: Have a published roadmap for FY2024 Confluence pages describing scope for each release in FY2024
Who is involved in the governance process?	At least Kevin as a contributor. Others from the UBC team?
How does Hannah want to be involved in the hiring process?	She wants to meet the finalists
Who wants to review resumes?	@David Trapp and @Loic Sans
Who wants to do the initial 15 minute interview?	@David Trapp
Who wants to own the hiring process - e.g. scheduling candidates for interviews, informing them whether they will move forward or not, etc.	@David Trapp
What does the product process look like?	@Lite Farm
What would the product equivalent of a “technical assessment” be?	Some examples: A case study for something they worked on in the past or a decision that LiteFarm has faced in the past Ask a user to propose a new feature and share their discovery process and how they document and sketch out the feature Some sort of past business decision?
Are we looking for a more stategic or more tactical (day-to-day) product person?	Two things to think about: Is one side easier to learn? Could the team pick up one or the other more easily?

Action items

Team-sourced job description for Tech Lead -

Decisions

Product vs. project

Should we hire someone more focused on project management and day-to-day execution?

Duncan sees

Fundraising and

Product activities

Activities	Categories	Transitional / permanent owner	Requires previous experience	Not listed / Preferred / Required	Notes

Activities	Categories	Transitional / permanent owner	Requires previous experience	Not listed / Preferred / Required	Notes
User segmentation: Understanding and maintaining personas, (re)defining our desired user base as needed	Strategy, Product management	Transitional: @David Trapp, @Loic Sans, and Hannah Permanent: New hire and UI + Farmers Success		Required	How large a shift do we see here? What causes this - funders can. Business strategy should lead design here.
Mission and vision	Strategy	Transitional: Collective effort Permanent: Collective effort		Required	Primary goal here would be aligning people behind the existing mission and vision
Performing competitive analysis of other products and features	Strategy, Product management	Transitional + permanent: @Loic Sans + @David Trapp		Required	The “required” is understanding the marketplace, not necessarily features.
Understanding strategic compliments	Strategy	Transitional: @David Trapp + Hannah Permanent: New hire, @David Trapp , and Hannah		Required
Facilitate marketing campaigns focused on achieving strategic goals	Strategy, marketing	Transitional: @David Trapp + @Larisse Cavalcante		Preferred
Attend relevant conferences	Marketing, partnerships	Transitional: @David Trapp will manage inbound interest		Preferred	Depends on the conference focus and context.
Prospecting for mission aligned funders	Funding	Transitional: Hannah and Kevin		Required	Many product managers will not have this experience. Only those with a background at non-profits.
Storytelling	Funding, Leadership, Social media	Transitional: Hannah, @Loic Sans, @David Trapp, @Larisse Cavalcante Permanent: New hire		Required
Developing relationships with prospective funders	Funding, Strategy	Transitional: Hannah and @David Trapp	No	Preferred
Authoring / co-authoring grant proposals	Funding	Transitional: Hannah, Kevin, and partners	No	Required
Writing grant updates for funders	Funding	Permanent: Hannah, Kevin, @David Trapp, and new hire	No	Preferred
Begin aligning release schedule with grant deliverables for FY26 onwards	Product management	Transitional: N/A Permanent: New hire, tech lead, and design lead	Yes	Required	@Lite Farm describes this as the hardest part for this role. Is there a way we can evaluate this during a technical assessment?
Identification of key stakeholders	Partnerships	Transitional: N/A Permanent: New hire, @Loic Sans, @David Trapp, @Larisse Cavalcante, board	Yes	Required
Quickly qualifying prospective partnerships	Partnerships	Transitional: @David Trapp Permanent: New hire, @David Trapp	Yes	Required
Understanding and aligning business interests	Partnerships	Transitional: N/A Permanent: New hire, @David Trapp , board	Yes	Required
Negotiating and co-creating mutually beneficial partnership agreements	Partnerships	Transitional: N/A Permanent: New hire, @David Trapp , board	Yes	Required
Acting as an “Account executive” for strategic partners over time (e.g. keeping relationships warm)	Partnerships	Transitional: @David Trapp Permanent: New hire, @Loic Sans, @David Trapp	Yes	Required
Effective at eliciting and implementing guidance from the LiteFarm board, community, and ecosystem	Partnerships	Transitional: N/A Permanent: New hire, @Loic Sans, @David Trapp	Yes	Required
Creating and maintaining current and future FY budgets	Budget	Transitional: Kevin and Hannah Permanent: New hire	No	Required
Communicating FY budgets with UBC staff (procurement, finance, treasury)	Budget / UBC		No	Preferred
Reconciling actual revenues and expenses against forecast	Budget		No	Preferred
Forecast expected revenues and expenses into future FY	Budget		No	Preferred
Managing spend on UBC credit card	Budget		No	Not listed
Reconciling UBC credit card (at least quarterly)	Budget		No	Not listed
Understanding role composition on the team and proactively hiring for gaps	Leadership	Transitional: Collective effort Permanent: @David Trapp, New hire	Yes	Required
Understanding individual team member goals and customizing their growth trajectory	Leadership	Transitional: Kevin and Hannah Permanent: New hire	No	Required
Mediating intra team conflict	Leadership	Transitional: @David Trapp Permanent: @David Trapp	No	Preferred
Providing individual guidance and feedback on performance	Leadership	Transitional: Collective effort Permanent: New hire	No	Preferred
Creating personal improvement plans / removing underperforming team members	Leadership	Transitional: N/A Permanent: New hire	No	Required
Creating job descriptions	Hiring	Transitional: Collective effort Permanent: New hire	No	Not listed
Complying with UBC regulations regarding posting jobs and hiring employees and contracting vendors	Hiring, UBC	Transitional: Kevin and Hannah Permanent: New hire	No	Not listed
Owning appropriately delegating the hiring process	Hiring	Transitional: Collective effort Permanent: New hire	No	Not listed
Scheduling / delegating interviews for team members	Hiring	Transitional: Collective effort Permanent: New hire	No	Not listed
Negotiate contracts, scope of work, and compensation with employees and vendors	Hiring, UBC	Transitional: Kevin and Hannah Permanent: New hire	No	Preferred
Troubleshooting payroll and invoicing issues	UBC	Transitional: Kevin and Hannah Permanent: New hire	No	Not listed
UI/UX design brainstorming	Design	Design brainstorming sessions are importants, and hopefully could in the meantime be done with @David Trapp and the rest of of the dev team as necessary.	Yes	Preferred
UI/UX design feedback	Design	Same as above.	Yes	Preferred
Framing and editing marketing collateral	Design		No	Preferred
Release planning	Product management		Yes	Required
Portfolio management	Product management		Yes	Required
Building and maintaining a product roadmap	Product management		Yes	Required
Creating documentation supporting roadmap, epics, and features	Product management		Yes	Required
Breaking release down into epics	Product management	@Sayaka Ono , @Joyce Sato-Reinhold and @Duncan Brain y’all have done this in the past, no?	No
Performing data analysis to understand feature success and to prioritize V2, … Vn	Product management, data analysis		Yes	Preferred
Prioritization of bugs	Product management	Transitional: @Denis Dovganyuk and @David Trapp Permanent: New hire	No	Preferred
Validating features	Product management	Transitional: @Loic Sans and @David Trapp Permanent: New hire	No	Not listed
Scoping individual sprints	Agile	Transitional: @Loic Sans and @David Trapp Permanent: New tech lead	No	Not listed
Facilitating grooming	Agile	Transitional: @Loic Sans Permanent: New product person + @Loic Sans	No	Not listed
Prepping sprint planning	Agile	Transitional: Permanent: New tech lead	No	Not listed
Facilitating sprint planning	Agile	Transitional: Permanent: New tech lead	No	Not listed
Facilitating retrospectives	Agile	Transitional: Collective effort Permanent: Collective effort	No	Not listed
Administrating Confluence & Jira	IT		No	Not listed	This isn’t a product function but rather a legacy of me being employee #1.
Administrating Slack	IT		No	Not listed	This isn’t a product function but rather a legacy of me being employee #1.
Administrating Github	IT, Devops	Transitional: all three devs should have requisite permissions Permanent ownership: should be tech lead (Joyce opinion; same for below)	No	Not listed	This isn’t a product function but rather a legacy of me being employee #1.
Administrating access to prod and beta servers	IT, Devops		No	Not listed	This isn’t a product function but rather a legacy of me being employee #1.
Administrating access to: Google : Email Groups Productboard	IT, Devops		No	Not listed	This isn’t a product function but rather a legacy of me being employee #1.

Product knowledge and skills

Knowledge	… or transition to whom?	Not listed / Preferred / Required

Knowledge	… or transition to whom?	Not listed / Preferred / Required
Agricultural		Preferred
Engineering (Feasability gutchecks)		Preferred
Emotional intelligence		Required
Business strategy / acumen		Preferred
Business analysis		Required
Business development / partnerships		Preferred
Negotiations		Preferred
Product strategy		Required
Lean methodologies		Preferred
Feature definition		Required
Agile methodologies		Preferred
Accounting / budgeting		Preferred
Forecasting / finance		Preferred
Research finance		Preferred
Research budgets		Preferred
Treasury		Preferred
Contract writing		Preferred
Proposal writing		Preferred
Editing		Preferred
Social media		Preferred
Design		Preferred
Multi-lingual		Preferred

Litefarm

Vision for the next iteration of the LiteFarm team

Date

Participants

Goals

Discussion topics

Action items

Decisions

Product vs. project

Product activities

Product knowledge and skills

Background reading