Educaship fellow

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Any CNM Cloud Project Coordinator (hereinafter, the Coordinator) is either a(n):

  1. WorldOpp fellow working at WorldOpp Fellow Staff (hereinafter, the Team) of the Friends Of CNM; OR
  2. If the position is open and no WorldOpp fellow is available to fill it in, independent contractor,

who administratively supports, virtually and/or onsite, CNM Cloud Project (hereinafter, the Project), and/or owns CNM Cabin, Cert, Lab, Linkup, Mail, Page, Servers, Social, Venture, Tube, Wiki, and/or its components.

The Project is being undertaken in order to design and deliver a group of services, which are jointly called CNM Cyber, for the Career Network Ministry and its patrons (hereinafter, the Users). The Project is currently at its third phase, which is called CNM Cloud Usable. Several sub-projects such as CNM Registration Project are designed to clarify the Project.


Contents

Position overview

At the Occupational Information Network, the closest occupation to the Coordinator's role is Information Technology Project Manager. However, the Coordinator's roles are much broader since the Coordinator may deal with anything from product envisioning to administrative support. The Coordinators are expected to perform in one or more of the following roles: account manager, accountant, business administrator, business analyst, business buyer, configuration manager, content manager, contracts administrator, DevOps engineer, functional manager, graphic designer, information architect, partner liaison, procurement manager, product designer, product owner, project manager, Scrum Master, solution architect, systems engineer, team lead, usability analyst, and/or UX designer.

Purpose

Development of the target deliverables is the primary measurable result of the Coordinator's work. The Coordinators are in the center of that development:
  1. While working on the conceptual deliverables, the Coordinators collect the requirements that are stated by the Customer and other stakeholders, envision the desired services, document their visions into concepts, and get their concepts approved by the Customer or other product owners.
  2. While working on the viable deliverables, the Coordinators make the approved concepts real. The Coordinators do so directly and/or, if needed, through contracting of other developers. At CNM Cyber, the contracted developers are called Careerprise contractors.
The Coordinators also work on the instrumental deliverables. These deliverables support both envisioning of the products to be built (i.e. aid the work on the conceptual deliverables) and the making them real (i.e. aid the work on the viable deliverables).

History

Gary Ihar has been serving as both the Coordinator and the Customer since the inception of the Project. His contributions can be tracked at Contributions/Gary. However, Gary Ihar would now like to concentrate on the Customer's role and hire additional Coordinators for various deliverables in order to expedite the project.

Similar positions

CNM IT Project Coordinators are volunteers for the CNM Cyber Team; they work on the Project from the Career Network Ministry side.

Position requirements

Ability to deliver one of the target deliverables is the primary requirement to any incumbent of the Coordinator's position.

Accessibility requirements

The Coordinator shall need to:
  1. Be ready to be paid through PayPal or Payoneer. The Coordinator can also choose some freelance marketplaces, but, in that case, he or she shall be willing to pay their fees and compensate other possible expenses.
  2. Have an access to the Internet if he or she works remotely.
  3. Use his or her computing device such as a desktop computer, laptop, and/or smart phone. No software is needed to be installed in order to work on the Project; however, some freelance marketplaces such as Upwork may require to install time-tracking software.

Desired skills

If the Coordinators haven't developed the desired skills yet, they are invited to develop a variety of skills while on the job.
  • Assertiveness. Skills to communicate concerns are, probably, the most valuable skills to perform that job. If you lack any diplomacy, the Friends Of CNM needs you urgently!
  • Creativity. Envisioning the product the Customer pays for is a must-have skill for the Coordinator.
  • Curiosity. Willingness to understand the Customer's needs and high willingness to ask questions is a must. No Coordinator can succeed while being afraid of looking and/or sounding foolish.
  • English language. The Coordinator's position requires some level of English, spoken and/or written; however, perfect English is not a core requirement. Vice versa, the position incumbent can use this opportunity to update their language skills.
  • Error-making. Willingness to make errors is highly welcome since many parts of job responsibilities assume such heuristics as fail-fast, trial and error, and learning through failure.
  • Information technology. No technical skills are required in order to start; however, willingness to learn can be extremely helpful.
  • Written communication. The Coordinator's job involves heavy communication and written communication is more important than oral or non-verbal one.

Educational credentials

Because of uniqueness of the Coordinator's position, no formal educational credential is needed. At any rate, your possible abilities to listen to a professor, read a textbook, do some drills, and take a quiz will be unlikely needed if you are selected. Basically, two features may predict the Coordinator's success:
  • Ability to use CNM Agile framework (scroll down or click here for its details), which is rarely taught in formal schools. Usually, the Coordinator candidates possess these skills through self-study and practice.
  • Capacity to create, be curious, and make errors may refer to one's natural capacity. Quoting Pablo Picasso,

    Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

    Some teachers may boost one's natural artistic capacity; some may destroy. Thus, your possible GED, high school diploma, or university degree may mean that you have lost your ability to learn and adapt without professors, textbooks, drills, and quizzes. Vice versa, school drop-outs may have even a greater chance to succeed as the Coordinators.
At the same time, Friends Of CNM may place the Coordinator in the college or another educational institution, where he or she will acquire the academic degree or another educational credential.

Required abilities

The abilities to perform as the Coordinator is the only single requirement to candidate's abilities; all the other requirements are originated from those abilities. Gary Ihar described this position to aspiring Coordinators in that way:

The Coordinator's position can differ dramatically from everything you have experienced in your school, work, and, possibly, family. At your school, you probably followed instructions that your teacher gave. Most likely, your supervisor instructed you at your previous works, if any. Not everyone is the primary family manager, so you might have never supervised your family.

The Coordinators don't have formal teachers, supervisors, or managers. They serve the client, currently, me, and can have mentors, but the Coordinators should make decisions on what they are going to do and how their job is going to be done within the factors required by the Friends Of CNM, applicable laws, and ethics.

The job is not going to be easy, and its landing is just its beginning. For many Coordinators, the hardest parts are being honest, trusting yourself, overcoming your fears, and exiting your comfort zone. The more you assert your concerns, ask your questions, try new things, and make errors while trying, the easier your transition be.

On the first day of their employment, the Coordinators must use CNM Agile framework (scroll down or click here for its details) in order to support development of one of the target deliverables. Until a candidate is capable to work, he or she is invited to obtain the needed skills through a training series that consists of CNM Cyber Welcome Course, WorldOpp Orientation, and CNM Cyber Placement.

Consumers

As of mid-Spring of 2020, the Coordinators serve three groups of consumers. The product owner role is vacant at the time, so the Customer has to temporarily fill it in.

Customer

Gary Ihar (herein, above, and after, the Customer) is the customer and, currently, product owner of CNM Cyber. That means that he authorizes the work of the Coordinator and pays his or her bills.

Developers

Developers (hereinafter, the Developers) who those people who create those services of CNM Cyber that the End-users will use when these services are eventually developed. The Coordinators themselves belong to the Developers group as well.

End-users

End-users (hereinafter, the End-users) of CNM Cyber are those people who are on the job market, could be, or are going to be there and use CNM Cyber as their tool to position themselves on the market, be more competitive there, and/or land a job. The Career Network Ministry (CNM) and/or its patrons are the end-users by default.

Target deliverables

For its consumers, CNM Cyber features three types of target deliverables:

  1. Conceptual deliverables, which are those concepts that the Developers can use to develop viable deliverables.
  2. Instrumental deliverables, which are those that support development of conceptual and/or viable deliverables regardless of the fact that these deliverables are not a direct part of either conceptual or viable deliverables.
  3. Viable deliverables, which are those that the End-users, not only the Developers, can use for long term. The Developers make the viable deliverables according to the conceptual deliverables.

Conceptual deliverables

At CNM Cyber, conceptual deliverables are those concepts that the Developers can use to develop viable deliverables. The Customer and other product owners approve or disapprove the conceptual deliverables and, if approved, use them as reference points while accepting the Developers' work.
The concepts are, in fact, requirements that can be expressed by documents, videos, and prototypes. At CNM Cyber, the concepts are presented as:
Those deliverables that are not concepts, but may be used by the Developers, are a part of the instrumental deliverables.

Viable deliverables

At CNM Cyber, viable deliverables are those that the End-users, not only the Developers, can use for long term. The Developers make the viable deliverables according to the conceptual deliverables. Those deliverables that the End-users can use short-term are a part of the instrumental deliverables.
The viable deliverables can be divided in three groups:
  1. All the components of end-user services. For instance, CNM Cert includes CNM Cyber Welcome Course, CNM Cyber Orientation, CNM Cyber Placement, and other courses that are efficient in enabling contractors, employees, users, and volunteers of CNM Cyber.
  2. End-user services of the CNM Cyber in general. They include CNM Cabin, Cert, Lab, Linkup, Mail, Page, Social, Venture, Tube, and Wiki.
  3. Those systems that support CNM Cyber. They include CNM Certware, Labware, Linkupware, Mailware, Middleware, Pageware, Servers, Socialware, Ventureware, Tubeware, and Wikiware.

Instrumental deliverables

At CNM Cyber, instrumental deliverables are those that support development of conceptual and/or viable deliverables regardless of the fact that these deliverables are not a direct part of either conceptual or viable deliverables. For instance, the developers create the viable deliverables; however, sourcing and onboarding of the future developers belong to the instrumental deliverables.

Ongoing operations

The Coordinators primarily work on projects, which are temporary endeavors undertaken to create new components of CNM Cyber. Every component is unique.
Ongoing operations differ from projects. These operations are constant and undertaken to continue existing processes, not create new ones. They are no longer unique.
For instance, all the CNM Servers must be up and running to support the CNM Cyber developments. In that way, ongoing operations undertaken to run these servers, in fact, support development of the target deliverables.
At CNM Cyber, Careerprise contractors run ongoing operations; nevertheless, the Coordinators develop the contract forms, source contractor candidates, award the contracts, bring the contractors on the board, and make sure that the ongoing operations go smoothly. So, those awarded contracts that contribute to the ongoing operations of CNM Cyber are the major deliverables in that category.

Projects to aid development

Another part of the instrumental deliverables is those deliverables that are not concepts, but are utilized in the development. These deliverables may include awarded contracts that contribute to the development, documents, landed partnerships, onboarded Developers, recruited Developers, and tested services.

Short-term aids for end-users

The final part of the instrumental deliverables is those deliverables such as ad-hoc training, meetings, newsletters, and onboarded End-users that the End-users can use short-term. Later, some of these deliverables such as meeting minutes and video recordings may become a part of the archive.

Areas of instrumental deliverables

The Coordinator may or may not be dedicated to instrumental deliverables' development only, but any Coordinator is expected to support the Project in any meaningful way:

  • The simplest actions may include correcting grammatical errors and asking questions when some parts of the texts at CNM Wiki and/or other services of CNM Cyber are unclear.
  • Some of more complex activities are summarized in the sub-sections below.

The sub-sections below reflect just some notable instrumental deliverables. The list is not complete; moreover, they may not have precise limits. For instance, while organizing a meeting, the Coordinator is likely to document it, as well as, if needed, clarify this very job description, build partnerships, manage the personnel, administer public relations, recruit, and/or test.

Ad-hoc training

Because of the rapid developments, the Team may need help with ad-hoc training for the developers and/or end-users to adjust to new systems.

Awarded contracts

The Team needs help with awarding the contracts sourcing and onboarding of new contractors, as well as with keeping the existing ones engaged. Particularly, the Coordinator may:
  • Organize procurement after specific conceptual requirements have been approved to become SBIs.
  • Develop the procurement process that shall utilize CNM Lab as the place of transfer of the developed software from the contractors to the Friends Of CNM.
  • Source, select, and onboard contractors;
  • Track their time and performance outcomes;
  • Solve emerging problems and arrange the negotiated payments.

Documents

Besides the documentation that expresses the conceptual deliverables, the Team needs help with various types of documents such as:
  • Minutes for meetings of the Team so all the Developers know what progress on the project is and what primary plans are in order to develop the target deliverables as soon and as better as possible.
  • Description of processes and procedures developed for and used by the Team. Particularly, the Coordinator may assist in (a) development of the policies and instructions such as how the Developers shall learn their tasks and ways to submit their deliverables, (b) testing the developed policies and instructions, as well as (c) helping the users, contractors, and employees to use those policies and instructions.
  • User experience feedback on the Team's materials and resources, so the Team would be able to include new tasks into their sprint backlog.
  • Contracts such as the Careerprise independent contractor agreement with those:
    1. Contractors that shall support those parts of CNM Cloud that have been developed. Particularly, the Coordinator may assist in (a) identifying and documenting requirements for the supporting contractors, (b) sourcing, selecting, and onboarding new contractors, and (c) keeping the already hired contractors complying.
    2. Employees who shall manage CNM Cyber, which include those services that are based on CNM Cloud. Particularly, the Coordinator may assist in (a) identifying and documenting requirements for the employees, (b) sourcing, selecting, and onboarding new employees, and (c) keeping the already hired employees performing.
  • Organizational structures that are efficient in organizing users', contractors', and employees' performance, as well as tracking their time and paying their bills.
All the types of public documentation shall be maintained at the CNM Wiki, so any Team's stakeholder, and a volunteer especially, be able to find needed information. All the types of private documentation shall be maintained at the CNM Lab.

Landed partnerships

The Team needs help with sourcing, selecting, and onboarding Careerprise partners such as employers, training providers, governmental, and non-profit organizations.

Meetings

The Team views meetings as vital tools for development of the target deliverables and, particularly, recruiting its Developers. Thus, the Team needs help with organizing of various CNM Cyber events and, most likely, the pairs like CNM Cyber seminars or CNM Cyber standups followed by a CNM Cyber hiring event.
Those meetings that are open to the general public can be organized using partner meetup groups such as CNM Cyber Open and the WorldOpp Facebook page.

Newsletters

The Team needs help with drafting Friends Of CNM newsletters.

Onboarded Developers

The Team needs help with onboarding of the onboarded End-users through further development of the CNM Cyber Placement, as well as other services such as helping the newly-hired Developers to track their time and develop their personal plans. The Coordinator may also outline a new mentor-protégé program for those Team recruits who needs to be trained one-on-one.
On another side, the Coordinator may explore whether the onboarded Developers understand what results are expected out of their performance and how to communicate their challenges with the Team and, if needed, with the Customer.

Onboarded End-users

The Team needs help with onboarding of new End-users through further development of the mandatory CNM Cyber Welcome Course and optional CNM Cyber Orientation.
On another side, the Coordinator may explore whether the End-users understand how to take advantage of the Team's operations.

Recruited Developers

The Team needs help with sourcing of new Developers, as well as keeping the existing ones engaged. Particularly, the Coordinator may:
On another side, the Coordinator may explore whether the recruited Careerprise contractors understand what they are expected to produce and how to transfer their deliverables to the Team.

Tested services

The Team needs help with testing of its services. The results of this testing shall be documented using discussion pages of CNM Wiki.

Work environment

If the Coordinator has obtained employment authorization to work in the United States, he or she may choose to work onsite in Vienna, Virginia. Remote positions are available for all regardless of their location.

Assets available

The assets that are available to the Coordinator include:

Assigned tasks

No one provides the Coordinators with any task, assignment, duty, etc. beyond two initial tasks:
  1. Read this job description; AND
  2. Ask specific questions when anything is not clear while quoting what is not clear.
Generally speaking, the Coordinator is supposed to create his or her own tasks, assignments, duties, etc., if he or she needs those.

Instructions

No further instructions beyond those general ones that are expressed on this very page would be available. If hired, all of your tasks will be unique, no one has done them before you. Therefore, no one could create clear step-by-step instructions that would reflect your future actions exactly or precisely. Vice versa, you are encouraged to improve existing general instructions for yourself or someone else.

Key stakeholders

The following stakeholders expressed their interest in the CNM Cloud Project and receive project updates:
The Team needs, of course, much more software development but cannot hire more software developers because of documented requirements' shortage and undeveloped recruitment and retaining processes. That's the primary call for the Coordinators.

Nature of work

The brief description would be that the Coordinator should be comfortable to work in any area of operations until this area is both ethical and legal.

Responsibilities

The Coordinator's position does not imply any mandated responsibilities. All the responsibilities are self-imposed -- let say, if the Coordinator organizes a meeting and no other event host is going to be there, this Coordinator should be virtually present during that meeting.

Financial procedures

Any Coordinator can choose the method of payment, which by default is either Payoneer or PayPal.

Billing

The Coordinator is expected to bill the Customer through requesting the pay. The request must include the sum and link to the report on CNM Wiki. For any SBI, the report shall include the number of hours worked, a brief description of work done, the overall completion rate of the SBI after the work, and the challenges that have been discovered during the work and need to be further addressed.

Pay rates

The Coordinitor's work is paid according to one of two types of rates:
  • Hourly rate, which must be negotiated with Gary Ihar individually until an WorldOpp incubator has been developed. In order to be paid, any hourly work must be authorized and the work hours shall be reported both:
    1. During weekly standups (mandatory, in writing; optionally, orally); and
    2. In writing in wiki reports.
  • A half of profits from the activities, which are paid by third parties. Third parties are entities different from the Friends Of CNM and the Coordinators. For instance, if the Coordinator organizes an event, which has generated $60 in sales with $10 of expenses, this Coordinator will receive ( $60 - $10 ) * 0.5 = $25. Or, if the Coordinator mentors a client for 10 hours on a subject of passing the CNM Cyber Welcome Course and the client pays $10 per hour, the Coordinator will receive $10 * 10 * 0.5 = $50.

Pay-per-sprint basis

The Coordinators are paid on the pay-per-sprint basis. That means that any Coordinator shall start and finish one sprint in order to be paid. Any instrumental deliverables that the Coordinator may produce while working on his or her sprint, even if those deliverables don't technically belong to the sprint, should be included into the claimed sprint billing.
Since CNM Cyber's sprints last one week, all the payments are processed on a weekly basis. Anything else must be negotiated and agreed on in advance. Working without billing is considered volunteering, which fits into the CNM IT Project Coordinator's category.

Work authorization

To be authorized, any work shall meet two requirements:
Only authorized work is budgeted; that means that the Coordinator can be paid while only working on the authorized work.

CNM Agile

In its operations, the Team utilizes CNM Agile, which is an adaptation of the agile methodology to handle effort administration that the Team practices. The Team in general and the Coordinators particularly are expected to undertake various effort administration endeavors until the Project is complete.

CNM Agile vs Agile Scrum

The table below differences between CNM Agile and Agile Scrum:
Feature CNM Agile Agile Scrum
Documentation Comprehensive documentation Working products over comprehensive documentation
Location Virtual collaboration is welcome Collocation is required
Standups Weekly Daily
Mastership Distributed among members Dedicated role

Daily routine

For the Coordinators:

  • No exact number of work hours exist; however, the Coordinators may be given the limit of paid hours that they are authorized to work on the Project. The Coordinators are commonly able to work fewer hours if they choose so.
  • No manager is available for routine performances; the Coordinators themselves are supposed to define and/or re-define what, when, and where they are going to do.
  • No maximum of available positions exists; the Team is committed to hiring more and more Coordinators until the Project is accomplished.
  • No single work day is going to be the same with regard to your tasks; however, the Coordinator are able to setup their schedules on themselves. This also means that the Coordinators are not bound to work on any particular hours and are allowed to choose hours on their own.
  • No sole area of operations is specified for any particular Coordinator. Depending on the exact deliverable (see the target deliverables) or its requirements, that the Coordinator works on, he or she may perform in some combination of activities. Generally speaking, the Coordinator are expected to work in any area of operations until they are both legal and ethical.

DRMPD method

To plan any sprint, the Coordinator may utilize the method that is called DRMPD as follows:
  1. Discover what the customer pays for, what legal, organizational, and production factors are, and what resources are available. In order to discover, the Coordinator is encouraged to ask questions, research available sources, test available resources, and experiment.
  2. Research what can be done within available resources and under existing factors. In order to analyze, the Coordinator is encouraged to use critical thinking and imagination.
  3. Model what should be done out of available choices. In order to model, the Coordinator is encouraged to design those solutions that would solve those problems that arise out of the project. Those Team members who work on the conceptual deliverables are expected to produce user story drafts at the end of the modeling endeavors.
  4. Plan how something that needs to be done would be done, how to stay in touch with the customer and other stakeholders, and how to document the developments. In order to plan, the Coordinator is encouraged to produce some deliverables such as user stories, content, future event details, etc., as well as related documentation.
  5. Do and discover more, which means do what you planned, discover what you have missed before, discover what happens when you do, discover what you have done, and re-start the DRMPD cycle again.
To illustrate the method, let's consider the following example. Imagine a kid who discovers that a neighboring store has a toy that this kid wants at any cost. This kid would analyze possible options of obtaining that, model a strategy to pursue, and plan for actions. If the kid selected a parent or grandparent as a possible payer, this kid would plan whom the kid would talk to, how, and when. Kids tend to be naturally skilled in the DRMPD; while growing up, some adults lose that natural capacity.

Example

This very page can serve as an example of the Project deliverables. The need to develop this page emerged when the need in the Coordinator did. Then, the page has been developed (and will further be developed) in sprints. Every sprint:
  1. Started with some vision that the candidates for the Coordinator's position would like to have enough information to decide whether this position fits their needs and, if so, get started,
  2. When a new vision was established, some texts to execute that vision were developed (anyone can see the history of those developments at View history (scroll up to the View history button or click here),
  3. When new texts were developed, new candidates were invited to apply,
  4. When new candidates applied, they established new sets of concerns that were used to establish a new vision.
The cycles are more sporadic rather than organized. New sprints will be undertaken until the Project is completed.

Process vs result

The Coordinator's activities are more result-oriented rather than process-oriented. What does it mean?
  • If some candidate would like to perform routine, repetitive activities such as, for instance, clicking buttons, entering data, or finding info on the World Wide Web, for which often detailed instructions exist, this candidate could be considered as process-oriented. He or she would unlikely succeed as the Coordinator.
  • More successful candidates for the Coordinator's role tend to be result-oriented. They ask, What do you want me to accomplish? rather than, What do I need to do? The Coordinators may do everything, until it is legal and ethical, in order to get the deliverable (see target deliverables), its feature, or its requirements that the Coordinator works on.
Generally speaking, those positions that involve product ownership and/or project management tend to be result-oriented. When you are an entrepreneur, the fact whether you have generated profits matter much more than what you do until you do something legal and ethical. Your work is measured by results, not processes.

Viable DRMPD

Effort administration is the intersection of product ownership and project management. Any cycle of effort administration consists of several stages, during some of which what needs to be made is defined and during the others what is defined to be made is actually made:
  1. Product ownership aims to define what needs to be made. Those Coordinators who act as business analysts and product owners work on the conceptual deliverables of the Project. The results of their work are requirements such as user stories for the Developers; AND
  2. Project management aims to make what is defined to be made. Those Coordinators who,
The Viable DRMPD method captures this feature and ascertains that every viable development cycle should include at least two DRMPDs:
  1. Deductive DRMPD that aims to create a concept and define what needs to be done; and
  2. Inductive DRMPD that aims to make the created concept real.
Complex developments casually consist of several cycles, because both the created concepts and viable deliverables can be improved several times.

Sprints

Unless other duration is agreed on, every CNM Agile sprint lasts one week. Several DRMPD cycles may occur within one sprint. During that week, the Coordinator should:

Initiating

  1. Pick up one unclaimed SBI.
  2. Conduct some research on the picked SBI.
  3. Claim that SBI or indicate why that SBI is no longer attractive to work on.

Planning

  1. Plan your work on the claimed SBI. Suggest what you do and what comleleteness of the claimed SBI you expect at the end of your sprint.
  2. Attend a CNM Cyber standup in order to discuss your plans, get approval, and start working. Contact Gary Ihar and schedule your CNM Cyber standup if no standup is scheduled or a scheduled standup is not convenient to attend.

Implementing

  1. Work on your SBI.
  2. Whatever you do, leave a record at CNM Wiki.

Closing

  1. Report your work at CNM Wiki using the following format:
  2. Do the sprint retrospective during the next CNM Cyber standup.

Development cycle

In CNM Agile, any target deliverable, its part, or feature, as well as all the other deliverables that need to be developed for the Project, are going to be developed in a few sprints, which will continue until the particular target deliverable, its part, or feature is completely developed. These sprints make up the development cycle as follows:

  1. Product epic sprints that aim to produce a product epic or a general description of the service or any product such as a software application that supports that service.
  2. User story sprints that aim to produce a user story or a specific description of the desired function from the end-user point of view. Product epics may serve as a source for user stories.
  3. Backlog grooming sprints that aim to produce a sprint backlog through including user stories as PBIs into a product backlog and grooming that backlog.
  4. Prototype sprints that aim to produce a prototype of a future deliverable based on a SBI that is taken out of the sprint backlog.
  5. MVP sprints that aim to produce a minimum viable product (MVP) out of the tested prototype.
  6. Marketable product sprints that aim to produce a marketable product as an improved MVP.

Product epic sprint

In CNM Agile, product epics are wikipages that describe those services and other products that are deliverables of the Project. Product epic sprints usually last from a couple of days and up to a month. All the Coordinators are encouraged to work as business analysts and product owners. When you perform so, you may:
  1. Pick any of the target deliverables up if you don't have any in mind yet.
  2. Imagine what this deliverable, its parts, and features should look like.
  3. Search for any relevant information in order to know the current state of the deliverable and its development, as well as to test your vision of the deliverable. You may ask questions, browse available sources, and test existing resources.
  4. Shape your vision of the deliverable based on results of your search.
  5. Identify the differences between the future deliverable as it is (i.e. its as-is status) and your vision for that deliverable (i.e. its to-be status). These differences are problems to be solved in order to develop the deliverable.

User story sprint

In CNM Agile and other Agile methodologies, a user story is a brief description of a solution requirement to a desired system that is written from the point of view of a customer or end-user of this system. User story sprints usually last from a few minutes and up to a week.
  1. Select any problem to be formulated as one or more user stories. This action would formally start your sprint.
  2. Draft your user story or user stories that would reflect problems to be solved in order to develop the target deliverable, its part, or feature. For example,

    As a candidate to be the CNM project coordinator, I would like to obtain information about that position. This information shall be sufficient to know what I would do when hired.

  3. Publish your user story or user stories on the discussion page linked to the deliverable you picked.
  4. Get in touch with the Customer in order to get your user stories be approved as product backlog items.

Backlog grooming sprint

In CNM Agile, a sprint backlog is a collection of those product backlog items (PBIs) that development is funded. Particularly, the Coordinator:

Prototype sprint

In CNM Agile and other Agile methodologies, a prototype is a partial or preliminary conceptual model of a deliverable developed or to be developed; this model is used as a reference, publicity artifact, or data-gathering tool. The Coordinators are invited to execute what they or other product owners defined as to be done. If you choose to do so, you may:

  1. Select one of the first ten user stories in the primary backlog (scroll up or click here).
  2. Create a solution that would solve the problem that the selected user story represents. In order to do so, you are welcome to discover what has already been done and what needs to be done, analyze possible solutions, make decisions what they should do in order to solve it, and plan for their actions. Then, they undertaking whatever legal and ethical activities it takes in order to execute their plans and document their findings.
  3. Deliver the target result, which can be one deliverable of the target deliverables, its feature, or its requirements to the Customer.
  4. If Gary Ihar invites you to do so,
  5. Start your new sprint while identifying a new problem to be formulated. If you have no problem in mind, you are welcome to pick another target deliverable up.

MVP sprint

In CNM Agile and other Agile methodologies, a minimum viable product (MVP) is a version of a new product that includes sufficient features to satisfy early adopters and allows a team to collect the maximum amount of validated learning about customers with the least effort.

Marketable product sprint

In CNM Agile, a marketable product is any product that can be sold on the market.

Product backlogs

The Team divided product backlogs into sprint backlogs and prospective backlogs.

Sprint backlogs

In CNM Agile, sprint backlogs represent those PBIs that development is funded. The PBIs that are included into a sprint backlog become SBI. If you are the Coordinator, you can claim any SBI to work on. Three primary backlogs reflect three types of the target deliverables:
  1. Instrumental deliverables' backlog clarifies development of instrumental deliverables.
  2. Conceptual deliverables' backlog clarifies development of conceptual deliverables.
  3. Viable deliverables' backlog clarifies development of viable deliverables.

Prospective backlogs

In the nutshell, Friends Of CNM is willing to pay for everything that will better any process for new apprentices to get enrolled in our welcome course, get graduated, and start working.
The Team members may use discussion pages of CNM Wiki to draft prospective backlogs, which can be also used for the research and situational awareness purposes. Every wikipage at CNM Wiki has its corresponding discussion page, which access button is located in the left upper area of any page. For instance, the https://wiki.friendsofcnm.org/en/Talk:CNM_Cloud_Project_Coordinator discussion page should be used for the Coordinator's role development.

Instrumental deliverables' backlog

The Team needs help with envisioning of its support including its organizational culture including instructions, policies, recommendations, and/or job descriptions such as this one. While being documented, those visions shall become requirements and be included in sprint backlogs.

Events

  1. As the Coordinator, I would like to join a CNM Cyber standup, so I can report my performance, express my intentions, and request any help.
  2. As someone who may be interested in becoming the Coordinator, I would like to join an CNM Cyber hiring event, so I can comment on the content, suggest improvements, share challenges, brainstorm on new ideas, ask any questions directly and get the answers.

Job descriptions

  1. As the Coordinator, I would like to see this very job description improved, so I can be more productive.

Conceptual deliverables' backlog

Epics to be available

  1. As the Coordinator, who cannot find any SBI attractive enough to work on, I would like to see product epics, so I can compare them with actual services and other products, develop new PBIs based on the discovered divergences, and propose their inclusion into a sprint backlog.

PBIs to be groomed

  1. As the Coordinator, who grooms PBIs, I need to have non-groomed PBIs available, so I can work on them.

SBIs to be available

  1. As the Coordinator, I would like to have SBIs available in the sprint backlogs, so I can work on those SBIs.

Viable deliverables' backlog

Cabin deliverables

Cert deliverables

  1. As a candidate enrolled into the WorldOpp Orientation, I need to get all the learning contents such as texts, graphics, and videos, as well as learning tools such as printable handouts in order to study and pass its final exam, so I can continue with the CNM Cyber Placement.
  2. As a candidate enrolled into the CNM Cyber Placement, I need to get all the learning contents such as texts, graphics, and videos, as well as learning tools such as printable handouts in order to study, so I can start acting as the Coordinator.
  3. As a learner enrolled into the CNM Cyber Welcome Course and, later, WorldOpp Orientation, I need to receive a notification and further instructions when I complete the course, so I would be oriented what I should do next.
  4. As a graduate from the CNM Cyber Welcome Course, I need to get a printable certificate that I have obtained a Certified CNM Cyber User certification.
  5. As a graduate from the CNM Cyber Welcome Course, who is interested in employment credentials, I need my name and other details to be searchable in the database of Certified CNM Cyber Users.

Lab deliverables

  1. As a user of CNM Lab, I would like to see rules for organization of data, including publicly-available data at CNM Wiki and confidential, as well as source codes and other resources, so I can work on my SBIs more efficiently.
  2. As a Careerprise contractor, I would like to be able to access all the source codes and confidential data such as cybersecurity details related to the sub-project I am hired for, so I can work on that sub-project.

Linkup deliverables

Mail deliverables

  1. As a graduate from the CNM Cyber Welcome Course, I would like to be able to manage my emails, including their receipt, reading, organizing, deleting, composing, and sending.

Page deliverables

The website term can refer to cnmcyber.com, FriendsOfCNM.org, and/or WorldOpp.org.
  1. As someone who would like both (a) to get enrolled into a 4-year-long university college program and (b) to work for at least 3 of 4 study years in order to earn money, while earning the college degree, I need to get to the website landing page, find all the relevant information about WorldOpp that will allow me to:
    1. Understand what the WorldOpp programme is,
    2. Decide whether this programme fits my needs, and
    3. If so, proceed to some registration page,
    so I can start onboarding as the Coordinator in order to solve both challenges with the Friends Of CNM.
  2. As someone who would like to learn new skills and/or build my new career network on my limited budget, I need to get to the website landing page, find all the relevant information about learning on the job and building networks through volunteering for CNM Cyber Team and proceed to some registration page, so I can start onboarding as a CNM IT Project Coordinator.
  3. As someone who has decided to become the Coordinator, I need to register with the CNM Cyber platform and get (preferably, automatically) enrolled into the CNM Cyber Welcome Course, so I can continue with the WorldOpp Orientation.
  4. As someone who has decided to become a CNM IT Project Coordinator, I need to register with the CNM Cyber platform and get (preferably, automatically) enrolled into the CNM Cyber Welcome Course, so I can continue with the CNM Cyber Orientation.

Server deliverables

  1. As a future Coordinator, I would like to learn about CNM Servers in order to be able to coordinate their development.

Social deliverables

  1. As someone who is qualified to take the CNM Cyber Welcome Course, I would like to consider joining those communities of my choice that welcome new members, so I can network and stay in touch.
  2. As someone who has joined one or more communities at CNM Lab, I would like to be able to quit when I choose so.

Venture deliverables

  1. As a graduate from the CNM Cyber Welcome Course, I would like to track my job search, including leads, emails, and contacts.

Tube deliverables

  1. As a visitor of CNM Tube, I would like to see a list of tags, so I can navigate through its videos.
  2. As a graduate from the CNM Cyber Welcome Course, I would like to comment on the videos that are published at CNM Tube.

Wiki deliverables

  1. As a visitor of CNM Wiki, I would like to see a list of categories, so I can navigate through its wikipages.
  2. As a graduate from the CNM Cyber Welcome Course, I would like to edit its wikipages.

Claimed SBIs

Gary

  1. As the only Coordinator and, at the same time, the primary financing customer of this Project, I, Gary Ihar, need to recruit one or more Coordinators who should be able to take over any part of my Coordinator's role, so I would be able to concentrate on financing of this Project. This recruitment consists of (1) sourcing or finding the candidates and (2) onboarding or enabling the candidates to work. Onboarding consists of three phases:
    1. CNM Cyber Welcome Course, which shall introduce the candidates to CNM Cyber,
    2. WorldOpp Orientation, which shall overview career administration, as well as to introduce the candidates to Friends Of CNM and WorldOpp Fellow Staff, and
    3. CNM Cyber Placement, which shall help the candidates acquire those KSAs that the candidates need in order to start actually working. This very wikipage reflects those KSAs.
    The curricula of CNM Cyber Welcome Course and WorldOpp Orientation are mostly defined. The curriculum for CNM Cyber Placement is roughly drafted and now is at about 20% completion rate.

Mariam

  1. As a candidate enrolled into the CNM Cyber Welcome Course, I need to get all the learning contents such as texts, graphics, and videos, as well as learning tools such as printable handouts in order to study and pass its final exam, so I can continue with either the WorldOpp Orientation, if I choose to become the Coordinator, or the CNM Cyber Orientation, if I choose to become a CNM IT Project Coordinator.
  2. As the Customer, I need the complete requirements for a series of CNM Cyber hiring events, including a necessary contract form, so I can award the contract to some contractor and be sure that this contractor knows what I pay for.

Recruitment process

Sourcing of potential candidates is an ongoing endeavor, which cannot be limited to the following channels and tools.

Channels

Freelance marketplaces are the only channel for now; the other channels are yet to be developed. The CNM IT Project Coordinator wikipage may or may not be taken as a starting point.

Legacy announcement

The following announcement was developed to source the Coordinator candidates at freelance marketplaces, but wasn't successful:

IT Project Coordinator (Agile) is needed -- no tech skills are required to start

Do you want to know what exactly you need to do? Do you want to know your tasks? Are you a detail-oriented freelancer willing to do everything accurately, patiently, and on time? Please stop this reading here and do something else. The incumbent of this position will work on various deliverables and perform those tasks that are required in order to deliver those deliverables. And, because no one has done those tasks before, there is no chance to accomplish those unknown yet tasks accurately or on time.

Hey, guys, we need an IT Project Coordinator (Agile) -- no education, no experience is fine, but curiosity, willingness to take risks and make errors, as well as love to document are the musts. Although this role is not just about writing, yes, the incumbent of this role may do some technical writing for the project -- this is an opportunity to learn information technology if one needs to. That also means that no IT skills are required in order to start, but you should be willing to learn on your job.

On-the-job training will be provided through our mentor-to-protege program if you are hired. You will not be hired unless you start asking meaningful questions and, factually, perform as a tester.

The most detailed and up-to-date job description is published at https://wiki.friendsofcnm.org/en/CNM_Cloud_Project_Coordinator (please visit that page).

We have no preference with regard to your schedule of work; at the end of the day, all we need is the developed technology. Technology development is not your task; documenting the technology, organizing team's meetings, as well as hiring and/or managing other developers might be yours. Your upwork contract is a-la-carte -- you should choose what part you would like to work on and establish your tasks. No priorities are established. This project is agile -- when you accomplish one tasks, you should move to some others; correct -- the work you should do most of time may not possibly exist.

No further instructions, particular tasks, nor details would be available unless you or another candidate ask specific questions about what needs to be done and what is available. No one can tell you what your next step should be; vice versa, you can always expect my response whether your proposed actions would be funded. And, of course, you are welcome to ask any number of questions about your job description or expected deliverables.

You are welcome to create your own schedule if you decide that you need one.

Onboarding curriculum

Any training path concentrates on general methodologies in product ownership and project management such as CNM Agile rather than specific instructions. If a candidate is able to use CNM Agile, or any other topic, he or she can skip that part.
The promising Coordinators shall reach three milestones in order to get onboarded:
  1. Pass the Welcome Course, which is designed to introduce promising Coordinators to CNM Cyber and CNM Cloud.
  2. Get graduated from the WorldOpp Orientation, which is designed to introduce promising Coordinators to career administration, the Career Network Ministry and the Team.
  3. Start producing deliverables listed in the target deliverables while being enrolled into the CNM Cyber Placement. This training literally places a Coordinator candidate in the job. Because of variety of the Coordinator's activities, no unified placement training exists. This seminar can be described as an individualized combination of learning and hands-on training, which shall include a deal of guided self-study and experiments.
When an aspiring candidate is prepared theoretically, he or she is placed on the job as an apprentice first. He or she becomes a protégé and shall be assigned one or more mentors through the mentor-to-protege program. The Coordinator is welcome to attend weekly meetings with his or her mentor, which can last up to one hour, and request more time and/or mentors when they are needed.

Challenges while on the job

Being lost

The Friends Of CNM started developing documents as early as in 2012. Hundreds of developers contributed to its current resources, and every of those developers has had his or her own style, solutions, descriptions, or lack of those. Even the same developer has most likely had various thoughts and considerations at various times. There is no way to avoid confusion.
Trust yourself in your belief that you are not stupid. Clearing the confusion is an essential part of your job. If the confusion refers to internal documents, spend some time to write your questions down and ask them. If the confusion refers to external documents, research available documents, forums, frequently-asked questions, chats, and everything else that your search engine might suggest. If that approach doesn't help, ask your Customer and/or other stakeholders. And, whatever you found, update the contents of CNM Wiki. All in all, you are paid to clear any confusions and contribute to the organizational knowledge base.

Engaging with the community

The Impostor syndrome is common in the information technology industry; some suggest that more than a half of the developers, especially minorities, feel like they don't belong. That's okay not to know what others know, not to be skilled in what others are, and not to be able to accomplish what others can. Others may not know what you know, be skilled in what you skilled, and can do what you can.
Don't hesitate to connect with the others in your community or communities. Follow the trends, learn from the others, attend meetups, and communicate your own uniqueness.

Lacking full requirements

For everyone who has ever performed as the Coordinator, obtaining the right requirements is the hardest skills to learn. Working without requirements and specifications can be compared with building without understanding of what needs to be build. Holes in requirements tend to result in wasted enterprise effort and effort debt.
Collecting complete requirements is the vital part of your job. Research for the documented requirements, make sense of them or ask questions. Interview the Customer, another project owner when he or she is hired, and other key stakeholders to learn what they believe the scopes of both your deliverable and its development should be. And, what is highly important, don't commit to any work unless you have a complete understanding of purpose of your future deliverable.

Managing expectations

One of the hardest skills that the Coordinator needs to learn would be estimation of the enterprise effort. SPIs may look easy on the sprint backlog, but can turn out hard during their development. Quick fixes can turn out time-consuming struggles.
At the same token, stakeholders always push for faster results. If you move too slow, you will be criticized. If you move too fast, you can burn out fast and/or compromise the quality.
So, your new skills may include finding the right balance and communication of your findings as early as possible. Finding the right balance often includes being honest with yourself and aware of your capacities.
Your findings should not necessarily be unpleasant to the stakeholders. You may find some parts of SBIs that are not vital and, for instance, your minimum viable product (MVP) can be developed without them. Thus, you can request their movement to a new sprint.

Missing the right resources

There will be time when your computer resources, wifi bandwidth, access to servers, specification documents, etc. slow down your work. When so, send a written request to the Customer and schedule reminders to follow up for a case if the Customer didn't get back soon. You may also request to eliminate a function that require the most resources or move it to the next sprint. And communicate your needs during CNM Cyber standups and other contacts with the CNM Cyber Team.

Keeping up with tasks

The Coordinators may juggle multiple tasks simultaneously. Everyone, even other Coordinators, may need your time. That is why time tracking and prioritizing is important.
A few instruments such as Kimai and CNM Lab can be used to track your time. Having data, you can divide your tasks in essential and non-essential in order to prioritize the essential ones and outsource/modify/delegate non-essential ones.

Updating your skills

Change is the only constant of the Coordinator's work. Whatever you know today may or may not be relevant tomorrow. Even if you are a genius when it comes to learning "on the fly," you still need time to find the learning content and/or reflect on it.
Updating your skills often starts with dedicating some time for it. Your research may include reading, testing, participating in projects. If you decide to bill your Customer for that time, draft your user story, get it approved, and don't forget to reflect on your new skills on [[CNM Wiki].

See also

Frequently asked questions

The discussion page publishes both frequently asked questions and the answers.

Related lectures

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