I recently learned that not all Employees and Contractors are even required to sign NDA's as we often discuss trust around contributors it seems odd that contributors would be held to a higher standard then employees, contractors and interns.
I do think a Employee Project Agreement would be an interesting way to push more inclusiveness across teams by setting expectations for employees, contractors and interns in terms of how they engage with contributors of the project. On Thu, Jul 10, 2014 at 8:10 AM, fantasai <[email protected]> wrote: > One of Mozilla's goals for this year is to increase the number of > active contributors by 10x. That means that many new people, both > employees and volunteers, will be joining the community, and we > want to make sure that they all have the positive experience of > being valued members of the community. > > A few discussions have been had at various events and forums about > what it means to interact with volunteer contributors, but there's > never been widely-disseminated information that covers the nature > of paid contribution in general. > > To help new paid contributors understand more about what they're > getting involved with, I'd like to propose a new Paid Contributor > Agreement. > > First though, I'd like to be clear about a couple of points: > > * This could be used as a document that new employees will sign. > (As a memorandum of understanding, not as a legal contract.) > > * This should be something that applies to existing staff members, > not just to new employees who are joining the community. > > After discussion of the text here, MoCo could add this text as a > new page in the MoCo handbook. > > We could also recommend that MoCo add this form to its standard > offer packet, the entry point for most new paid contributors. > > Please take a look at the text below and share your thoughts on > that and on how we would make this available to new employees > and contractors. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > > DRAFT > > Welcome to Mozilla! We're pleased that you will be working with us > to contribute your expertise, knowledge, and skills to our Project. > > Before we begin, there are some basic principles and practices that > you should be aware of and agree to. The following is an agreement > between you and Mozilla that describes your work with the Project: > > 1. The Mozilla Project is an open, worldwide community comprised > of enthusiastic individual contributors, both paid and unpaid. > As a contributor to our Project, you will be working with other > contributors, including Mozilla employees, contractors, and > volunteers, from all parts of the globe. > > 2. We have policies at Mozilla to protect the Project and you. While > working with us, we want you to be creative and help us to grow > the Project, while observing the following rules: > > a. As a contributor, you cannot bind Mozilla to any agreements or > sign any agreements on behalf of Mozilla unless you are so > authorized, but you can introduce Mozilla to different ideas, > processes and ways of doing things. > > b. As an employee or contractor of Mozilla, you are not automatically > a spokesperson for the community or the company, and should not > represent yourself as such. > > d. You agree to behave in a professional and respectable manner > when acting as a Mozilla contributor. Mozilla's Participation > Guidelines can be found at > http://www.mozilla.org/about/governance/policies/participation/ > > e. It's definitely okay to talk about your contributions to Mozilla, > but you should not use Mozilla's logo or trademarks except in > accordance with Mozilla's trademark policy at > https://www.mozilla.org/foundation/trademarks/policy/ > > 3. Mozilla strives to allow equal participation from all contributors, > regardless of employment status, organizational membership, > citizenship, or location. Therefore, in your everyday interactions > with other Mozilla contributors, both when choosing your audience > and crafting your message, always ask yourself: > > 1. How can I be inclusive of relevant contributors outside my > team/office/city/country/timezone? > > 2. In this context, does it make sense to treat Mozilla staff > contributors differently than Mozilla volunteer contributors? > Or is it instead appropriate to discriminate based on > * whether the contributor is under NDA? > * whether the contributor has sufficient read/write access? > * whether the contributor has enough expertise? > * whether the contributor can commit the necessary time? > * nothing, actually! Let me rephrase that... > > In some cases, employment status matters. For example, as > part of their responsibilities, the People and IT departments > at MoCo need to discriminate between Mozilla employees, > contractors, and volunteers and/or between citizens and > residents of various legal jurisdictions. However, in most > cases, organizational membership isn't what matters, the > contributor's level of involvement is. > > 4. As part of your role, you may be given responsibilities and > authority within your organization. This does not automatically > translate to authority within the relevant Mozilla activities. > For example, a manager on the Platform team at MoCo has > responsibilities and authority related to prioritizing work > performed by members of that organization. However, that manager > does not have technical authority over the relevant code, and > must defer to the module owner -- who could be a direct report, > or might not even be employed by Mozilla. Conversely, the module > owner can accept or reject contributions based on their technical > merits, and can offer informed opinions on what needs to be done > but cannot dictate the priorities of other Mozilla employees > working on the module. > > 5. You or Mozilla may end your employment/contractual relationship > in accordance with applicable laws and legal requirements. > If you wish to end your participation as a contributor, however, > please inform any directly-affected community members and help > them transition to your absence. > > ------------------------------------------------------------------- > > The goal of this agreement is to address, and hopefully prevent, > the problem of Mozilla staff members who were not recruited from > the community discriminating against volunteers in their interactions > with the Mozilla community, since this (in most cases) is due to > ignorance or negligence, and is otherwise not willful. > > To be clear, this gross plagiarism of David Boswell's Volunteer > Agreement [1] is intended to fall under the "parody" aspect of the > Fair Use clause. However, I am, as usual, at least half-serious. :) > > [1] > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/mozilla.governance/yN4V-lYJH8c/discussion > > ~fantasai > _______________________________________________ > governance mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/governance _______________________________________________ governance mailing list [email protected] https://lists.mozilla.org/listinfo/governance
