Tech-Team is the group that will be maintaining all the existing technical projects and brainstorming on new ideas and building applications and software for the betterment of the institute. Ideally, the tech-team consists of 4-6 members, in their 2nd year but neither is a hard requirement.
The responsibilities of the organisation are as follows along with current maintainers of the project.
- Maintaining the applications of gymkhana under the guidance of Technology Coordinator(s)
- Manage and update archival data, and results of various events, such as InterIIT and GC
- Develop new applications as and when planned
Note
As we move forward and create new projects, this document should be updated.
The Tech-Team should be formed via the below process by the present Technology Coordinator(s) for their tenure. The previous members of the team can voluntarily contribute.
- Add the previous members of the team to
Alumniteam of the organisation on Github. - A form should be circulated after the nomination of the tech coordinator. An example form for the same is here. Ask the Public Relations Chairperson to share posts on TSG Social media handles, here are demo posts for the same: Technology Coordinator & Teach Team. Sufficient time should be given to candidates in order to prepare a CV in case they don't have one yet.
- After scrutinizing the form responses, interviews should be conducted in 15 days following the form submission.
- From the interview, 4 to 6 should be chosen. This number can be stretched or squeezed at the discretion of the present (and former) Technology Coordinator, and the goals in mind for their tenure.
- Results should be published via the Gymkhana page (and also mail to be sent to new members) within a week of the interviews.
- The team should be added to the GymKhana Organisation on Github in the team
Entrants(create one, if not present) and later on pushed to a team with more rights. - The new members should add their detail in the "Tech Team Contacts" google sheet after the Technology Coordinator has created a new sheet (in the same spreadsheet available with technology coordinator's the official google account) for the corresponding academic year.
- Post the addition of the details, have an introductory meeting with the team to understand their technical skills and goals better. Ask for ideas, and document them in a google sheet via the Technology Coordinator's gmail account
Note
The selected members should have at least one year of experience of staying in IIT Kharagpur at the time of joining the team.
Below is the structure of the group.
- The group should have a flat hierarchy with Technology Coordinator having final say in terms of dispute.
- All members in the organisation to be given the position of "Tech Team Member" throughout their tenure, irrespective of year or study.
- Members who initiate a project or unanimously are decided to maintain a project shall be convened as the maintainer for the project for their tenure (but his/her role in the organisation does not change).
- Maintainers have final say (alongside Technology Coordinator) in their respective projects and are responsible for the smooth functionting and growth of the same.
Important
Though we do not have year-wise hierarchy, it is expected from all members to treat their juniors and seniors with love and respect.
The team has to manage a lot of work and the best way to do the same is via GitHub issues. The current method of assigning work is as follows and it works pretty well.
- Weekly meeting should be held with the team to check progress on the assigned issues, help the team, give learning tasks etc.
- Issues are to be assigned on GitHub based on the current work: the issues need to be small and independent enough that each team member can do it independently or with at max two-three members together.
- The PRs are to be reviewed and then new issues are to be assigned. Issues should have the team members as assignees as well as they should be detailed enough to not create confusion.
- The Technology Coordinator as well as the erstwhile team seniors should be available to help the assignees over a call or other forms of communication. Meeting for all tasks is very tedious and cannot be followed all the time, and hence it'll get avoided in the long run.
- It is encouraged to have 1:1s with each team member to discuss their role, and updates on tasks, progress and what work they want to pick up.
The above is a rough method and should be followed with enough flexibility to make the team function well.
The organisation encourages members to take up initiatives, come up with new ideas, brainstorm on them with the team and then lead the project.
- Member who comes up with the idea shall be the maintainer of the same and will have say in how everything moves forward if there is no dispute with the members.
- The maintainer (or creator of the idea) can ask other team members to work with him but this should be on the discretion and interest of the members unless the project is compulsory (for which Technology Coordinator shall decide team).
Tip
If the project is considered beneficial to the Institute, funds and resources shall be managed by the Gymkhana (subject to approval from VP and Administraion).
- Each member should serve at least one year in the organisation to be considered eligible for the certificates issued by the Gymkhana.
- After one year, members can continue to be a part of the organisation but projects they were maintaining shall get a co-maintainer as well.
This section is not well developed and our practices will be logged here.
Below are the current decided guidelines we must follow:
- For writing commits, follow: https://chris.beams.io/posts/git-commit/
- For writing pull requests: https://github.blog/2015-01-21-how-to-write-the-perfect-pull-request/
- On raising issues: https://wiredcraft.com/blog/how-we-write-our-github-issues/
- Each member shall keep openness towards learning from each other (irrespective of junior/senior).
- There should be mutual respect for each other and same shall be presented in PR reviews, comments and all other interactions.
- No member shall be made to feel belittle on the basis of his/her knowledge or mistakes.
It is harmful for any organisation to not tolerate slowing down and disruption of functioning due to mishaps and irresponsibility of a member. TechTeam Gymkhana has high responsibility and hence no inappropriate actions shall go unattended.
All such actions shall be directly handled by present Technology Coordinator (with consultation with former Technology Coordinator) and may lead to dismissal of the member from their position of responsibility. The Technology Coordinator may choose to hold nomination for the vacancy created. In more severe cases (such as unethical distribution of credentials, hampering the provided server etc.) Gymkhana Vice President shall be involved and more severe action may be taken.
In any case, decision of Technology Coordinator shall be final and s/he must present valid reasons for the same. Irrational abuse of power can be reported to Vice President or the former Technology Coordinator.
The Tech-Team was founded by Shivam Kumar Jha (then Technology Coordinator) in the academic year 2019-2020 for the formalisation of the technical aspect of GymKhana and a rapid growth in the technical field which the institute was lacking compared to sister IITs. It came out as a lack of maintainers for Metakgp which has very crucial tools for the campus life.
This endeavor would not have been possible without the cooperation and help from the then Vice President, Niraj Ninaad Lohakare and Public Relations Chairperson, Akshat Jain.