Working Circles

Overview

All Guerrilla Translators are stewards of several areas. This means that, although they may not directly work in any of these or even be the main contributors, they are ultimately responsible for their upkeep. Unlike the more "permissionless" aspects of being a Casual member or the more lax standards of being a Transition Translator, full, committed Guerrilla Translators are expected to continually learn and improve in the areas they are working in. These general areas are known as working circles. The circles can be flexible, but they include:

• Community (includes mentoring, mutual support, rhythms, tools and group culture)
• Development (includes goals, structural and organizational development)
• Media Peers (includes networking and alliances, social media, campaigns, etc)
• Sustainability (includes fundraising, legal structure development, etc)
• Website/Tech (includes development and maintenance of GT’s site, front and backend)
• Finance (Includes legal structure, taxes, invoices etc)
• Dating (Includes aptitude testing, buddy-system and mentoring)
• Love (includes overseeing pro-bono work and blog publishing)
• Livelihood (includes agency work, client attention, budgeting, etc)

Circles are porous and not exclusive, but certain individuals will be the stewards for a circle. Who is part of what circle, circle stewards, etc are revised quarterly and recorded below and in the collective’s availability mapping page. Transition members are also expected to join various circles through their nine-month training, but they cannot become circle stewards until fully committed.

Working Circles in Guerrilla Translation

Community

The Community work circle (Part of the Carework Area) is where we do most of our "internal work" with committed and transition members. This means processing and maturing the collective, or norms, building resilience, our rhythms etc. It is one of the busiest subgroups and all members — whether Dating or Committed — are part of it by default.

Community Resources

• Community channel on Slack
• Community discussions on Loomio
• Community board on Trello
• Community folder in G-Drive
• Community Category on Wiki
• Community Circle Wiki entry

Current Community Members

• Lara (Co-Steward)
• Ann Marie (Co-Steward)
• Bronagh
• Nati
• Sara
• Silvia
• Stacco
• Susa
• Timothy

Development

The Development Subgroup (Part of the Carework Area) is where we do most our Start-Up Phase work towards a resilient and mature collective. This means setting goals, developing timelines, tweaking the governance model etc. Its work areas are, effectively, shared with the Community Subgroup.

Development Resources

• Community/Development channel on Slack
• Community/Development discussions on Loomio
• Community/Development board on Trello
• Community/Development folder in G-Drive
• Community/Development Category on Wiki
• Development Circle Wiki entry

Current Development Members

• Stacco (Steward)
• Ann Marie
• Bronagh
• Lara
• Nati
• Susa

Media Peers

The Media Peers Circle is for our collective's porous relation with the "Outside". This includes social media, communiques, networking with other groups and collectives, press appearances, events etc.

Media Peers Resources

• Media peers channel on Slack
• Media peers discussions on Loomio
• Media peers board on Trello
• Media peers folder in G-Drive
• Media Peers Category on Wiki
• Media Peers Circle Wiki entry

Current Media Peers Members

• Lara (Steward)
• Ann Marie
• Bronagh
• Nati
• Sara
• Silvia
• Stacco (wants to leave this circle depending on other peep's availability)
• Timothy

Sustainability

The Sustainability Circle deals with our collective's income and funding. This includes tentative projects (which, when confirmed, are trespassed to the Livelihood Area), creation of fundraising materials and relations with funders.

Sustainability Resources

• Sustainability channel on Slack
• Sustainability discussions on Loomio
• Sustainability board on Trello
• Sustainability folder in G-Drive
• Sustainability Category on Wiki
• Sustainability Circle Wiki entry

Current Sustainability Members

• Ann Marie (Steward)
• Bronagh
• Stacco
• Susa

Website/Tech

The Websites/tech Circle deals with everything to do with our websites. Front-end, back-end, maintenance and dev.

Website Tech Resources

• Websites/Tech channel on Slack
• Websites/Tech discussions on Loomio
• Websites/Tech board on Trello
• Websites/Tech folder in G-Drive
• Website Tech Category on Wiki
• Website/Tech Circle Wiki entry

Current Website Tech Members

• Stacco (Steward)
• Ann Marie
• Lara
• Sara
• Silvia
• Susa

Finance

The Finance Circle deals with financial flows, payments, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.

Finance Resources

• Finance channel on Slack
• Finance discussions on Loomio
• Finance board on Trello
• Finance folder in G-Drive
• Finance Category on Wiki
• Finance Circle Wiki entry

Current Finance Members

• Ann Marie (Steward)
• Lara

Dating

The Dating Circle deals with material specially relevant for the Dating Phase for Transition Translators (ie: people training in working with the collective). This means applicant evaluation, interviews and peer mentoring. The "mentoring" part very much overlaps with the Community Category. Please note that in the wiki this is known as "Training".

Dating Resources

• Dating channel on Slack
• Dating discussions on Loomio
• Dating board on Trello
• Dating folder in G-Drive
• Training Category on Wiki
• Dating Circle Wiki entry

Current Dating Members

• Susa (Steward)
• Ann Marie
• Lara
• Nati
• Sara
• Silvia
• Timothy

Love

The Love Circle deals with stewarding all aspects of our pro-bono work. This means overseeing the content and publication rhythms of our blogs, completion dates, blog quality control, etc. All translators/editors in the collective (whether Dating or fully committed) are part of the Love Circle by default, with stewards rotating on an ongoing basis.

Love Resources

• Love channels on Slack: Target English and Target Spanish
• Love discussions on Loomio
• Love boards on Trello: Target English and Target Spanish
• Love folder in G-Drive
• Love Category on Wiki
• Love Circle Wiki entry

Livelihood

The Livelihood Circle is the "front office" of the collective. It serves as the face of the agency side and proactively looks for agency work to ensure the good health of the collective. This means fielding requests, ensuring that work is assigned to the right team and that deadlines and met. Livelihood also negotiates prices and deadlines with clients and works closely with Finance for invoicing. All committed members are part of the Livelihood Circle by default and, as with Love, stewards rotate regularly.

Livelihood Resources

• Livelihood channels on Slack: Target English and Target Spanish
• Livelihood discussions on Loomio
• Livelihood boards on Trello: Target English and Target Spanish
• Livelihood folder in G-Drive
• Livelihood Category on Wiki
• Livelihood Circle Wiki entry

The Love and Livelihood Circles are somewhat exceptional in that they effectively perform what we term as "caring for the health of the collective" beyond what is nominally the Care Area. These main areas are explained in more detail below, for now we will just note that value in the Love and Livelihood Circles is tracked by Care Hours, as in the other circles, but special considerations apply. These are thoroughly explained in a section below.

More Resources

• Working Circles Loomio thread
• Working Circles section of the Governance Model
• Loomio Handbook entry on coordination.