Last week we hosted a Yahoo! Groups Workshop for our Groups Power Users. Below is a link to the transcript of this Workshop so you too can benefit from reading the answers to the questions raised.
Click here to read the Workshop transcript
We’ll be holding more Yahoo! Groups Workshops geared toward more advanced topics in the future, share topics you’d like to discuss in the comments area below.
Best,
Jami
Groups Community Manager
Thanks to all of the moderators who came out to join us at our recent Groups Moderator Town Hall events in Chicago, IL and Portland, OR!!
At these events, we give local moderators an opportunity to come together to meet and exchange ideas with other Groups owners and moderators in their area, meet members of the Yahoo! Groups team, and ask direct questions of the team in a panel discussion. The feedback and suggestions we hear at these events provide the team with yet another avenue to understand the needs of our moderators and identify opportunities to make the Yahoo! Groups product even better.
You can catch a glimpse of these events firsthand by viewing the photos sets below:
Groups Moderator Town Hall Chicago
Groups Moderator Town Hall Portland
Our next event is going to be held on the Yahoo! campus in Sunnyvale on October 23, 2008 from 6:00-9:00PM. If you live in the greater Bay Area and would like to attend this event, please click here to register .
If you aren’t in this area, but would like to be notified of events planned in your area, please submit your details here so we know where to contact you.
Best,
Jami
Groups Community Manager
I have great news for all of you Groups moderators who are interested in learning about what Yahoo! Groups moderators in India are up to. My counterparts in India just launched the Yahoo! Groups India blog and I encourage you to go check it out: Yahoo! Groups India blog .
Enjoy!
Jami
Groups Community Manager
As promised in our blog post from July 14 entitled What’s in store for Yahoo! Groups , we’re excited to share more details around the enhancements that you’ll start seeing within the Photos section of your Yahoo! Groups over the next several weeks.
While the enhancements at first glance may appear to be modest, we have in fact made several significant changes, including:
We’ve begun slowly rolling these enhancements out to a handful of Groups and will continue with this process over the next several weeks so we can ensure a smooth roll out.
Once you have the opportunity to see the enhancements, let us know what you think by commenting below.
Enjoy!
Jami
Groups Community Manager
A few weeks back, we hosted the first Yahoo! Groups Workshop .
Workshops are live, online, moderated chats led by Yahoo! staff, with a focus on a specific topic of conversation at a specific, scheduled time. It is our hope that these Workshops can be a great opportunity for Groups users to get tips on a variety of Groups topics as well as gets answers to specific questions that you have.
After each event, we’ll post a copy of the transcript so all Groups can benefit from the information. To see a copy of the transcript from the first Workshop (Groups 101) mentioned above, click here .
As I begin planning for the next Yahoo! Groups Workshop, I’d like to ask all of you to share with me by commenting below what topic you’d like to cover.
Thanks!
Jami
Groups Community Manager
For those of you who use Twitter, I wanted to let you know that Yahoo! Groups now has a profile on Twitter (yahoogroups) where you can get Groups related updates.
I’ll post the same news and information that I post here, so you won’t miss out on anything if you choose only to follow the Groups blog, but Twitter allows you to get updates while on the go (by signing up for updates to be sent to your phone).
I’ve just set this account up to test the response, so try it out and let me know what you think.
Thanks!
Jami
Groups Community Manager
This is a reminder for Groups Moderators in the Chicago or Portland area who wants to voice your opinions on how we can make Yahoo! Groups better - we’ll be in your area next week!
Please click on the appropriate link below to register and save your seat:
These events give you an opportunity to join Yahoo! Groups for a special evening, just for moderators, where you can:
- Hear the latest Yahoo! Groups news
- Exchange ideas with other moderators
- Participate in a panel discussion with the Yahoo! Groups team
- Enjoy complimentary food and beverages
Thank you for being a part of the Groups community, we look forward to meeting you!
Best,
Jami
Groups Community Manager
Update: 9/12 11:05 AM PT – This issue has been fully resolved. Thank you for your patience.
We are aware that some Groups users may be experiencing long load times. We are currently working to identify and address this issue and appreciate your patience. I will post updates as I get them.
Thank you,
Jami
Groups Community Manager
So, we’ve introduced you to the Groups Product Team , the team that kicks off the product development cycle. We’ve also introduced you to the Groups Design Team , the team that takes the features and enhancements the Groups Product Team specs out and brings them come to life visually. Now I’d like to introduce you to the third and largest team that makes up the Yahoo! Groups Team: The Groups Engineering Team.
(Pictured above are the Software and QA Engineers)
(Pictured above are the Operations Engineers)
The Groups Engineering Team writes, maintains, and operates the software that makes up the Groups Product, including both the website and mail systems.
What does a day in the life of the team look like?
Like most kinds of engineering, software engineering follows a cyclical process. The cycle begins with a design for something that needs to be built. After that comes the implementation or coding phase. Then, comes the testing phase. Once testing is completed, the code is released into production. Since no code is perfect, the team spends the final phase of the cycle fixing bugs.
How many Yahoos work on the Groups Engineering Team?
The Groups Engineering Team is composed of several smaller teams, each working on a different phase of this cycle on their own distinct projects. With more that 30 engineers, the Groups Engineering Team has grown substantially over the past several months to help take Groups to the next level. Many of these engineers have been working on Groups for less than six months, so there’s new blood and a lot of excitement on the team.
Are there different types of engineers?
Working on one of the world’s biggest Web properties requires many skills. Yahoo! Groups is built on a diverse set of technologies and, therefore, requires a diverse team of engineers. From a functional perspective, there are three kinds of engineers on the team: Software, QA, and Operations.
You can think of software engineers as the “coders," QA engineers as “testers.” and operations engineers as “mechanics.” Pooling its resources and collective knowledge, the team keeps the Groups product running optimally.
How does the Groups Engineering Team divide its time between new features and current issues?
The Groups Engineering Team is always working on new features and current issues in parallel. The balance between adding new features and fixing features that already exist is currently about 50-50. Groups Labs is an example of new feature that we’ll soon be launching . Improving the ability of search engines to crawl public groups is an example of an existing feature that’s needed fixing for a long time. Over time, we hope to change this ratio to 70-30 so that we’re spending more time adding new features than fixing old ones.
Fun Facts
Yahoo! Groups is a global product, and the Groups Engineering Team is a global team. Members are fluent in eight languages, including English, French, Spanish, Hindi, Mandarin, Korean, Tagalog, and Japanese.
To give you a sense for the amount of Groups data they work with, think about the process of ripping one song a minute. It would take 50 years to burn a disk with all the Groups data, including files, photos, links, and archived messages—that is, if there were a disk big enough to hold it all!
I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know the various teams that make up the Yahoo! Groups Team. We’re all are extremely passionate about delivering a reliable and effective product so all of you can create online communities that let you connect and interact with people who share your interests and ideas!
Best,
Jami
Groups Community Manager
Groups Moderators, you do so much for your community. We’d like to give something back.
Save your seat at one of the up-coming Yahoo! Groups Moderator Town Hall events in Chicago, Illinois on September 23 and Portland, Oregon on September 24 from 6:00 -9:00 PM.
Join Yahoo! Groups for a special evening, just for moderators, where you can:
- Hear the latest Yahoo! Groups news
- Exchange ideas with other moderators
- Participate in a panel discussion with the Yahoo! Groups team
- Enjoy complimentary food and beverages
If you live in the Chicago or Portland area and own or moderate an established, active group and want to voice your opinions on how we can make Yahoo! Groups better, please click on the appropriate link below to save your seat:
For those of you who aren’t in one of these areas, don’t fret, it’s our goal to plan Town Hall events in different cities throughout the year because we want to hear from you too!
If you’d like to receive an email when we plan event in your area, please visit the Groups Moderator Town Hall site here to submit your details.
Thank you for being a part of the Groups community, we look forward to meeting you!
Best,
Jami
Groups Community Manager