Support Stable Counterparts Basics - Brie Carranza

module-name: "Support Stable Counterparts Basics"
area: "Making Support Better"
maintainers:
  - vijirao

Introduction

Welcome to the SSC bootstrapping module - we are glad you want to be a Support Stable Counterpart!

As you work through this issue, remember that this issue is non-confidential and is public. Please do not add any confidential data such as customer names, logs, etc. to this issue. Linking to the appropriate Zendesk ticket is OK!

Goals of this checklist

At the end of the checklist, team member should

• Be familiar with the purpose of the Support Stable Counterparts initiative
• Be aware of the resources related to this initiative
• Be familiar with the guidelines and best practices around this initiative

General Timeline and Expectations

• This issue should take you 1 day to complete.

Stage 0. Why Stable Counterparts?

1. Read about the Stable Counterparts initiative in the leadership page.
2. Read more about why and how GitLab has adopted this to our workflows through An ode to stable counterparts
3. Head over to Support's Stable Counterparts page to learn about the goals of the initiative in Support, and expectations from the different players.

Stage 1. Quick Start Checklist

1. Reach out to your group's PM and EM sync or async.
   • Jocelyn Ellis (PM)
   • Scott Hampton (EM) | OOO until August 17th, I will block on scheduling the call but not on having the call
   • A coffee chat is preferred, however, reach out via Slack if there are timezone and/or availability conflicts.
   • Follow your own style and try to cover the following points with them:
     • Why are you interested in that group
     • What does a regular day look like for the group
     • What are their expectations out of this: level set, manage and align!
2. Establish a regular cadence for communicating with the Product group.
   • If you are going async, we recommend using a Google doc with a template similar to this one.
   • Depending on the group and the type of meetings they have, choose the one that would make the most sense for you and Support.
   • Get yourself added to the meeting(s) even if you will be unable to join due to timezone conflicts: you can still read the agenda doc later!
     • It looks like the group meets weekly.
3. To keep yourself up to date on what's happening with the group,
   • Join their Slack channel(s).
   • Subscribe to issues. - Subscribe to issues at the group level to pick up all the projects that make up GitLab. - For issues only (not MRs or Epics) RSS is also an option. From the issue search results, you can select the RSS feed button to get a custom RSS feed.
   • Subscribe to the pertinent trackers/labels to be aware of new issues.
     • Be especially aware of severity::1/severity::2 issues in their areas of the product, including workarounds.
     • There are labels for each section (devops::) and group (group::). Search for, say, group:: and each label is provided with a link to a view of issues, MRs and epics.
     • Subscribe to labels and set up email notifications.
   • Engineering team pages usually have information about their labels, slack channels, boards, and meetings under 'useful links' at the end.
   • Join their team sync(s), or, set a reminder to read the notes after the sync(s).
   • Keep an eye out for interesting tickets affecting the groups you are covering for.
4. Watch this internal video that discusses how to perform the role.
5. Schedule a pairing or coffee chat with a current SSC to learn more about what they do and share tips of the trade.
   • If the group you chose already has an SSC, reach out to them to discuss the best way to collaborate and share information.

Stage 2. Sharing Information

Sharing Information with Support

1. Use the SWIR as your primary mode of communication when sharing group related information with the rest of the Support team.
   • Follow it up with communications in relevant Support Slack channels.
2. A monthly communication cadence is recommended - however, some groups might not have a lot of updates to share with Support every month. In such instances, make a decision based on your own discretion.
3. Group related updates and announcements can be:
   • New features added in an upcoming release
   • Bug fixes in an upcoming release
   • Issues likely to generate tickets
   • Major documentation changes
   • Discovered bugs and applicable workarounds
   • Any special processes or troubleshooting workflows that might pertain to the features in your group
4. Share best practices with new and existing SSCs (see the last stage in this issue for access to the below groups):
   1. Use the @support-stable-counterparts Slack user group to discuss best practices and other tips and tricks.
   2. Use the @gitlab-com/support/support-stable-counterparts GitLab group for process change related ideas, feedback and other discussions.
5. Create and review relevant training materials and run sessions as needed.
6. Optionally, consider doing quarterly office hours to chat about your group and share your experiences as an SSC with newer team members.

Sharing Information with Product Teams

1. For sync communication, use the most relevant product team meeting.
   • Be prepared and add your agenda in advance.
2. For async communication, use the template (recommended), or, use Slack.
3. Loop them in on relevant issues, tickets and Slack threads.
4. A monthly communication cadence is recommended.
5. Group related updates and announcements can be:
   • Customer feedback from tickets related to the group
   • Recent trends on tickets related to the group
   • Be the customer's voice and an influencing agent on product related decisions and future roadmap
6. Optionally, help with questions from non product groups in the Product team's Slack channels if and when possible.

Stage 3. Ready, set and go!

1. Create an MR to add your name under 'Support' for the relevant team on data/stages.yml and add your name to the list on the source/includes/product/_categories-names.erb file, then assign to your manager.
   1. gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com@08e7ee25
   2. gitlab-com/www-gitlab-com!109401 (merged)
   3. Remember, if you are struggling to balance SSC and other work, collaborate with your manager to help with time management and prioritization.
2. Reach out to a manager via #spt_managers Slack channel to get yourself added to the @gitlab-com/support/support-stable-counterparts GitLab group as an Owner
   1. Requested in Slack.
3. Create a single person access request to get yourself added to the @support-stable-counterparts Slack user group
   1. Created gitlab-com/team-member-epics/access-requests#17158
4. Announce your new role in the #support-team-chat Slack channel. Here is a sample announcement: "Hi folks! Here is some exciting news - I have signed up as a Support Stable Counterpart for group and I am looking forward to enabling both product and us by acting as a bridge and influencing changes. Reach out to me if you have any questions!".
   1. Announced
5. You're all set to begin your SSC journey, do come back here and the relevant handbook pages to iterate and make changes to improve!