NationStates: Introducing Development Managers

[NationStates News]

Since the beginning, NationStates has worked under a software development model I like to call, "Excite the admin." That is, when someone notices something that needs fixing, or has an idea for a new feature, they have to hunt down an admin and get them excited about it. If they're successful, the admin codes something; otherwise, they don't.

This is an excellent model in the sense that it lets admin do whatever they want. This is important when your admins are volunteers. But as NationStates has grown and its communities have multiplied, it's become impossible for admins to stay across what's happening all over the site, and make informed decisions about what to work on.

Therefore we've created six new Development Manager roles. These people will act as the community conduit to the mod/admin team, taking on the primary responsibility for prioritizing code fixes and new projects with admin for their area.

• Communications (including Forums, Telegrams, Regional Message Boards, and Dispatches)

  • @@JGConfig::nice_name("Reploid Productions", 6)@@ (mainly forumside)

  • @@JGConfig::nice_name("Katganistan", 6)@@ (mainly gameside)

• Issues

  • @@JGConfig::nice_name("Sedgistan", 6)@@

• Regional Gameplay (including the Security Council)

  • @@JGConfig::nice_name("Sedgistan", 6)@@

• General Assembly

  • @@JGConfig::nice_name("Mallorea and Riva", 6)@@

• Trading Cards

  • @@JGConfig::nice_name("Frisbeeteria", 6)@@

• Moderation

  • @@JGConfig::nice_name("Frisbeeteria", 6)@@

These roles align more to technical feature sets than communities. For example, there's a large number of roleplay-based communities with varying needs and priorities, but they're all heavily invested in and affected by the site's communications tools.

We don't expect this to unlock a slew of new features, because we still have the same number of admins. But hopefully this provides a better pathway for getting things done.

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