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Program Reviews at Mozilla

What they are, why we do them, and how to participate

Executive Summary

  • **What: **A quarterly review of goals, key initiatives and progress for each of MoFo's main programs and support teams.
  • **Who: **Leaders, program managers and staff from Mozilla Learning (Learning Networks + Learning Products), Open News, Science Lab, Advocacy, Ops and Engagement. 
  • **When: **Every quarter for programs. Twice yearly for support teams (Engagement and Ops). (A calendar w. specific dates is taking shape here: http://mzl.la/draft_calendar )
  • Why: Increase transparency across teams. Ensure we're on track w. our strategic goals. Share knowledge. Streamline our board reporting.
  • **How: **One-hour format. A 30-minute presentation using a shared MoFo template. Followed by 30 mins of Q&A with an audience of ~30 colleagues. 

Key links

MoFo Program Review template

  • Goals:** **overview of 2015 Goals + their current state / KPIs.
  • Key Initiatives: + their current state
  • **Next quarter’s initiatives. Looking ahead to Q2. Goals + milestones **w. dates. Including: engagement / go-to-market.
  • **Landscape. **Looking outward. What's happening in the larger space? Key trends, shifts, competitors, etc.
  • User / Community Sentiment. How is our target audience feeling? What are we hearing from them? 
  • Partnerships: health + key activities
  • **Funding pipeline. **What grants are in the pipeline now? What new grants have come in since last review? Are we facing any financial challenges?
  • **Asks and Needs. **Key challenges / meaty questions. Decisions needed. Where you need help.

Slide template for this: http://mzl.la/template

MoFo Program Review Goals

  • **Make sure we're on track. **Encourage high-level, honest reflection. Plus critical assessment with board members, senior colleagues and peers. Clarity around what the targets are and how we're tracking against them.
  • **Get help and ideas from colleagues. **More oxygen, insight and best practices from others. A chance to hone strategy in a safe space with senior peers.
  • Simplify and harmonize reporting. Increase transparency between teams and across the org. And simplify Board Meeting prep. These Program Reviews essentially write the content for those board slides. All teams will use the same basic format and template.
  • **Surface key leadership decisions. **Provide a forum for concerns to be surfaced to all stakeholders. 
  • **Alignment. **Have a shared view of the world in which we operate. Ensure support teams are clear on the dependencies on them.

Who does program reviews?

Beginning in March 2015, all of Mozilla's key product lines and support teams will do regular program reviews. MoFo will participate in three ways: Mozilla Learning (Learning Networks + Learning Products), our new communities programs (Open News, Science Lab, Advocacy), and our support teams (Ops and Engagement) -- though the frequency and cadence for these will be different. 

Quarterly program reviews:

  • **Mozilla Learning **(also referred to as "Webmaker+"). Split into two sections:

Twice yearly program reviews:

  • Open News
  • Science Lab
  • Advocacy 
  • Ops 
  • Engagement 

Format

Program Reviews take the form of a prepared slide presentation followed by questions and answers with an audience of approximately 30 people.  They take 60 minutes in total. With 30 minutes of updates from the team, and 30 minutes of discussion & decision-making. There can be a single presenter or several, each responsible for their own piece of the presentation. 

  • **50 / 50 presentation vs. discussion. **There will be a strict 30-minute and 20-slide limit, to ensure enough time for dialogue. 
  • **Moderator. **In addition to presenters, the Program Review may also include a moderator / facilitator. (This role could also be filled by the program manager.) Their job will be to help facillitate audience questions and feedback, time-box conversation, steer past rabbit holes and make explicit next steps.

Audience

**The target audience size is approx 30 colleagues. **The invite list is left up to each business owner (the VPs responsible for Learning Networks, Learning Products, Ops and Engagement; or the Directors responible for Open News, Science Lab and Advocacy.) You can invite your team, past or current fellows, specific colleagues, etc.

The emphasis is on honest, critical feedback from colleagues, in a safe space. As such, the audience will be comprised of mostly internal Mozilla staff or trusted stakeholders in your project; people interested in and focused on organizational health. 

Sample audience mix

Here's what a sample Program Review audience might look like for Open News, for example: 

Shared / cross-program: 

  • A Mozilla board member
  • MoFo management team
  • Program managers from other teams
  • Funding pipeline / fundraising rep
  • Engagement / marketing  rep** Program-specific: 

Program-specific:

  • Open News staff
  • News partner(s) / host(s) of Fellows
  • A past or current Fellow
  • Kaitlin and Dave (other program leads)

Next steps