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What would you like to know about new WIP members?

I'm planning to ask new members a series of questions to help them introduce theirselves to the community. The idea is to share these little interviews in our weekly newsletter, on the website, and in the Telegram chat (when the member joins the chat).

Below is what I have so far, but I'd love to know if there's anything else you'd like to hear about. Or any comments you have on the questions below.

The design of the page is still a work in progress. It won't look this ugly 😂

What are you working on these days?
describe product + area of focus now)

What can WIP help you with right now?
ask a question, request feedback, etc

What can you help with?
offer your expertise, optional

Something else you want to share?
share something interesting, personal message, etc

Make it personal, upload a photo
of you, your cat, what you're working on, etc


IMO the key thing you should try to figure out is how to incentivize members to keep each other motivated. I feel that's the main value-add you can offer. IMO WIP's task tracking feature itself is not much of a usefulness improvement above just using a git log or a Trello 'Done' list (I was tracking my finished tasks in my personal Confluence wiki before I started using WIP).

If WIP was my project I would be reading up on all the different analogous real-life behavior-modification programs out there for helping groups of people stay motivated to finish something difficult (like fitness programs, boot camps, etc.). One idea in particular I find interesting is the idea of training partners (in fitness), which is analogous to "battle buddies" in the military. The idea is that you are assigned someone that you need to keep tabs on to make sure they're OK. You could even run monthly contests where each person in a training partnership has to pick one product and try to work every day on it, and then the winners get some kind of perk (maybe some achievement or something).

I'm trying to get partnerships going like that on my own but I think it's always on the site owner to push people to do things they might be too shy to do on their own initiative (at least that has been my experience in the few times I have been the person "in charge" of a large gathering of people).

100% – We've discussed the idea of accountability buddies before and there was definitely some interest. I haven't gotten around to facilitating this, but I'm hoping having a place for new members to introduce themselves will be a good first step.

This list of questions is great.

This is a good newsletter initiative!

5 questions is perfect!

The good thing about these 5 questions is that the answer can be short but leaves also the possibility to answer a long text (for those who want to write and tell about their adventure).

ℹ️ - Too many questions can be a disincentive to answer.