Improving the Deployment Toolkit

A place to gather all ideas about creating a process to perpetually improve the deployment toolkit.

If you are not a member of the team that created this page please add your comments to the Discussion page.

NOTE: The contents of this page are not set in stone, and are subject to change! This page is a draft in active flux ... Please leave suggestions on the talk page.

Principles

1. Improvements will be based on real experiences
2. Improvements in documents and process will not depend on individuals but will stand alone and naturally support a changing OLPC team
3. Documents should be self explanatory (documents should be as easy to pick up and use as possible with no prior experience or training)
4. Improvements will be made in a sustainable way (the process by which the improvements are achieved will be documented so as to enable repeated improvement)

Challenges

1. The people involved in each deployment may be different and have never completed a deployment before
2. The technology being deployed evolves with time, ahead of the changes to the deployment guide
3. Each location to which laptops are deployed will have different challenges

Ideas

As Ideas emerge and are discussed they will be added into the deliverables below

1. Identify and document the major Processes in simple to follow steps
2. Get a non consultant, non technical author to review our deliverables from a readability perspective
   1. Early on to help ensure write in simple non consultant English
   2. Near the end to review the final deliverables
3. Include an orientation and induction process
4. Find other initiatives similar to OLPC that we can learn from
5. Find other kinds of deployment guide that we can learn from
6. Who else can we learn from?

Resources

This section contains links to other sites that may contain useful information

1. What can we learn from Sugar Labs, e.g. via their wiki
2. "Deployment Meetings"
   1. This wiki's deployment meetings page
   2. Pipka deployment meeting page
3. OLPC UK Community Effort
4. OLPC News (separate website)
5. OLPC Friends

Deliverables

1. Release New Deployment Guide Process (Google Doc) - for creating a new release of the Deployment Guide
   1. Refined through delivery of 2,3, & 4 below
   2. How to create a new release of the Deployment Guide Google Doc from the Deployment Wiki
   3. How to cleanse and restructure the Deployment Wiki to aid continued collaboration and maintain consistency with the Deployment Guide
   4. How to update the Deployment Toolkit from the updated Deployment Guide
      1. To maintain consistency
      2. To incorporate any new configurations, technologies or services into the cost model from new developments identified in the Deployment Wiki
2. Improved Deployment Wiki (wiki.laptop.org)
   1. Achieved by following the process in (1) above
   2. Clearer structure
   3. Clearer reference to the official Deployment Guide, Deployment Toolkit and Contacts List
3. Improved Deployment Guide (Google Docs "official release" version)
   1. Achieved by following the process in (1) above
4. Improved Deployment Toolkit (Currently an Excel Spreadsheet; Convert to Google Docs spreadsheet?)
   1. Achieved by following the process in (1) above
5. Prepare Deployment Process (Google Doc) for creating a Deployment Plan for a specific deployment
   1. Guidance document about how to create a customised Deployment Guide that will be appropriate for YOUR deployment.
6. Deployment Tracker (within the Deployment Wiki)
   1. Who is at what phase (team contact details, location, nature of deployment)
   2. What open questions they have
   3. What problems they've solved
   4. A copy of their deployment plan
7. Deployment Process (Google Doc) describing the major steps and activities of a deployment
   1. This process is for use alongside the Deployment Plan created in the Prepare Deployment Process
   2. Major milestones common to all deployments and how to update the Deployment Tracker as each milestone is achieved
8. Contacts list (Google Docs Spreadsheet) - who are the key people
9. Report containing lessons learned, observations & recommendations

Processes

Prepare Deployment Process

1. Update the Deployment Tracking Wiki to indicate you are preparing a deployment
2. Follow the Readiness Assessment Process to check you have everything you need to start a deployment and understand the main areas of challenge for your particular location
3. Make a copy of the Deployment Guide and call it "Location Deployment Plan" (replacing the word "Location" with the name of the location you are deploying to
4. Remove sections from the document that do not apply to you
5. Update the Team section with roles and responsibilities and contact details for your team
6. Update the Support Team section with roles, areas of expertise and contact details of any people in other teams that have agreed to support your team
7. Perform the Deployment Process

Deployment Process

1. Make sure you first perform the Prepare Deployment Process to create your Location Deployment Plan

Solve Problem Process

Part of the Deployment Process

1. Check to see if the Deployment Guide says how to solve the problem
2. Check to see if the Deployment Wiki says how to solve the problem
3. Check to see if there are any Open Questions in the Deployment Wiki that are similar to yours; If there are, contact the teams that created those questions to see if they have made progress and work together to solve the problem
4. If no solutions can be found, create an Open Question page so that others can see you are trying to solve this problem
5. Check the Deployment Tracker to see what other teams are currently working who are at the same or later stage in the Deployment Process as you and consult with them
6. Update the Open Question page when you find a solution

Readiness Assessment Process

This process helps you determine whether you are ready to start a deployment by providing a checklist. It also includes a questionnaire to help you determine the major areas of challenge you may have to point you in the right direction for how to overcome these challenges, such as

• by providing links to specific collaboration areas in the Deployment Wiki that may be more up to date than the guide as it is used by those involved in deployments right now to collaborate and share ideas
• by pointing you at the most relevant areas in the Dealing with exceptions section of the Deployment Guide

Release New Deployment Guide Process

Assumptions:

• The Deployment Guide will always be available from the same URL
• A draft of the new release will be created in a separate document whilst it is being worked on
• Once the new release is ready for publication, the google doc will be updated and an announcement made on the Deployment Wiki

Process:

1. Identify volunteers from currently active deployment teams to support the process by providing up to date experience and review of changes to the wiki and document
2. Create a new page in the Deployment Wiki for collaborating on producing the new version of the Deployment Guide
3. Update the front page of the wiki to say that a new version of the deployment guide is currently being produced, the expected date by which it will be available, and provide a link to the collaboration page inviting input
4. Produce a draft of the new Deployment Guide by copying the current release into a new google doc
5. Review changes made to the wiki.laptop.org Deployment Wiki since the last release of the Deployment Guide was created
   1. Consolidate similar entries in the wiki and add these to the draft deployment guide or replace sections if these entries supercede them and also remove the corresponding superceded sections of the wiki
   2. Review the Open Questions section of the Deployment Wiki
      1. Answer the questions if possible, consulting the deployment teams who raised them in the process to validate the answers
      2. Update the Open Question page and incorporate the answer into the draft deployment guide
6. Send the draft to the volunteers and members of the core team who have agreed to review it
7. Apply review comments
8. Issue the new document by publishing a message on the Deployment Wiki

Documents

Deployment Guide

Notes: As well as containing a refinement of the current Deployment Guide, this revised document will also contain the following:

1. A process for requesting improvements to the guide
2. A process for requesting help when the guide does not contain the expected information (the Solve Problem Process)
3. A FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section
4. The Anatomy of an OLPC deployment
   1. A high level overview of the deployment process
   2. The typical roles and responsibilities of deployment team members
   3. A list and description of all the typical parts (e.g. laptops, power, connectivity) and associated deployment activities
   4. A list of alternative parts, pros and cons of each and when you would usually choose one over another (e.g. forms of power)
5. Glossary of terms
6. A Dealing with exceptions section listing the circumstances that are not dealt with by the standard deployment process either because they are problem situations or exceptional or rare circumstances that would otherwise clutter the process and make it difficult to follow

Sections:

Contacts List

Containing the following details for each contact:

• Name
• Role
• Location
• Areas of expertise
• Email
• Mobile
• Land line
• Address
• Deployment experience (which locations have they been involved in deploying)

Report

Containing the following sections:

1. Summary of work done to create the deliverables to enable this activity to be repeated at a future date
2. Observations on potential issues that should be addressed or opportunities that could be exploited
3. Recommendations for how to increase the use and effectiveness of the deployment guide

Location Deployment Plan

The Location Deployment Plan provides a plan for a specific deployment. It is created by the Prepare Deployment Process from the Deployment Guide.

Templates for Deployment Wiki Pages

Open Question

Contents

1. Question title
2. Description of the problem
3. Solutions considered and discarded and why
4. Ideas for how to solve the problem that are currently being explored
5. Contact details for the team