Leadership Interview: Sigrid Gramlinger

At the heart of Joomla's development and stability, the Production Department plays a key role in coordinating teams and managing the CMS's release cycles. Leading this effort is Sigrid Gramlinger, who has just been re-elected as Coordinator, ensuring effective organization and timely updates.

For the past two years, she has been fully committed to this mission, working closely with various teams to maintain the quality and sustainability of the project. In this interview, she shares her experience, the challenges she has faced, and her motivations for continuing to guide Joomla's evolution. She also discusses the major issues facing the CMS, the importance of contributor engagement, and ongoing initiatives to enhance the project's visibility and long-term stability.

Let’s discover her journey, her dedication, and her vision for Joomla's future.

Congratulations on being re-elected as Operations Department Coordinator for Joomla, Sigrid ! You’ve been in this position for 2 years now, could you tell us what this job entails? 

Thank you. This job entails the coordination of all aspects related to the code of all software led by our organization, Open Source Matters. For this, we have various teams within the department. My job is to support the team leads, hold regular department meetings, organize onboarding and offboarding, oversee the budgetary process, help resolve conflicts, and more.

I took over a well-functioning department from Benjamin Trenkle one and a half years ago, and most of the teams within production are active and working. So, actually, they are the ones who deserve the credit.

Why did you decide to run for another term?

Joomla and its community are really important to me. I still want to support the entire organization, and after one and a half years, I understand the processes and organizational structure quite well. It feels good to contribute in this position.

If you look back on the things you've done since your first election in 2023, what are you most proud of?

I am proud that all Joomla releases happened on time and basically without issues. This is only possible because of the great people working on it. Also, I am proud that people in my department feel comfortable approaching me for support when they have problems within their teams.

Were there things you hadn't expected to happen, or things you underestimated?

The amount of time spent in meetings and organizing them to get things done was more than I anticipated. Also, I didn’t expect how much effort it takes to make things happen.

Additionally, motivating people to engage in teams is quite challenging.

What does it take to be a good department coordinator?

I think you have to be consistent and provide structure for the teams. Also, motivating people to take responsibility and become team leads is important. The onboarding process for team leads gives them structure and a clear outline, which helps. Ultimately, you have to be there for the people.

What do you like most about Joomla and its community?

The people. I really love working with the different teams and being on the board.

What is it like to be on the Board?

Last year, we had some vacancies on the board, but now it is back to full strength, and I can feel the energy and motivation that comes with it. The most important elements are our internal channel on Mattermost and our full board meetings every two weeks. There is a lot of exchange and planning happening. It is a team that truly cares about Joomla and its community.

What do you see as the most important job for the Production Department Coordinator within Joomla?

Ensuring the regular release of Joomla updates as promised.

In your manifesto, you say you want to focus on increasing long-term stability for Joomla. What does this mean for your short-term and long-term goals?

In the long term, it means having release managers and team leads who are available and receive the best support within the department.

You also say you want to make the engagement of our volunteers visible. Why? And how?

We have some ideas and need to work on them. We are also looking at how other Open Source projects handle this. One project we are considering is Holopin, where people can showcase their participation in events or their role as active team members using badges.

On GitHub, it is easy to showcase contributions and engagement, but time spent in meetings, documentation, and forum support is currently not visible. I want to change that.

What do you consider your biggest challenge?

Identifying problems early and preventing them from growing into bigger issues.

And what is our biggest challenge as Joomla, both now and in the future?

I think Joomla’s biggest challenge is staying relevant and competitive in a changing CMS and digital landscape. We need to keep up with modern development standards and improve visibility while relying on a volunteer-driven ecosystem.

How can we help in achieving these goals and addressing the challenges?

The community and each individual member can play a key role by promoting Joomla, mentoring newcomers, and contributing code and ideas. We can also support non-code efforts like documentation and marketing, helping to build a sustainable CMS for the future.