Adventures in community management

We all know the old adage: “With great power comes great responsibility.” Now whether you heard it from Voltaire, Franklin Roosevelt, or Spider-man’s uncle, this quote remains relevant. As technology continues to grow, so do our ethical obligations to keep our digital world safe. One of my drives of becoming a community manager on Red Canary’s Open Source Programs team was to be a part of building a healthy, inclusive, and safe environment for all. One way to foster a thriving community is by providing a solid Code of Conduct. Codes of Conduct establish acceptable and unacceptable behavior and inform everyone that their actions hold power and have consequences.

A new Code of Conduct for Atomic Red Team

Recently, we revisited the Contributor Code of Conduct for Atomic Red Team, our increasingly popular library of tests for validating your detection capabilities.

The new version includes the following:

• clearer language to better understand what is expected of each community member
• guidance on how to report issues if a situation arises
• consequences for unacceptable behavior
• additional links to all of Atomic Red Team’s resources and social platforms

These changes are meant to help Atomic Red Team users, contributors, and maintainers understand our guidelines and how to act in the community. Stepping into our community with respect, inclusivity, and consideration cultivates a healthy and supportive environment for all. This is especially important in an open source project, where most of the contributors and maintainers are volunteering their time and effort for the greater good. We hope that the community will embrace this new and improved Code of Conduct.

Wait a minute, who are you again?

So who’s this Marrelle woman, what does she do, and what can I expect from her?

To add a little spice, I’m channeling the infamous tv character from The Golden Girls, Sophia Petrillo. Growing up I always loved her self-proclaimed stories, and to this day she’s the wisest woman I know. Here we go.

Picture it: Washington, DC, 2017, a young girl graduates in Strategic, Legal, and Management Communications. Never believing she would use her degree, she went on an adventure that led her to, you guessed it, use her degree. Over the years, she would grow in confidence, competence, and skills to thrive in communications and community management. And her love for building and nurturing communities came like second nature. During this time, she also grew a passion for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and became an advocate.

…That woman is me. If you want to learn more about who I am, you can visit my LinkedIn, read through my blogs, or just send me a message via Slack!

So…what would you say you do here?

To be totally honest, we’re still figuring that out. For a post on my personal blog, I interviewed other community managers about how they define their roles, and despite working on very different projects, we all came to the same conclusion: a community manager’s job is to nurture. We are gardeners planting new seeds (recruiting new contributors, launching new projects) while also tending to plants with deep roots (increasing engagement, rewarding stellar contributions, etc). My main goal is to make the Atomic Family of open source tools as equitable and inclusive as possible by increasing the diversity of contributors and improving the user experience for all.

My main goal is to make the Atomic Family of open source tools as equitable and inclusive as possible by increasing the diversity of contributors and improving the user experience for all.

What’s next for Atomic Red Team?

The Atomic Red Team maintainers wanted to make sure we continue to be driven by data, notice needs, and build out a living plan. We say living since we know the world changes, as do our lives and outcomes. One of our immediate goals was to review and update the Code of Conduct as a way to strengthen our community for the future. Our longer-term goals revolve around engagement with the Atomic Red Team GitHub repo.

Expect more interaction from us on the Red Canary Twitter, new informative resources, and maybe one day, you’ll be able to meet the team in person at a conference. We have a lot of fun things in store for everyone.

It’s such a privilege to be the first community manager for Atomic Red Team here at Red Canary: to have the opportunity to create, listen, and empower security professionals and the people they protect. I believe my drive, passion, and heart will lead me through this thrilling journey. I hope you’ll join me.