Technology
This section of the toolkit is focused on activities that will help you with establishing, stabilizing, and evolving sustainable technology for your program. It is designed to help you structure discussions and gain consensus about next steps for sustainable technology for your OSS program. It is not a toolkit for day-to-day software development.
Definition: The core of each program supported by It Takes a Village is open-source software or systems serving cultural and scientific heritage organizations. There are parallels with proprietary software development processes, but working within the open source world brings its own challenges around community, resources, and governance that affect the software development process.
Instructions
Brand new to It Takes a Village in Practice?
Check out our Getting Started Resources before jumping in!Review the activities and goals below to select ones you want to use for sustainability planning.
These activities are designed to help you move from one phase to the next and can be used in any order. You can use any or all of them.
Suggested persona pathways are outlined at bottom of page, but it is not expected that programs would do all activities. These activities are currently available for beta testing.As you use them,
the ITAViP Co Directorswe are eager for feedback via ITAV@lyrasis.org
Some beta testers have kindly provided samples of their work with activities. Those They are available included below as available.
Phase 1: Laying the Groundwork | |||
Phase 1 Objectives include: Understand Core Community Needs, Continue to Gather Data, and Communicate Progress and Process with Stakeholders | |||
1. Catastrophizing Who Are Your Technology Stakeholders? | Goals: Note: This activity is valuable for any phase.Identify and prioritize the community's technology stakeholders, create a high-level map of the technology stakeholder's characteristics, and identify the program's goal for high-priority stakeholder groups. Related Objectives: Understand Core Community Needs | DOC | |
2. Checklist of Governance ElementsTechnical Skills Inventory (Part One) | Goal: Create an inventory of what technical skills are required for technical staff, contributors, and users to develop, support, and maintain the platform. Related Objectives: Understand Core Community NeedsGoals: | DOC | |
3. Understanding Governance Models and Process ImpactPersonas and Pathways | Goals: Learn how to bring contributors onto your project using tools called "personas" and "pathways," help your program plan and test how you'll interact with new contributors, and imagine what is really involved for new contributors to succeed. Related Objectives: Understand Core Community NeedsGoal: | DOC | |
4. Structure: How Much Works Best for Your Program NowLandscape Analysis | Goal: Understand where your program fits in the technology landscape, and use results to innovate, make decisions, identify opportunities for collaboration, and/or increase your program's usefulness or effectiveness. Related Objectives: Understand Core Community NeedsGoal: | DOC | |
5. Selecting a Governance Model that Fits Your Program NeedsBuy A Feature Game | Goals: Help users prioritize among a list of pre-defined (but not yet developed) features, and promote cooperation among end users. Related Objectives: Continue to Gather DataGoal: | DOC | |
6. Articulating the Case for ChangeCommunity QA Testing | Goals: Review program's current QA practices and evaluate whether they are structured in a manner that can be supported by the community, identify places for improvement, and conduct a successful round of Community QA Related Objectives: Continue to Gather DataGoals: | DOC | |
7. Evaluate Communication Campaign FeedbackDocumentation Friction Logging | Goal: Understand how usable your current documentation is via friction logging with documentation users. Related Objectives: Continue to Gather Data | DOC |
Phase 2: |
Expanding and Integrating | |||
Phase 2 Objectives include: |
8. Catastrophizing
Engage the Community, Grow Thoughtfully, and Consider Integration over New Development | |||
8. Shadow Observations | Goal : Gain insight about users’ jobs, pains, and gains; l earn about users’ day-to-day work in a real-life setting; and incorporate end-users’ experiences into program planning. Related Objectives: Engage the Community |
Goals: Test resiliency of current model; Understand how the program’s current governance (or decision making) works with unexpected issues; Understand if the model works well or has gaps; Identify and document issues that need to be solved.
Examples: Ideate, Prioritize, GapDOC | ||
9. |
Recognition and Contributions | Goals: |
Understand how the program currently recognizes contributions, understand the kind of recognition that is most appreciated/motivating to each kind of contributor, and discover how the program can improve in this area. Related Objectives: Engage the Community |
DOC | |
10. |
Goals: Assess the financial and organizational stability of your program’s governance, and identify gaps or areas of governance that need improvement.
DOC - Activity
DOC - Checklist
PDF - Activity
PDF - Checklist
Value Propositions for Job Descriptions | Goals: Create a value proposition for a new program position (e.g. community manager, technical lead) to help articulate significance of allocating resources to program leadership, and optionally, create a job description for a new program position. Related Objectives: Engage the Community | ||
11. Building Welcoming Communities | Goals: Identify what documentation your program has that supports growing a successful community, and prioritize missing documentation and develop a plan for its development. Related Objectives: Grow Thoughtfully | DOC | |
12. Not Invented Here: Assessing Integration Options | Goals: Identify functional requirements or feature requests that may be solved by integration, and identify and assess potential integration solutions to satisfy functional requirements or feature requests. Related Objectives: Consider Integration over New Development |
11. Position Descriptions for Elected Leaders
Goals: Create, update, or confirm position descriptions for elected leaders; Help elected leaders and community members understand the roles and responsibilities of each position; and Facilitate succession planning.
12. Creating Personas
DOC | ||
13. |
How We Retire Features | Goals: |
14. Org Home: Requirements Gathering and Assessment
Goals: Determine if you need a new organization to provide functions; gather requirements for assessment and decision.
15. Five Elements Assessment
Goals: Evaluate the program’s current governance structure, determine potential needs, and prioritize work going forward.
Phase 3: Evolving Governance
Phase 3 Objectives include Support Consistent Structures, Continue to Evaluate and Evolve Governance Practices and Expand community Participation in Governance
16. Succession Planning
Goals: Identify critical positions within your organization; Identify future staffing needs; Identify people with the skills and potentials to perform future roles; Develop action plans for individuals to assume those positions.
17. Continuing Education
Goals: Determine what information is necessary for Board members to feel invested, informed and engaged; Identify topics that inform Board discussions and decisions; Create a continuing education plan (schedule and content) based on those topics for Board members.
18. Catastrophizing
Goals: Test resiliency of current model; Understand how the program’s current governance (or decision making) works with unexpected issues; Understand if the model works well or has gaps; Identify and document issues that need to be solved.
Examples: Ideate, Prioritize, Gap
19. Representative Governance Assessment Checklist
Goals: Evaluate if governance structure is representative, prioritize any gaps, document or revise governance policies or decision making process, and devise a plan to make change to practices.
DOC - Activity
DOC - Checklist
PDF - Activity
PDF - Checklist
20. Expanding Community Participation
Goal: Develop a plan to expand community participation in governance.
Identify elements of the platform that can be retired, develop a plan for communicating retirement plans with the community, and communicate the retirement decision to the community. Related Objectives: Consider Integration over New Development | DOC |
Phase 3: Preparing for Change | |||
Phase 3 Objectives include: Reassess Community Needs, Plan for Evolution, and Document an Exit Strategy | |||
14. Technology Stakeholders: Does the Shoe Still Fit? | Goal: Re-identify and re-prioritize the community’s technology stakeholders, create a high-level map of the technology stakeholder’s characteristics, and support program team’s work developing strategies to advance technology sustainability. Related Objectives: Reassess Community Needs | DOC | |
15. Catastrophizing - Tech Edition (Part One) | Goals: Understand how the program’s current technical staff, stack, and roadmap work with unexpected issues (catastrophes), and help programs identify how resilient their staff, stack, and long-range technical strategy are. Related Objectives: Reassess Community Needs | DOC | |
16. List of Dreams | Goals: Articulate what future directions your core application could take, assess skills and technology requirements for future directions, and plan for and prioritize professional development opportunities for program stakeholders (staff, contributors, trainers, etc.). Related Objectives: Reassess Community Needs | DOC | |
17. Catastrophizing - Tech Edition (Part Two) | Goal: Turn the issues identified in Part 1 of Catastrophizing into actionable plans. Related Objectives: Plan for Evolution | DOC | |
18. Technical Skills Inventory (Part Two) | Goals: Update your program’s inventory of what technical skills are needed for technical staff, contributors, and users to develop, support, and maintain the platform; and identify new skills that your program will need to acquire or old skills that can be phased out as the program advances. Related Objectives: Plan for Evolution | DOC | |
19. Developing an End-of-Life Communication Plan | Goal: Develop plan to communicate end-of-life decisions with community. Related Objectives: Document an Exit Strategy | ||
20. Winding Down an Open Source Software Program | Goal : Decide when a project or program is no longer useful, understand how to disengage from a project or program, and determine what to do about code, repositories, websites, wikis, and other project or program assets. Related Objectives: Document an Exit Strategy | DOC |
You can use any of the activities in any order but we have designed some suggested pathways based on a few personas: