[foundation-board] Strategy process - a request

Becky Hogge becky.hogge at gmail.com
Mon Oct 8 15:37:11 UTC 2012


Hi Marcus

Thanks for all this information. I'm looking forward to receiving the
documents you outline in the next few days, and will comment further
then.

The terrain you're attempting to navigate in thinking about OKF's
future is indeed complex. This suggests to me that experimental
approaches coupled to a lightweight and responsive strategic framework
will be the best help in steering OKF successfully through the next
few months and years.

A small procedural note. It would be helpful if all Google Docs
intended for Board viewing are shared with our own Gmail accounts, as
it's a real pain to have to log in to a separate account to view them.
Also, have the credentials for the foundation-board at lists.okfn.org
Google account changed?

Cheers

Becky



On 27 September 2012 16:27, Marcus M. Dapp (OKF) <marcus.dapp at okfn.org> wrote:
> Dear board members,
>
> first of all, thank you for the valuable discussion, Becky, Jane, and Gavin!
> We also think that doing "the right things",
> i.e. setting goals and direction, needs to be done first to be able to focus
> on "doing the things right".
>
> In the last board meeting, the decision was made that the ET present a
> strategy document
> at the next meeting in December (with as much as possible of this discussed
> before so the Board meeting
> can be the sign-off of this initial process!). On behalf of the ET I'd like
> to give you a brief update and overview
> on how we work on strategy (1), where we are and what you can expect from us
> this month (2).
>
>
> 1) Two challenges to address
> The ET is working hard on 2 fronts currently:
> a) to develop improved management practices in the ET and within the org
> generally;
> b) to develop a direction and goals to guide the org into the future.
>
> To a large extent a) can be done without having b) fully in place, yet we
> need to work on both in
> parallel. To do that, we adopted the approach outlined here:
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PIVHp3niX2PnlDnhnndmft4KIsYBdRm2fHuTT08NVHM/edit#
> We are now working on producing the necessary analyses and documents step by
> step and by priority.
> (This document is not the reference anymore, please do not comment there.)
>
>
> 2) Update mechanism
> We decided to send out a monthly strategy brief to you -- the first in about
> two weeks time.
> Each brief will give you a (new) set of documents that we produced until
> then. We know the documents to be
> dynamic as many steps/aspects in the planning process are interrelated, but
> we ensure that the documents
> sent out are of sufficient maturity to be of use for the board. Internally,
> we treat the mailings as 'milstones'
> in our planning process.
>
> The list for October is not finalized yet, but expect to receive at least
> the following:
> * An updated Identity statement including vision, mission, etc. NEW: We will
> also make a first proposal
> for a values&principles statement as part of the core documents as it has
> been missing until now and we
> think that one strength of NGOs like the OKF is to make their aspirations
> explicit.
> * An organisational chart that provides a home for all of our current
> activities and that introduces a clear
> managament level below the executive team. This is of high priority to
> improve internal communication,
> cooperation and an important step towards establishing clearer job roles
> across the organisation -- and it will
> help to communicate to the outside world what we are doing.
> * A 'process chart' that completes the org chart. While the org chart is a
> static document with areas,
> roles, etc. the process chart describes how activities and projects 'move'
> through the organisation. We
> aspire to have a high level document that captures all aspects of the OKF,
> with additional documents
> specifiying the details to be produced later. Just one example: How does a
> project move from a Working
> Group into experiemental stage (in "Labs") and later with growing maturity
> into "Services"...?
> * Brief Role descriptions for each member of the executive team (one pager).
>
>
> 3) Strategy development requires a team effort.
> We are planning to work intensively on strategy over the next month and have
> planned a significant amount of
> online and in person time including a 4d in person meeting in late October
>
> There are many plausible routes to deliver our vision for open knowledge.
> Imagine a 3d matrix: one axis covers
> all the approaches we could take (writing code, writing blogs, training,
> campaigning, publishing, lobbying, etc),
> one the domains (gov, geo, science, hardware, carbon, humanities, etc) and
> one the stage of the data pipeline
> (publish, process, use). Any point on that matrix would be a valid path to
> our mission, but we must pick which
> ones and also ensure we can be resourced and sustainable. The profusion of
> options is why we are investing
> time and effort here, although we do not intend to map the whole landscape!
>
>
>
> We hope this email gives you a better sense of the work plan and direction
> regarding our current work on
> strategy and general management. We would be happy to receive any questions
> or comments.
>
> Thank you and best regards,
> Marcus
>
> (Please do not comment in the gdoc above as we moved on and are not using
> that version anymore.)
>
>
> --
> Dr Marcus M Dapp
> Foundation Coordinator
>
> Open Knowledge Foundation
> www.okfn.org
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> foundation-board mailing list
> foundation-board at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-board
>




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