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projects-director

Documentation and in-progress work of NumFOCUS's sustainability program.

Roadmap

Roadmap, organized by quarter, then month. I’l update this roadmap regularly.

Areas of work

My work as Project Director is organized into give (5) main areas:

Communication with and among projects [PC] includes one-on-one communication and relationship-building between myself and individual project leads, as well as intra-project communication and resource-sharing.

Relationship-building w/ industry [RB] includes: a) collaboratively developing “marketing” materials for use in outreach to potential and current industry supporters of NumFOCUS projects, b) relationship-building activities (e.g. networking, introductions, conference participation, etc.), and c) market research (e.g. determining which industries and organizations are ideal audiences for NumFOCUS projects).

Skill-building and curriculum development [SB] will focus on on biz dev, sustainability, and other areas of concern as identified by project leads.

Metrics and reporting [MR] focus on identifying metrics related to project activity, engagement, and sustainability factors and implementing collection and reporting on those metrics so that we can track how we’re doing over time.

External outreach [EO] includes summarizing and communicating sustainability program efforts and results to interested audiences external to NumFOCUS. This work is done in coordination with NumFOCUS Communications and Events directors.

Q1-2017

Goals

Meta

Goal: Create and deliver roadmap for Q1-Q2 2017.

Metric(s): 1) Roadmap should include clear goals, at least one for each work area, as well as “success metrics” for each goal which make it clear whether the goal has been achieved, 2) Roadmap should reflect feedback from project leads, board of directors, advisory council, sustainability board, and NumFOCUS staff.

Project Communication

Goal: Establish regular, on-going, meaningful communication with and between project leads.

Metric(s): 1) Established dialog with at least one lead from each NumFOCUS sponsored project. 2) Facilitated at least one intra-project call with attendance by at least 30% of project leads. 3) Incorporated feedback from project leads in deliverables of other Q1 goals.

Relationship-building

Goal: Create preliminary plan for developing industry-focused outreach materials and processes for use by projects.

Metric(s): 1) Plan reflects relevant and prioritized concerns of project leads (as demonstrated via feedback from those leads), 2) Plan reflects an orientation that will be of interest to target industry audiences (as determined by sustainability board and other advisors).

Skill-building

Goal: Create preliminary a plan for skill building and curriculum development.

Metric(s): 1) Plan reflects relevant and prioritized concerns of project leads (as demonstrated by feedback from those leads), 2) Plan identifies areas where third-party support and/or expertise is needed and indicates where and how much financial support is needed, 3) Plan makes efficient use of project and organizational resources, incorporating and leveraging existing events, materials, and infrastructure where appropriate, 4) Plan includes progress towards development of OSNAP kit.

Metrics and reporting

Goal: Identify preliminary set of relevant metrics for tracking progress towards “sustainability” overtime and deliver a plan for collecting and reporting on those metrics.

Metric(s): 1) Chosen metrics should reflect feedback from project leads, board of directors, advisory council, and sustainability board, 2) Chosen metrics should be ones that can be measured or observed without on-going, burdensome effort on the part of project leads or NumFOCUS staff, 3) Metrics and reporting mechanism should be chosen such that reporting can be completed on at least a quarterly basis and that the first reporting can be completed by the end of Q2.

External outreach

Goal: Develop, with the Communications Director, an overall external outreach program plan and calendar.

Metric(s): 1) Plan identifies priority NumFOCUS audiences and includes an effective means of reaching them, 2) Plan outlines a process for collecting relevant news and other content from projects for dissemination in an efficient and timely manner, 3) Plan utilizes existing NumFOCUS communication channels and identifies areas for improvement or expansion, 4) Plan includes a process for synthesizing and highlighting the value and impact of work across NumFOCUS projects, including that of the sustainability program.

February milestones

Note: I moved some milestones to March to accommodate February being a short month, the President’s day holiday, and jury duty.

Travel

March milestones

Travel

Q2-2017

Goals:

April milestones

Travel

May milestones

Travel

June milestones

Travel

Q3-2017

Goals:

July milestones

Travel

August milestones

Travel

September milestones

Travel

Q4-2017

Goals:

October milestones

Travel

November milestones

Travel

December milestones

Travel

random questions

details from grant

“We therefore conducted an informal survey of the projects, and found that they are interested in increased communication between the projects, opportunities for training and direction on what to learn, support in building business plans and help with networking outside of academic and open source communities.”

“This project aims to

1) connect the NumFOCUS Projects to each other to jointly develop and share information on sustainability strategies,

2) connect Project leads with people with relevant expertise and networks, including a Projects Director to be hired on this project and an Advisory Board,

3) provide training on business and financial planning, marketing strategies and effective communication,

4) develop and disseminate an Open Source Projects Guide to fundraising and project management and

5) support infrastructure that would help the Projects more effectively manage finances and client and business relationships. “

deliverables mentioned in grant

Responsibilities (from job description):