Making Change Happen

This article was originally published in Full Circle Magazine as a series of five articles.

Part One: Goals

The challenge with change is knowing where to start. In this five-part series we will look at the process of how the Ubuntu Women team is making change happen. Topics will include: goal setting, action items, areas of responsibility, evaluation and volunteer retention.

The first step in accomplishing change is to have a vision of the future. To create this vision: ask your group what the future will look like. Allow each person to shape the vision they have for the group—having each voice represented will help to keep volunteers motivated. Include as many details as possible to describe your dream for the future. Encourage creative thinking.

From this vision pull out a list of things that are different from what is happening today. These will be your goals. Goals are broad statements which describe the ideal future for your community or project. Post the list of goals on your project Web site for everyone to read. Ideally this document will be in a community-editable format, such as a Wiki, so that no one person controls the vision for the group.

The Ubuntu Women team has started this process by creating a Road Map. In this document we outline what the Ubuntu community will look like in the future. In each part of the vision we are trying to include a measurable goal. For example under the Role Models section we have included the goal to have, “at least three visibly active women in all core Ubuntu projects.” There are no time lines within this document. You can see the draft version of our Road Map at: http://wiki.ubuntu-women.org/RoadMap

Get started on your list of dreams and check back next month for the next step in making change happen.

Part Two: Action Items

Last month we created a vision of what success looks like. From this vision we developed goals for our project. This month we will break our goals into the “action items” we need to complete to achieve success.

For each of the goals you identified last month, write out a list of all the steps you would need accomplish to achieve that goal. You may have some goals that have similar tasks. These can be combined into projects with their own list of action items. Sort the items so that tasks that can be started immediately are at the top of the list. You may wish to track these tasks in a project Wiki. A quick Web search will reveal many different task tracking utilities—from command line utilities to full Web applications. The trick with each of these tools is to break your lists into tasks you can complete in less than two hours. If the tasks are too large they will never get done.

Here is an example of how to break your goals into tasks. One of the goals of the Ubuntu Women team is to encourage women to participate in core Ubuntu projects. Our list of things To Do includes:

- compile a list of core projects in Ubuntu;
- identify contact people for each core project;
- identify how many women are currently active in each group.

You can view the full list at http://wiki.ubuntu-women.org/ToDo.

Time to turn your dreams into tasks! Check back next month to see how we deal with the (overwhelming) list of tasks you have created.

Part Three: Areas of Responsibility

The tricky part about change is converting enthusiasm into action. You have a vision of the future. You know the goals you need to accomplish. You are ready to put your plan into action. But how do you get people to actually sign up for, and do the tasks you have identified?

Open source software communities are bottom-up communities. We like choosing the bugs we are going to fix and we like being the champion of specific features. Affecting change is exactly the same. It is important to follow the energy of your team members. Allow individuals to pick the tasks they are excited about completing. Take advantage of the excitement that is available to you at any given moment to get different tasks completed. Help volunteers find tasks they are interested in working on. Remember to ask for help—newcomers love being asked to be a core part of their community.

List your tasks according to their complexity and time requirements. Proof reading a media kit might be time consuming, but does not require intimate technical knowledge. Booking a room for your next face-to-face meeting on the other hand takes less time, but requires (a different kind) of knowledge. Seeing progress is very motivating. Ask people to set deadlines of less than two weeks for each of their tasks.

People are now signing up for tasks and getting them done. Fantastic! Next month we look at evaluating progress.

Part Four: Evaluating Progress

It often feels like the most time consuming part of a project is the last 10%. In a juggling act this is the moment when all of the balls are in the air. The success of the juggler’s performance depends on each of the balls falling neatly into the juggler’s hands without having to lurch to catch a stray ball. Keeping a close eye on your project will allow you to neatly complete all of your tasks and to reach your goal.

Last month I encouraged you to set short deadlines for yourself and your teammates. In addition to this you should also have regular meetings or a space for people to report on their tasks. Set a schedule and make your report public. If you are meeting in “real time” make sure your meeting has an agenda and that you keep the meeting as short as possible. Seeing your progress reported will help you judge how far away you are from achieving your goal.

But what if no one signs up for tasks? Or perhaps people have signed up for tasks but nothing is getting done? If either of these apply to your group it might be time to take a step back and evaluate your original goals. Do your personal goals for the project match the personal goals of the other participants? Take a close look and ask yourself: does this community need a gentle push to get it started, or is there a fundamental difference between what I want to accomplish and what the rest of the group wants to achieve?

Next month, in the final installment of this series, we look at the trickiest question of all: once you have them, how do you keep the best volunteers actively working towards your goal?

Part Five: Volunteer Retention

In this final installment of “Making Change Happen” we take a look at volunteer retention.
The world of open source software relies almost entirely on volunteer contributions. All behaviour is motivated and different volunteers will have unique reasons to work on a project. For some people it is enough to have the satisfaction of a job well done; however, most volunteers will also need some kind of external recognition. This may include anything from the karma points in Launchpad to peer recognition for having contributed a useful patch.

Within your project’s team you need to create an environment where volunteers feel supported, valued and welcomed. Volunteers give up their free time to contribute to a project. They will only be motivated to stay with the project as long as the project satisfies a need of theirs. Make sure the work is fun (yes, debugging code is fun for some people). Take every opportunity to applaud competence and any other trait you value. Offer feedback on work that is done by your volunteers, but do be aware of the kind of feedback you are giving—you may want to give constructive criticism privately.

Keep track of the people not just the code that is contributed. Identify the motivating behaviour for each of your core volunteers and make sure they are receiving their motivational pay cheque. Being aware of each person’s habits will help you to spot potential burn-out as well. Although recruiting new volunteers can be a solution to losing people from your project, retaining happy volunteers is the key to success.

The commitment to making change happen is ongoing. Review your progress on a regular basis. Make sure you are: setting goals, creating action items, designating areas of responsibility, evaluating progress and retaining your volunteers. I look forward to reading about your continued success.

Emma Jane Hogbin builds and supports on-line communities using open source software. She lives in rural Canada and chronicles her adventures at www.emmajane.net.