Links:
Google Doc
Presentation
Recording
Slack channel: #global-tools
What is the purpose of this session?
- Get a better understanding of how everyone feels about OFN’s current tools
- Source as many ideas as possible
What outcomes/deliverables do we want?
- An action plan (people in charge / steps to fulfil the needs)
Who is facilitating? Rachel, Andy, Thomas
Who is scribing? Andy
Summary:
Check-ins
Intro - Thomas’ Presentation
Andy leads us in a collaborative brainstorming around two questions in Google Doc :
- What is the most frustrating aspect of collaborating with other people right now at OFN?
- Problem of transparency - e.g. too much happens in Slack, #WWMD (what would Myriam do?)
- Problem of lacking an index - where is all the information?
- Problem of duplication - lacking single-point-of-truth
- Problem of lacking clarity re: expectations around tools - e.g. are we expected to read all messages in Slack? Anxiety re: keeping up with conversations. Difficult to get an overview of what’s going on globally
- Need for balance between clear process and agility
- Rachel highlights that this session was crafted around the question of choice of tools, but what’s emerging here is that a lot of the difficulty is with the processes around our existing tools
- What are the best tools you use: why do you think they would be interesting for OFN and why do you think they are easy to use? (even if it’s outside of OFN, or not a computer/digital tool)?
- Key considerations: ease-of-use, versatility (multiple functions in one), powerful search, security, interoperability
- Theresa wonders if we can construct a list of core tools everyone in Global OFN community needs to use, plus list of supplementary tools for specific functions
- Need for clear onboarding with tools - symbolic work of granting OFN belonging, identity
- Lynne highlights tension between openness (Discourse, Slack) and privacy/security (Google Drive)
- Eriol shares some concerns re: data security at OFN (e.g. personal political security)
- Thomas also brings the corporate perspective re: HR, grant applications, etc.
Go deeper in one tension - Rachel and Thomas
- 2 key tensions emerging from governance discussions so far - focus on one for this exercise:
- Where we’re making decisions
- How we manage projects
- First steps to creating a grid for evaluating different solutions (not only software solutions) for our different requirements
- Grid in Google Doc allows us to vote on the importance of different criteria for:
- a) tools generally
- b) a decision-making tool (e.g. Clear process for surfacing information relevant to the decision, Voting tool, History of decisions made, underlying reasoning, etc.)
- Rachel: Voting criterion - this is an open question, voting suggests a particular approach to decision-making.
- Theresa: we are more focused on consensus, so would rather need a tool that could show dissenting views, who’s being left out, etc.
- Thomas: maybe we can say participation instead of voting
- Andy: potentially we need different tools for different types of decisions (including which circles are involved in the decision - Slack could be sufficient for small circles)
- Lynne: maybe important mantra is “nothing about us without us” - we have to be able to make decisions at different levels (individual, work group, OFN as a whole), but also consult those who our decisions affect
Actions:
- Thomas: Animate discussion regarding tools, choosing tools, being part of the implementation of new tools
- Slack channel #global-tools will carry this discussion forward
Detailed notes:
See Google Doc for Andy’s detailed notes and collaborative documenting 