All this RFP talk on Twitter and on the SIG Leaders mailing list has got me to thinking: How can STC efficiently plan, track, and implement initiatives?
The RFP process is old-school. It’s slow. It’s tedious. STC Board doesn’t have time; they need to be attending to Board matters. STC Office doesn’t have time; they need to be running the behind the scenes stuff.
So what to do? I think I’ve got it. Use the OpenSource project framework.
Use a central posting board for all initiatives, let members sign up to work on them (first to sign up is a champion for the initiative). When an initiative sits without a champion for too long, offer a bounty. It could be STC swag, books, free webinar passes, or free membership.
I think this idea has promise, but I haven’t had the time to completely develop it yet. So I’m putting it out there for all to think about. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Not that we should only do what others have done, but sometimes having a good model to follow is a good idea.
Can someone point us to specific OpenSource project framework implementations that are successful (by whatever measures are appropriate) and from which we can learn?
SourceForge has a good working model. http://sourceforge.net
Cool idea, Bill. The Body of Knowledge is trying this kind of approach with its Adopt-a-Topic initiative. I expect that it’ll attract some energetic and creative people who wouldn’t be targeted by — much less respond to — more traditional appeals for help.
Brilliant idea. Need to factor in a periodic review, though, to negotiate mergers between similar ideas [from folks who can't be bothered to read other people's stuff]. Too many of the sourceforge projects suffer from 800-feature-suggestions-for-4-unique-ideas syndrome.
Um… can you say “wiki”…..
I can say “wiki” but a wiki is not what I’m envisioning. Initiatives may make use of one, but I’m thinking more along the lines of a web-based project management platform.
I totally agree– Um…can you perhaps say MindTouch as well? Their open source platform is known for it’s compatibility. What more, MindTouch offers several different levels of support, depending upon what the STC should decide it wanted. http://www.mindtouch.com