Guidelines for Trust and Identity Working Group Chairs and Flywheels

Time to spin up a new collaborative working group? First of all, thanks for stepping into this leadership role.

Wondering how the email list, wiki, calendar, agendas and other details will work? Wondering how to get support if you hit some challenges in steering the working group?

This page is designed to help.

Start Up Steps for a Working Group 

• Develop charge/scope document. Examples:
  

• New Entities Working Group, Federation Interoperability Working Group

• Identify a chair and (optionally) co-chair for the working group

• In the case of a governance or advisory group, there may be an Internet2 flywheel assigned, that is, a designated Internet2 staff member to assist with the group.  See Table of Internet2 Support Levels to Trust and Identity Working Groups.
  

• Publicize call for membership. See Tools for Publicizing Working Groups.

• Consider the stakeholders who should be represented on the working group and do targeted outreach as appropriate.
  
  • International participation
  • large schools, small schools
  • research groups
  • verticals
  • corporate partners
• Email mw-service@internet2.edu to request
  • email list (see email list naming guidelines)
  • Edial phone bridge or BlueJeans (video conferencing) coordinates
    • Note to flywheels: do not set up an Edial call under your own Edial account. Be sure to request from mw-service: mw-service uses a shared Edial account (i2MI-info@internet2.edu) that will be sustained even if a particular staff member departs.
  • wiki space (here is a note for InCommon staff regarding placement of the working group wikis)

• Determine the meeting schedule

• may use a Doodle Poll to determine members’ availability

• Optional: Establish a calendar invite using Outlook
  

  • Because group membership changes and can be hard to keep up with in a calendar tool, we rely primarily on emails to inform the community of working group calls.
    

  • We do not always provide a calendar invite
    

Additional Infrastructure

• Notes / minutes if needed. Collaborative scribing using a Google doc is recommended.

  • Set up one Google Doc to be reused for collaborative scribing. An example is here.
    
  •  Configure permissions so anyone with the link has edit access, unless you need to restrict access to the notes more tightly.
    
  • To archive the collaboratively scribed notes, either
    •  include a link to the collaborative scribing doc on the Working Group wiki, and/or
    • On the working group wiki, create a page for the minutes after each call, and transfer the notes into that page.
      

• Other tools as needed, such as:

• Box.com for document storage

• Adobe Connect or other tool for slide sharing during calls

• Video Conferencing (BlueJeans is available from Internet2 as of summer 2015, it can be used instead of the Edial phone bridge)
  

• Feel free to Email mw-service@internet2.edu to request help with the above tools
  

Ongoing Support

• Ensure good practice is followed for working group calls, including:

• sending an agenda prior to calls

• See working group agenda template.
  

• Make sure that Action Items are noted during the call, and reviewed at the end of the call.
  

• For software development groups, ensure that all contributors have signed the contrib agreement.

• Wiki / website should be updated with relevant information

• Update the community on status / milestones /accomplishments. See Tools for Publicizing Working Groups.

• Schedule Birds of a Feather (BOF) sessions or working group meetings at Internet2 Conferences

• Schedule and coordinate additional Face-to-Face meetings as needed
• For groups where the charter dictates membership terms (i.e. governance and advisory groups) ensure that the terms are adhered to, and new members are recruited and on-boarded accordingly.  Send letter of appreciation to outgoing members of governance and advisory groups (Emily will help with this)

Tips for Working Group Chairs

Logistics:

• Send logistical needs/requests/questions to mw-service@internet2.edu
• Both Emily Eisbruch and Dean Woodbeck will receive the requests you send to mw-service@internet2.edu
• If you do not receive a timely response, or if you have follow up questions, email mw-service@internet2.edu again.

During Calls:

• Prior to calls, send out agenda  (see above in "Ongoing support" section)
   
• Welcome group members
  
• Be sure to announce that the Internet2 Intellectual Property Framework  Reminder is in effect
  
• Follow agenda; if completely new items come up, consider adding them to the agenda for a future call
• Leave time for questions 
• Review Action Items at end of call
• Finish calls on time 
• Draw out people who may be reticent or shy 

Other:

• Serve as a bridge to Internet2 staff where needed  

• Serve as a bridge/ambassador to related Internet2 and community efforts.

• Stay in touch with the chair of the body that chartered your working group (e.g. Steering, TAC, AAC).
  
• Gently but firmly moving efforts forward/toward conclusion 
• Work to wrap up very long discussions/discussion threads on calls/email 
• When reports/ recommendations are to be produced, it generally works best of there are a small number (one to three) of authors and the rest of the group provides feedback. The chair should probably set expectations accordingly.
   
• Acknowledge group membership contributions  
• On working group calls, in emails, and in other forums, create a friendly, positive experience

Process for Vetting Documents (this is being reviewed as of Sept 25, 2015) 

• post the proposed document on the wiki
• email the constituent mailing list(s) with a request for review  and a timeframe.
• send an email reminder
• address community comments 
• allow time for a final review if changes have  been made based on community input

Closing a Group

When a group finishes its work or gets transitioned/combined for a new phase of work:

• Summarize the group’s work

• Update the community on group's accomplishments. See Tools for Publicizing Working Groups.
  

• Express appreciation to group members for their contribution

• Email to the appropriate list(s) of the group’s closing

• Indicate on the wiki and / or website the group's completed status

• Remove calendar item from people's calendars (if applicable)
  

• Close Sympa email list after a period of time (optional, there may a reason to keep the list around in case follow-up is needed)

See Also:

InCommon Working Group Home

Working Group Agenda template

Tools for Publicizing Working Groups

Internet2 Support Levels to Trust and Identity Working Groups (Google Doc)