Composition of Council sub-teams

• Sub-teams may be Council-specific (reporting to either TAC or UAC), or cross-Council (including members from and reporting to both Councils).

• In the 2022-2023 term, Chairs polled their councils to determine ideal team sizes. Both UAC and TAC reported that an ideal subteam consists of 4-5 people with twice that for cross-council teams (8-10). This means both councils should be between 18-23 people and avoid dipping below 18 members total.

• Council members will serve on at least 1 and no more than 2 sub-teams per term.

• Sub-teams should have a minimum of 4 members.

• Cross-council teams should have a minimum of 2 members from each Council. Leadership of those teams should ideally go back and forth between the Councils, with each year’s Chair and Vice Chair from opposite councils. This is an ideal and sometimes is not practical.

• Council members may change sub-teams throughout their time on Council, however, to support continuity, they are encouraged to serve out the duration of a term in their sub-team assignment. If a member would like to change their assignment for an upcoming term, they should communicate their desired assignment to Council leadership at least a month before the end of the term. Note: Sub-team rosters and changes to rosters are made at the discretion of Council leadership.

• At the end of each term, requirements for sub-team rosters for the subsequent term will be determined as Council members complete their appointments. New Council members will be assigned to sub-teams as required and according to members’ skills and interest.

Sub-team leadership

• Each sub-team will have a designated Lead and Vice-Lead. A Council member will serve in each role for one full term, with the Vice-Lead succeeding as lead in the following term. At the end of the term, a new Vice-Lead for the next term will be selected from the sub-team membership. The selected Vice-Lead must have at least 2 years remaining in their term (or be willing to stand for re-appointment at the end of their first term).

• Cross-council teams should have a lead representing one council and vice-lead representing the other. This will guarantee that leadership of the sub-team will alternate between the two Councils.

• Sub-team leaders are free to decide how to divide leadership duties. Typically, the sub-team Lead will schedule and run meetings and be responsible for reporting the work of the sub-team to their respective Council and quarterly reports. The vice-lead will assist the Lead as needed and appropriate.

Sub-team responsibilities

• Sub-team meeting attendance is required. If a team member must miss a meeting it is the member’s responsibility to notify the team lead in advance and review the meeting notes following the meeting.

• At the beginning of each term, each sub-team will draft a work plan for the year, informed by priorities suggested by the sub-team at the end of the prior term.

• At the end of each term, each sub-team will draft a retrospective of the sub-team’s activities for the year, to include:

  • An overview of major activities for the year

  • Discussion of any items from the work plan that were not completed

  • Recommended priorities for the next term

• See also https://archivesspace.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AC/pages/3137994795

Sub-team meetings

• Most sub-teams typically meet monthly, at a regularly scheduled and mutually convenient time. If a sub-team’s work is closely aligned to the ArchivesSpace release schedule (e.g. Testing), regular monthly meetings may not be necessary. Some Leads or Council Chairs elect to use the same time every month, while others poll membership for an ideal date for each meeting.

• Subteam leaders may use whatever scheduling and video conferencing software they choose, but typically meeting times are established by free Doodle polls and Leads and Chairs use Zoom accounts to host and run meetings. Subteam Leads that wish to wish to use the community Zoom account (provided by LYRASIS) should review https://archivesspace.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AC/pages/3137994944 for more information on how to access that free resource.

• Leads are encouraged to send meeting invites well in advance of meeting times.

• Ahead of each meeting:

  • Schedule the meeting using your web conferencing software of choice and give your members appropriate notice

  • Create an agenda https://archivesspace.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AC/pages/3137994892

  • Send a calendar invite with the date, time, and link to the agenda, and meeting software link/invite

• In each meeting:

  • Designate a note-taker, either ahead of time, on a cycle, or a call for a volunteer

• After each meeting:

  • Consider assigning action items and follow-up email reminders about pending work or decisions

Sub-team Workplans

Workplans and how they are drafted will vary by term and especially by team. The best way to understand workplans is to review prior plans for your team. If you are a new team without a workplan history, or if you are a Lead that was not involved in the drafting of your prior workplan, here is some generalized advice on the process:

When considering the work for a new term, it is helpful to understand that term activities tend to be made up of routine work (that work which repeats every year and is considered the core of the work) and new projects and initiatives (or discrete projects taken on during a term). Balancing these two types of work is the goal of the workplan and the challenge of subteam leadership.

Some teams focus primarily on routine work and do not take on new projects on a term-by-term basis. In this case, the goal of the workplan is simply to set reasonable expectations for the work, agreed on those expectations as a group, and then the Lead should use the workplan to check in on progress and realign (if needed) through term. If you are a brand new group, go easy on yourselves and record lessons learned at the end of term.

To define routine work, start with your subteam’s charter or description, which is recorded on the parent page for each team. You can find these either by navigating to your subteam’s page on the left side of the wiki, or navigating to the following page, where all the subteam descriptions exist in one place:

Some teams do take on new projects on a term-by-term basis. This can be tied to changes in the community landscape, the introduction of new functionality in ArchivesSpace, or simply because a member has a great idea and the team agrees to take it on. In this case, the goal of the workplan is to help balance the routine work with the new work in way that is realistic and reasonable.

To define project work, start by defining the project itself, including its goals. Is this a one time project with a discrete ending, or a new routine and this is simply the first term trying it? If the work will be completed, will it need maintenance? Be aware of the difference between taking on a new routine task versus a stand-alone project with a discrete ending.

Consider core goals and stretch goals. Revisit your stretch goals halfway through term, to coincide with the cross-council meeting (usually February).

Terms

Council terms are three years beginning July 1 of the year a member joined and ending June 30th, three years later, i.e. July 2022-June 2025. Extensions of one year are permitted in cases where the extension will aid in leaderships transition (i.e. allow a Vice Lead in their last year of service to extend for one additional year in order to be Lead for that period).

Ad Hoc Groups

Anyone may propose the creation of ad hoc teams to address certain time-bound or task-bound projects. The make-up (including leadership) of ad hoc groups is not limited to ASpace Members or even to those already serving on Councils. Essentially any member of the ArchivesSpace community is welcome to join. Past examples include and

To do so:

1. Announce the intention to form a group to your respective council leadership and open the idea for discussion at a dedicated or joint council meeting.

2. Have that idea approved by Council Leadership, beginning with your own council representatives.

   1. Upon approval, request a wiki space be created by your Council Chair or Vice-Chair.

3. Identify leadership for the group. Who will be the ad hoc group lead? Co-leads is an option.

4. Draft two statements, which should appear in the wiki space for the group:

   1. A Statement of Purpose, which should include what criteria you set for the group that you will then try and meet. Essentially write a statement that captures your goal and a way to test that goal so that once the goal is met, it is clear that the group’s mission is complete and the group should be dissolved.

   2. A Maintenance Plan, or an assessment of whether or not your end goal will require future maintenance and how that will take place, by whom, and on what timetable.

5. Recruit for members.

Once the group is formed, it is expected to adhere to the same guidelines as permanent sub-teams, including having regular monthly meetings. If the group desires a Google Drive folder for the use of the group, please contact your Chair to request this folder be created and permissions assigned.

Changing Charters or Sunsetting a Subteam

Subteams should feel empowered not only to suggest creating new teams, but also to suggest an established subteam should revisit either its mission or its very existence. This happened with the Integrations subteam beginning in 2022 and through 2024.

When considering whether to sunset, or shut down your team, do the following:

• Consider whether you are recommending a change in charter or a complete shut down of your subteam. In both cases, your first step is to bring your concerns to the attention of your council’s Chair or Vice Chair. Once that recommendation is received, Council leadership should share it with the Coordinating Committee.

  • If this is a change in charter, be sure and account for any responsibilities that will be shifted.

  • Otherwise, communicating with your Chair is likely the only step you’ll need to get your transition started.

  • Remember to update your public-facing Subteam Wiki page with your new charter: and/or the and/or .

• If you are recommending to sunset, or end a team, there is more to consider:

  • Allow for time to transition the team. If you feel your team’s work is becoming irrelevant, allow for at least one term of transition before shutting down activities.

  • Be sure you have enough members to complete your transition. You should spend your last term on a transition plan; be sure there will be members active during that period.

  • Write a Maintenance/Transition Plan, or what will happen to the extant resources and any remaining work for your team, how that will take place, by whom, and on what timetable. Teams should not be sunset without this plan in place.

  • Remove or at least revisit all spaces held by that team including Google Drive folders, Wiki pages, and/or GitHub pages. Leave public-facing messages to explain that whatever remains is a static resource and will not be updated, or, whatever is appropriate to communicate that a resource is no longer the responsibility of a particular team.