DELETE -- End of Term Considerations
- Rachel Searcy
Task, Ticket, and Google Drive Ownership
Overview
This page includes advice for how to approach the end of the Council term with a spirit of continuity. One of the major end-of-term activities is the subteam retrospective, but this should be accompanied by other wrapping up activities to ensure good maintenance going forward.
Retrospectives
Ensure your subteam is meeting before the Council meeting where retrospectives are presented.
Note which members on your roster are leaving, and be sure to invite them to participate in the retrospective to record any insights they may have. It is very helpful to document why an activity or initiative is important and worth doing, and not always evident to others after the fact.
Retrospectives are intended to identify what to continue doing, what to stop doing, and what to start doing. This resource provides a number of prompts to help identify these: 50+ Retrospective Questions for your Next Meeting
Retrospectives are for everyone on your subteam, not just the lead.
Document ideas or possible plans for next term. Even if many people on the subteam are returning next term, you may have forgotten the intention or why the idea felt important.
Document pain points so that they can be addressed next year; if you can identify a potential solution that is even better! (e.g., meetings were hard to facilitate without a notetaker, so next year we will designate one person to take notes all term)
Take some time (individually, as a group) to identify what worked well, and make a plan to keep doing those things. Consider too what didn’t work well, or what doesn’t need to be done anymore (but document why).
Are there completed tasks or projects that will require maintenance by next term’s subteam? Document what needs to happen, how often it needs to happen, who should do it (and tell that person!), what that person needs to know in order to do it, and where that information about how to do it lives.
Do not stress if you didn’t finish tasks, but consider how you can set more achievable goals. Consider smaller goals that can be incremented from term to term.
Remember to distinguish between ongoing tasks (i.e., things that will always be true) and new projects. Assess both.
Leadership has been around awhile, but every subteam has new members. Explore motivations anew, allow for diverse perspectives, and challenge your assumptions.
Examples of prior year’s retrospectives:
TAC:
UAC:
Cross-Council:
Task, Ticket, and Google Drive Ownership
Task Ownership:
Was someone in particular taking the lead on something? If so, will they be on Council next term? Do they want to continue with the task?
If they are rotating off, who will act as the lead or point person?
Does it even need to continue?
What knowledge or resources can the person rotating off or handing the project off pass onto the new person?
Ticket Ownership:
Does someone who is rotating off own a Jira ticket that needs follow-up? If so, ensure someone else on the subteam who will be there next term is also watching the ticket.
Google Drive Ownership:
Review and appraise the contents of your subteam’s Google Drive. This is a good place for individuals to contribute and not just the Lead or Vice Lead.
Review existing files for relevance; delete irrelevant or obsolete files; leave comments in files if they need explanation; and organize the workspace for the next term.
Confluence is considered the system of record for Council activities and documentation, whereas Google Drive is for draft and working documentation. Drafts or other materials that do not necessitate retention can be deleted.
Transfer ownership of important files if they are owned by members who are rotating off.
Files can always be transferred to archivesspacehome[at]gmail[dot]com if needed.
Term Transition Doldrums
Term transition is the period after our last official meeting and before the next one. That “next meeting” can be in July, but more often it is in August. Council activities slow but do not stop during this period. There is usually a quarterly report due in this transitional time.
New members are also assigned to subteams during this time. Subteam Leads will receive word about these assignments, and Leads should make themselves available for questions to new members prior to the Council Orientation in July.
Next Term
It’s never too early to start thinking about next term!
Incoming Leads may want to review the Yearly Timeline of Council Activities and Guidelines for ArchivesSpace Council Sub-Teams
Consider keeping the same meeting times next term, since that time slot is already taken up in your schedule, and you would only need to poll new members for their availability.