This is a general template for TAC and UAC workplans. Use this as a starting point for your sub-team, but feel free to depart from the format as your work necessitates. More general guidance on workplans can be found at https://archivesspace.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/AC/pages/3137994933/Guidelines+for+ArchivesSpace+Council+Sub-Teams#Sub-team-Workplans
About 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: About the ArchivesSpace Councils
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).
Workplan Template
Goals
Use this section to identify your sub-team’s overarching goals for the term. These may be restatements of your sub-team’s charge.
Specific Tasks or Projects
Use this section to identify the specific tasks or projects your sub-team intends to work on this year. Consider organizing them into ongoing and discrete tasks, if appropriate.
The sub-sections below provide a suggested structure: Ongoing/Recurring Tasks, In Progress Projects Carried Over from Last Term, New Projects for This Term, and Out-of-Scope. Feel free to depart from this as appropriate for your sub-team’s work.
A few considerations:
Consider adding details like timelines, names of sub-team members who the task is delegated to, and links to helpful documentation.
Be realistic about your sub-team’s capacity – small, achievable goals are important!
Identify if any of these projects are “stretch” goals that may not be feasible or will remain in-progress at the end of term.
Using the checkbox functionality allows you to easily indicate when work is completed.
Ongoing/Recurring Tasks
- Example: Monitor documentation GitHub repository and promptly address issues and pull requests. Point person is [name, using @ functionality]
- Example: Perform regression testing for upcoming releases.
In-Progress Projects Carried Over from Last Term
- Example: Revisit [document link] an update with current processes. Delegated to [name, using @ functionality], slated to be completed by .
New Projects for This Term
- Example: Revise documentation about [x] functionality based on conversation on User listserv. [name, using @ functionality] and [name, using @ functionality] will take the lead and present progress to sub-team at [month] meeting. Aim to complete by [month].
Out-of-Scope (Optional)
Identify any work areas of projects that you have determined to be out-of-scope of this year’s workplan. This could be because it falls beyond your sub-team’s charge, has a dependency that requires you to wait, or is beyond your sub-team’s capacity.
Maintenance Activities (Optional)
Use this space to identify any actions or considerations necessary to support the maintenance of your sub-team’s tasks or projects once they have been completed. Is there documentation that needs to be created? Do future sub-team members need particular permissions to complete certain work?
Themes (Optional)
This section is optional, but a space to identify any underlying themes that run throughout multiple tasks or projects. This can also be a space to identify how you intend to approach your work this term. This can also be helpful when revisiting the workplan at the end of term with an eye towards the sub-team’s retrospective, or at the beginning of next term.