Development vs Engagement in a Collaborative Setting
Our new Mozilla Foundation-funded Friends of the Earth ‘Green Screen’ project has the express aim of developing a set of AI principles that the climate movement can use. The project involves desk research and a gathering of experts to influence and contribute to these principles, creating a co-designed starter for ten that others can build upon. We will then take what we’ve learned to report for the Friends of the Earth policy site.
Part of this involves setting up an online roundtable to gather insights from a diverse range of experts. In our project kickoff call last week, we realised that clarifying the ambitions and aims of such an event is something we do instinctively.
We’re big fans of community calls, but the roundtable we will be putting together is something slightly different. In this post, we’re going to give you a few things to think about when you’re gathering people together to co-design a policy or set of best practices — or when you’re more on the development side of the continuum.
The Development-Engagement continuum
First off, there’s tons of value in getting people together and working collaboratively towards something. There is also a lot of nuance in such an endeavour, so it’s best to understand what your long term goal for the project might be. We like to determine where on a continuum between ’development’ and ’engagement’ a particular project might sit.
Development is the side of the continuum that focuses on the final output of the project. This could be, for example, a report, article, or set of recommendations. Engagement, on the other hand, can serve as a launchpad for building community. While there may be outputs along the way, the main goal is to find and engage with people who are interested in a particular topic. As it happens, we’ve written extensively about how to build a community of practice in this short (and free!) resource.
If you’re mostly focusing on development, as we are with our Friends of the Earth (FoE) roundtable, you will need a different kind of preparation and facilitation than if you’re focused on a longer term community- building initiative.
Of course, many projects have an eye on both the short term and the longer term, and so are looking to do development and engagement. However, it’s important to understand that community building requires designated moderation, facilitation and a place to interact. If there is no one to actively manage and engage the community, it can become stagnant!
Co-designing for Development
It’s important to note that every collaborative effort does not need to lead to a fully fledged community. For example, with our FoE Green Screen project, the focus is very much on the set of principles that other organisations can build upon.
If you find yourself looking to engage a group of people around a particular project, like policy development or a set of principles, you should have a think about how your co-design event fits into the “project management triangle”.
Let’s take each point in turn.
1. Funding
How much funding is available for the co-design piece of your project? Can you afford to pay people to participate?
If you can pay people for their input, you absolutely should. Even a small portion of your overall budget can work, offering people a one-time fee or goodwill payment shows them that you value their contribution. However, we know that sometimes remuneration is not possible.
If there isn’t enough funding to pay people for their time, make sure you plan to spotlight their contribution in other ways. You can issue badges to contributors, ensure all contributors are named in final outputs and publicly thank people when you share the final outputs.
2. Scope
Based on the funding available, what is the scope of the collaboration? How can you ensure that you are building collaboratively?
Will you host a single event? You might also have three events or five of them. You might set a six month timeline for your project. Be clear about what you’re asking of people as you are asking them to participate. Are you inviting them to the first of a series of events or a singular event? Is there prep work or ‘homework’ involved? How will their contributions be attributed?
Together with other contributors, you’ll need to establish procedures to receive feedback and inputs, as well as how you will process them to create iterations. As always, documentation goes a long way and writing openly about the scope and decisions made along the way will help contributors understand the plan.
3. Time
How much time and effort can you ethically ask others to put in? How much time are you putting in?
Depending on your budget, you’ll need to figure out how much time you need to complete your policy, principles, best practices or whatever the output actually is. You’ll also want to think about how much time you require from the people you’d like to invite.
If you are looking for open contributions to your project, it’s best to try to minimise the amount of time other people will need to participate. Help contributors give good insight quickly by asking specific questions and giving people the opportunity to give feedback via email or a voice text.
Bringing things together
The three sides of the project management triangle play together to shape your co-design event. Depending on your parameters, it might make sense to do some of the development work on your own and then ask for input and feedback. Alternatively, you might want to get everyone involved from the beginning and co-design the entire project through a series of events. Be adaptable and flexible as you begin to work with others and refer back to the 5 principles of open to remind yourself of what it means to work openly.
Knowing where you sit on the ‘development/engagement’ continuum and mapping out your funding, scope and time will help you plan a codesign event that leads to great outputs and strengthened relationships.
Need help figuring out how to design your co-design initiative? Get in touch!