Who Will Tend Your Garden

National Association of Government Web Professionals 1

WHO WILL TEND

Carol A Spencer ~ Stormzero LLC

Rebecca Williams ~ Your Net Working LLC

September 20, 2017

YOUR GARDEN?

National Association of Government Web Professionals

No Oneunless you plan itwhen you plant it.


Seed It In the beginning, there is only you:

the project champion.

The ultimate life or death of a project depends on what you do on the front end.

Plan for an end to your involvement at the beginning of the project.

Recognize that others will want to put their mark on your project, especially management and new practitioners.

Accept that your project will change when you leave it.

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Design It Consider the project life span at the design phase

Idea and structural life

What will impede the sustainability of the project?

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Technological life

What products form the basis of the project?

Considering the age and size of the company, will it exist in 1, 2 or 5 years?

If technological change is required, will it even be possible?


Design It Should the project have a long life?

Should the project be designed to phase out?

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Think about:

What if a project were based on MySpaceand then MySpace morphed or died?

Considering the broad user base of a public communication project: what would the cost be of redesign? retraining? remarketing?


Fortify It: Involve Stakeholders Stakeholder involvement is key to success

Need to determine all stakeholders, everyone this innovative project will touch

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For your garden to grow, even without you, non-governmental stakeholders will be key.

Possible stakeholders: public, chambers of commerce, businesses, faith-based organizations, non-profits, other government agencies.


Fortify It: Involve Stakeholders Which stakeholders should:

Be interviewed at the ideation stage of a project

Be involved in the design phase

Be called upon to build a strategic partnership(public / private)

Be on a governance committee as a contributor to the roll out and ultimate success of the project.

How to get management approval on stakeholders

When to involve them: especially important in the planning and design phases.

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Sustain It Codify it.

Get formal governing body approval in the form of a resolution approving the concept

Have an ordinance passed providing financial support if a capital expense or operating expense is necessary.

Adopt formal policies for governance and external use.

Adopt human resources policies for internal use.

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Feed It: Choose Appropriate Nutrients Growth and sustainability require the participation of a broad

coalition

Involve strategic partners so it isn’t a solely governmental project

Governance Committees

Strategic public/private partnerships

Financial or administrative contributions from NGOs

Make it a core function of government or, at a minimum, your department or division

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Record it for History

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Document It Document every step of the way.

Build a binder or private blog or both.

Documentation in the design phase:

What is the goal of the project?

What alternatives were considered, ruled out and why?

Key elements that make it work.

Product selection and why.

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Document It Stakeholder Involvement Who (roles, not names) was considered for

inclusion. If they were included at some stage:

when and why. If not: when and why.

Lists of involved stakeholders and partners inclusive of names and contact information.

Successes & Failures Metrics used, what they indicated, resulting changes to projects

Contributors (by function) to the successes and failures, how and why12


Document It Documentation of codification:

Resolutions, ordinances

Budgets: amounts, justifications, rejections and why

Internal and external policies

Documentation of implementation and training:

Training materials & list of trained individuals

Consider certificates (keep copies)

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Cultivate It: The Innovator The Innovator creates a vision and strategy, then sells it.

Mold that idea or vision through discussions with beneficiaries, possible implementers, and stakeholders

Formalize that vision and strategy by documenting it. Making that documentation accessible to everyone involved.

Activate people around that vision and strategy. An effective governance committee is critical here.

Be sure everyone understands it, embraces it, buys into it, and can communicate it.

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Cultivate It: The Implementer The Implementer plants it, grows it.

Needs to thoroughly understand the needs that drove the innovation.

Must be able to implement the technologies needed to achieve the goal.

Should be able to articulate the goal and build enthusiasm during implementation.

Can continue to keep the project alive upon the exit of the champion until a new champion or leader takes over.

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Tend It: The Governance Committee A well designed committee can be integral to keeping a project

alive when the champion exits.

Set actionable goals and timetables for accomplishing them.

Involve and energize every member of the team so they become part of the project.

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Tend It: The Governance Committee

The governance committee can be the driving force to keeping an innovative project alive after the champion exits.

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Train the trainer concept to expand the use of the project.

Consider Chambers of Commerce or similar business organizations where employees could be trained.

Private sector employees tend to turn over less often than public sector elected officials.


Transplant It: Take it with You Replication: designing and

setting the project up so it could be duplicated.

Scalability and portability are keys to taking or replicating the project.

Not so easy with coded projects.

You can always take the idea, but not likely the project itself.

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The plants may change, but the garden remains No cut and dried way to do this. These are

recommendations that you need to mold into your own project.

Build for sustainability on the front end.

Plan for your demise at the beginning.

Know that innovative work is likely the first work targeted in a new administration. Others will want their finger prints on a successful, innovative project.

Accept that change is inevitable.19


Utilize the various contributors to sustainability:

Document every step of the way. Write a book.

Engaged stakeholders will go to bat fortheir project when the champion exits.

The plants may change, but the garden remains

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Defined project goals

Codification

Strategic partnerships

Broad-based governance

Effective training


Contact Us

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Carol A. SpencerStormzero, LLC

Cedar Creek, TX 78612973-637-0483

[email protected]

Rebecca J. WilliamsYour Net Working, LLC

Neosho, MO 64850417-434-0379

[email protected]

http://www.stormzero.com/

mailto:[email protected]

http://yournetworking.net/

mailto:[email protected]

Who Will Tend Your Garden

Government & Nonprofit