Guide for Groups During the Two Years¶
This guide supports Working Groups during the active two-year period. Use it to keep collaboration, technical work, documentation, and outputs moving together.
Working Rhythm¶
Groups should establish a rhythm that makes progress visible and sustainable.
- meet on a predictable cadence
- record decisions and action items
- revisit scope and milestones regularly
- document blockers early
- keep public-facing pages current enough for others to understand the work
- use ESIIL check-ins to raise facilitation, technical, data stewardship, communication, or reporting needs
Meeting Model¶
The sample RFP describes Working Groups as meeting in person up to two times over a two-year period, with each in-person meeting lasting between 3 and 5 days and taking place on the ESIIL campus in Boulder, CO. It also describes a third virtual meeting, also lasting 3-5 days, timed between the two in-person meetings.
Use the current RFP and ESIIL staff guidance for the meeting model that applies to the active cohort.
Role-Based Check-ins¶
Use the Working Group Team Roles page as the canonical role description.
| Role | During the Active Period |
|---|---|
| Tech Lead | Coordinates technical questions with ESIIL CI, including repositories, containers, workflows, software, cloud computing, reproducibility, and technical support requests. |
| Collaboration Lead | Works with ESIIL facilitators on team science, team norms, inclusive participation, meeting process, and conflict resolution when needed. |
| Transition Lead | Coordinates authorship, intellectual property discussions, communication products, open science, transition planning, and long-term impact. |
Milestone Reviews¶
Use lightweight reviews to keep the group aligned.
| Timing | Focus |
|---|---|
| Quarterly | Progress, blockers, decisions, documentation gaps |
| Mid-year | Output trajectory, participation, support needs |
| Year one | Interim products, revised timeline, risks |
| Year two | Release readiness, final reporting, maintenance plan |
Data, Software, and Documentation¶
Maintain a clear record of:
- data sources and access methods
- licenses, citations, and reuse constraints
- privacy, sensitivity, sovereignty, or permission considerations
- software environments and dependencies
- analysis workflows or notebooks
- repositories, containers, and computing environments
- decisions that change interpretation or output structure
- public products and their status
Open as possible, private as necessary
The FAQ states: "We ask everyone to be as open as possible, and as private as necessary." When privacy, permissions, intellectual property, or data restrictions are uncertain, document the uncertainty and discuss it with ESIIL.
ESIIL Support Check-ins¶
Use check-ins to discuss:
- facilitation needs
- technical or infrastructure support
- data stewardship questions
- communications or website needs
- publication, repository, or archiving plans
- reporting expectations
- travel support questions
The FAQ explains that ESIIL funding to support participant travel is subject to policies set by the National Science Foundation and the University of Colorado Boulder. See the FAQ for the current travel-support summary in this guide.
Keeping Outputs on Track¶
For each expected output, document:
- owner or point person
- audience
- current status
- dependencies
- release or sharing plan
- citation and attribution needs
- maintenance or archive expectations
Outputs may include papers, code, workflows, educational materials, datasets, reports, presentations, communication products, or other resources that serve the larger environmental data science community and other audiences.
Keep the record useful
Working group documentation does not need to be polished every week. It should be current enough that a new participant, ESIIL staff member, or future collaborator can understand what is happening and why.