Guide for New Groups¶
This guide supports Working Groups after selection and during startup. Use it to turn the proposal into a shared work plan, confirm roles, and prepare for the first phase of collaboration.
First 30 Days¶
- Confirm the Project Leader, Co-Leaders, participants, and ESIIL points of contact.
- Name the Tech Lead, Collaboration Lead, and Transition Lead.
- Review the selected proposal and clarify any scope changes.
- Schedule a kickoff meeting.
- Set a regular meeting cadence.
- Create or confirm the repository and documentation website.
- Identify early decisions, dependencies, and support needs.
- Review data, software, infrastructure, intellectual property, and reuse questions.
Launch from the Proposal¶
The RFP asks groups to describe goals, proposed activities, data and analytical tools, anticipated IT needs, timetable, outcomes, participant roles, and budget. Startup work should translate those proposal sections into working records the group can maintain.
Create or update:
- public summary
- participant list or contribution model
- meeting cadence
- decision log
- data inventory
- anticipated IT needs
- expected outputs
- milestone timeline
- support requests for ESIIL
Kickoff Agenda¶
Use the kickoff to align the group around purpose and process.
Suggested agenda:
- Introductions and roles
- Review of proposal goals and expected outputs
- Confirmation of Working Group Team Roles
- Discussion of timeline and milestones
- Data, software, and infrastructure needs
- Team norms, meeting cadence, and communication plan
- Documentation, repository, and public website plan
- Immediate action items
Role Checkpoints¶
Use the central Working Group Team Roles page for full role descriptions.
| Role | Startup Questions |
|---|---|
| Tech Lead | What repositories, containers, workflows, software, cloud computing, or ESIIL CI support does the group need first? |
| Collaboration Lead | What team norms, meeting practices, and participation expectations should be established before work accelerates? |
| Transition Lead | What authorship, intellectual property, communication, open science, or long-term impact questions should be discussed early? |
Team Norms¶
The FAQ notes that postdocs and other participants should be treated as members of the working group and that roles and responsibilities should be discussed as part of the team norms discussion.
Early team norms may cover:
- participation expectations
- decision-making process
- meeting cadence and note-taking
- authorship and attribution expectations
- communication channels
- how conflicts or blockers will be raised
- how new participants will be oriented
Data, Software, and Infrastructure Startup¶
The sample RFP asks groups to describe specific data and analytical tools, data synthesis plans, anticipated IT needs, and plans to make resulting data and software freely available, including conditions that might limit availability.
During startup, document:
- data sources and access methods
- licenses, citations, and reuse constraints
- privacy, sensitivity, sovereignty, or permission considerations
- software environments and dependencies
- repositories and documentation locations
- cloud, CyVerse, ACCESS, or other computing needs
- technical support requests for ESIIL
Early Milestones¶
Within the first quarter, aim to have:
- a clarified scope
- confirmed leadership roles
- a shared work plan
- a documentation home
- a data and methods inventory
- first tasks assigned
- known risks or blockers documented