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Project Champion Guide

So you want to be a project champion? Of course you do! What an awesome way to be civically engaged and work with talented individuals to ship forward thinking tech-driven projects that create local impact. What more could you ask for?

Being a project champion is a great way to...

  • Practice your project management, communication, and personal skills.
  • Learn more about the project’s subject area, such as city budget or emergency resources.
  • Give back to the community by volunteering your time to help bring an ideas to reality.
  • Connect with technologists, city officials, policy wonks, and many other individuals.
  • Love your city!

What makes a good project champion?

  • Passion for the project.
  • Able to break tasks into smaller chunks.
  • Being generally well-organized.
  • Can communicate well.
  • Comfortable asking things of other people. Delegate.
  • Familiarity with both Slack and Github (a quick training would provide this - just ask Michael or someone else cool!)
  • Coding skills absolutely not required!

Expectations

  • Check in once a week with Open Wichita Captains and other Project Champions.
    • Join the private #project-champions channel on Slack.
    • Should include any progress made, next steps, and whatever might be blocking progress on the project.
  • Take lead on forming execution plan for the project.
    • Involving others is highly encouraged! Though final say and responsibility is yours.
    • Turn the plan into Github Issues and Projects with useful names and tags.
  • Be excited about the project, and enjoy yourself!
    • Being a Champion for a project means you advocate for and believe in it!
    • Choose a project or idea that gets you excited. It makes the whole process better!
  • Communicate!
    • This whole process is made much simpler with regular honest communication. We understand that life happens, and finding volunteer time can be difficult. Being open about things will allow us to do what we can to assist!

Process

  • Getting started
    • Bring idea to virtual or IRL hack event.
    • Determine minimum viable product that can be launched.
    • Determine roles and skills needed.
    • Recruit team members.
    • Create project outline/plan/some skeletal idea of what direction to head first.
    • Set up on Github & create Slack channel
      • Create Github tags (non-tech, java, graphic design)
      • Create Github issues/projects with organized tasks
      • Create the channel in Slack to match the github project name
      • Ask Open Wichita Captains to create Slack & Github integrations
    • Identify professional/city personnel (stakeholders) to use as resources.
    • Identify similar projects created by other brigades that can be built upon or adapted
  • Weekly process
    • Check in on Github issues and projects.
      • If someone is assigned, check in on progress.
      • If someone is not assigned, make sure it’s tagged with “help-wanted”.
      • If an issue is needing review..
        • Make sure someone is assigned to review it.
        • If you need someone to review it, tag it with “review-wanted”.
    • Whenever there is something new to show, share the project with stakeholders and the Open Wichita community for feedback.
      • This will help catch things early in the process!
    • Write check in message with successes, next steps, and blockers.
      • Share in the #project-champions channel during virtual hack night.
      • Share updates in the public project channel as well.
      • Include any exchanges/developments from stakeholders.
    • Update Slack channel topic with most relevant link (github or beta site).
  • Nearing Completion
    • Share beta version of project with #general slack channel for looking over/suggestions.
      • Define a list of things for people to do to test out the project.
    • Share project with connected stakeholders for feedback.
  • Launch!
    • Coordinate launch with Open Wichita Captains for social media shoutouts.
    • Consider contacting other media/putting out a press release (utilize stakeholder resources if possible!).
  • Maintain/Improve
    • Keep track of possible improvements as GitHub issues.
      • As always, tag with help-wanted and anything else that's relevant.
    • Also file any bugs or problems as GitHub issues.
      • Encourage others to do the same!
      • Having a link on the launched site to submit a bug on GitHub is also good.
  • Project Handoff
    • First, talk to an Open Wichita Captain to let them know you're ready to step down.
    • Have a replacement Champion ready or at least in mind.
      • Always check with those who are already actively involved in the project first.
    • Once confirmed, take some time to go over the project with the new Champion.
    • Once handoff is completed, we ask that you stay available for questions to the new Champion for at least a month.

Resources