Quick Guidance for Initiative Leads

Gabriele Ruffatti, an OW2 Board Member, launched the BI Initiative. Here is his guidance if you consider launching an initiative.

What are the three tasks that take the most time in running an initiative?

  1. Keep participants focused on and committed to  the initiative goal 
  2. Organization of events/meetings with participants
  3. Promotional activities

What is/are the main difficultie(s) or risks one has to be aware of when starting an initiative?

  1. Difficulty: Find a common goal able to keep participants committed to (e.g.: a technological goal is quite easy for technicians/developers; a non-technological goal is not so easy to achieve, mixing enterprises, consultants, researchers) 
  2. Difficulty: Have a real participation and/or "emotional" involvement of participants when the goal is the community one and not the personal one
  3. Risk: the blowing out of the initiative after the first enthusiastic kick-start phase

What simple piece of advice would you give a future initiative lead?

  1. Start the initiative in order to achieve a first easy goal 
  2. Start the initiative with a first coherent party; then, enlarge it after the first goal has been met
  3. Find a leader able to sustain and motivate the community, thanks to his personal enthusiasm and motivation.