Work Log Guidelines

Introduction

See also Work Log

The Work Log is intended to be the main log of progress for any OSE contributor. In order to facilitate coordination across a globally-distributed team, an essential log of progress is key. This log should include hyperlinks to all work product - such that contributions of team members are absolutely transparent to any other person. This is useful for volunteers to inform team members on progress, and it is useful for staff for planning, evaluation, and review purposes. We require that staff keep a daily log according to these guidelines.

Guidelines

1. Use frequent hyperlinks to work product - Place or embed all work product, Google Docs, videos, images, spreadsheets, diagrams on the wiki itself. If you are choosing another web location as a repository, link to that repository. We like to have all material posted on the wiki to minimize broken links if content goes off-line at other web locations. Document in paragraph format, don't sprawl your log as long lists - for ease of visual navigation. The Log is intended to be a hyperlinked index to work product more than an actual repository of work product. So in short: put all your work on the wiki. Our motto is, "If it's not documented on the wiki, it doesn't exist" (as far as the collaborative intent of this project).
2. Log on a daily basis - Staff is required to do so, and volunteers and remote collaborators are encouraged to do so as well. Log everything that you do, on the same day that you do it. If you do not log it after task completion, you are less likely to remember what you did. Use our Date Format Convention.
3. Write down weekly milestones - Every Monday, write down 3-5 milestones for the week. At the beginning of the next week, go back to this entry and document: (1) what you actually accomplished; and (2), if what you actually accomplished is different than what you promised, please explain the discrepancy. This is for organizational learning and performance development purposes.
4. Write down monthly milestones - At the beginning of the month, write down 3-5 main goals for that month. At the beginning of the next month, write down (1) what you actually accomplished in the past month; and (2), if what you actually accomplished is different than what you promised, please explain the discrepancy.
5. Write a quarterly report -

Insights

The Work Log is proving to be an effective organizational tool for OSE. The core team can observe and evaluate each others work - and improvements can be made. Since this is posted openly on the wiki and is transparent to the world - any other global collaborator should be able to assess the state of project activity, and be on-boarded without the core team having to do extensive explanation. We are exploring this open culture as a means to effective collaboration and sound governance.