Introduction
what this training does and doesn't cover
Most people would rather fail than change.
— Robert Wilson
- But change does happen, follows patterns, and can be guided
- This workshop introduces a few basic ideas and tools
- Assumes discussion and action are safe in your environment
- Exercises can be done individually but many work better in small groups (3-4 people)
- We will do some exercises asynchronously if we run short of time
Sessions are not recorded, and we request that you do not share notes or exercise results with people who did not take part without the prior, explicit permission of all attendees.
Prerequisites
- How to run a meeting
- Patience
- Society of Research Software Engineering was years in the making
- But has normalized RSE careers in the UK and worldwide
Not Covered
- Community building
- Lots of good guides, including [Alinsky1989, Brown2007, Lakey2018]
- Important to distinguish community of practice from community of purpose
- Communication skills
- Change won't happen unless someone can write and speak convincingly
- See [Kuchner2011] for some useful insights
- Electoral politics
- If we were serious about open science, we would train cohorts of candidates to run for the boards of our professional societies
- And school boards and city councils and…