Evaluation of a Stakeholder Workshop

I suggest the following key goal based criteria:

1. Representative
2. Knowledgeable
3. Shared Understanding
4. Fair and Effective

To measure these criteria, the following questions will be asked through participant and observer surveys at key points during and/or after each Working Group meeting:

1. Representative
Looking at the target versus participant stakeholder profiles, were the participants a fair representation of the affected stakeholders?

2. Knowledgeable
Did the participants comprehend the most important information to make knowledgeable recommendations on this topic?

3. Shared Understanding
Did participants understand the perspectives of other stakeholders?

4. Fair and Effective
Was the meeting process fair and effective at providing equitable opportunity for all in scope ideas and opinions to be considered and recorded?

Open-ended “Why” questions will also be included to gather insight into the reasoning for the answers provided. Results will be analyzed to inform the preparation of the next Working Group meeting.

Results of these survey questions will be published as part of each Working Group meeting documentation.

BetterMeans.com: democratic governance model and web app

snapshot of Bettermeans.com BetterMeans.com has recently released a web based “open and democratic project management tool”, and it looks very promising.  Along with basic tools like a wiki, discussion boards and document storage, it has array of tools for collectively prioritizing tasks, estimatating work item complexity, reviewing work, allocating compensation, and voting on motions.  The entire system seems to be built around a set of values that enforce and promote transparency, accountability, cooperation, pragmatism, and distributed leadership.

I could imagine it working with open source developers, maybe some collaborative scientists, activist collectives, and dnew not-for-profits.  I look forward to seeing how this tool evolves, what kinds of groups use and what for.