Y2IG Lesson 2: What do You Need

In this Lesson we'll talk about some of the few things that are definitely required to create and advance a Research Group — Human Resources and Space — and from this discussion we'll extract one of the most important principles applicable to managing a RG — the Good Enough Principle.

Human Resources

A Research Group is only a group, of course, if there is at least a handful of people involved. You don't need too many at first — one to three colleagues will do. But, as your Group grows, you'll realize this topic is a tad more complex that you might have previously imagined.

On Y2IG Lesson 1: Basics of a Research Group we briefly discussed the idea that a Hard Core is required for a Group to function. But why is that?

The truth is that, as your Group grows, you'll realize that there is a wide diversity of tasks that need to be accomplished, each one requiring a different kind of person. Let's take a quick look at that.

• Some of the tasks you'll face are about doing things, like presenting a lecture, executing a project in a local school, writing a paper, solving an Internet Governance problem that affects your community and so on. These are tasks that, in theory, can be accomplished by just about anyone in your Group. Now, surely some specific people might be more or less capable for a given task, but in general just about anyone could do it, if they're capable.

• Another set of tasks, though, concerns the management of people and resources, which is definitely not something that can be entrusted to just anyone. Leaders and managers must be trusted and capable to deal with sensitive, complex issues in a mature, responsible manner, and they must also be organized enough to manage the people that are entrusted to them.

And here we see the essential difference between a Soft Core and a Hard Core member of your Group. Just about anyone can be given a mission around doing something, but only Hard Core individuals can receive missions around managing people. A shoddy manager can sour the Group for many of your members, thus pushing them towards leaving.

You might be inclined to think that, well, everyone in a Group should be Hard Core, that everyone should be entrusted with important, sensitive tasks. On the other extreme you might think of yourself as being capable of shouldering all the difficult, stressful management tasks. Both of these perspectives, though, are misguided; one is overtrusting, the other is excessively distrusting. You need both Soft Core and Hard Core members, each one being given adequate tasks.

This requirement — a team of people — is the one thing that cannot be overstressed.

Space

Ideally, a RG should have a permanent office space in which it's activities can be conducted. It's useful to have a collective space in which meetings and events occur. This ideal, however, is not easily realizable; more often than not, grassroots initiatives lack the funding to rent a space and cost-free alternatives might not be available.

Since the ideal is, most likely, not realizable, let's focus instead on acquiring a temporary space that is just good enough.

As far as a place for meetings is concerned, any living room or temporary study room in your institution will do. It does not have to always be the same place; just go wherever is available when a meeting is required. If your team is small and not too picky, you might even be able to conduct meetings in cafés or outdoors, in a public space like parks.

When we're talking about space for events, your best bet is requesting a classroom in your institution. Although you might have to face some bureaucracy in the process, this is most likely a cost-free solution that results in a perfect space for events like public debates and lectures.

The Good Enough Principle

In this Lesson we purposefully stressed that, although there is an ideal set of circumstances that we should strive to, the reality almost always does not allow that and we have to make do with what's reasonably available.

In some environments it might be a priority to get things just right from the start, but not here. You are allowed to have sub-optimal conditions and resources, you're allowed to employ trial and error until you get things right. It's acceptable to make mistakes, as long as you try again until you get it right, and it's definitely acceptable if, in the end, things work just well enough.

If you were a professional, being paid for your work, it would be reasonable to expect complete success in your work. But you're not, you're a student trying to conduct a project with little to no resources because you believe in a cause. So don't worry about getting a perfect office space or creating a perfectly efficient team of researchers; try, instead, to make something that is just good enough.