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OGP Bingo at the summit plenary on Wednesday Dec. 7

Dear friends – As part of my role serving as OGP steering committee member provocateur, I’m following through on a high-level political commitment to develop “OGP Bingo” for this year’s summit.

Summits are moments for political commitment and create the space to drive ambitious reforms. Their opening plenaries can also be painfully dull, crammed with dry and unambitious speeches. Ennui and hunger set in, interest fades, and momentum can be lost. How best to combat those challenges? Bingo!

How to play

- Attached are downloadable bingo cards customized with many of your favorite open government/OGP buzzwords.

- Choose one (and only one!) card to be your own; either print it out or have it available on your laptop during the opening plenary.

- As the opening plenary speeches begin, listen closely to the speeches for the invocation of the buzzwords listed on your card. As you hear a phrase/word that appears on your card, place an “X” in that cell. Everyone gets the “Free” space in the middle.

- There will be four winners: a) First to get any line (up, down, left, right, diagonally) b) First to get all four corners c) First to get two diagonal lines through the middle (an "X"), and d) First to get a "blackout" (all squares)

- When you have reached any of the above four Bingo goals on your card, use the #OGP16 and #OGPBingo hashtags on Twitter to announce your success, and include a screenshot or photo of your card as proof.

Winners will receive my unending affection and heaps of praise from your peers on social media.

 

The Most Frustrating Things About Sunlight’s Sun Setting

So, Sunlight Foundation is possibly shutting its doors in the coming months following an unsuccessful search for a new Executive Director. I’ve been livid about the announcement for the past few days, but not because Sunlight might go away (as sad and as unfortunate as that is). I’m instead upset about what appears to be ineptitude by the Sunlight board to do its job effectively, a problem that goes back to at least 2014 but appears to have now gotten so bad that the board is dragging the organization down into oblivion. As a non-profit and civic tech community, we need to at least learn from this experience to avoid it happening again in such a dramatic and destructive fashion.

(Some caveats before I launch in. I have intentionally not consulted friends currently working at Sunlight or Sunlight alumni on these thoughts, largely to avoid stressing them out further. As such, there are almost certainly nuances I am missing and/or inaccuracies in what follows, and I’ll do my best to flag what is my perception/opinion versus established fact.)

Lesson #1: Founder’s syndrome is a real thing

I don’t know Mike Klein; I only met him once at a lovely Sunlight holiday party at his house a number of years ago. But it seems fair to say that this whole mess might have been managed better with increased awareness around the dangers of “founder’s syndrome,” where non-profit (co)founders make bad decisions out of personal affection for (or unhealthy amounts of control over) an organization. Klein’s recent blog post and decision to seek a merger are part of a series of seemingly whipsawed reactions following Ellen Miller’s retirement in 2014. When I left Global Integrity in 2014, I wrote about the risks of founder’s syndrome there that I had begun to sense. I’m not saying I’ve been any smarter than the leadership team at Sunlight in the interim, but the current crisis seems to suggest that founder’s syndrome is indeed a very real risk to non-profits, especially as they approach the 10-year mark. We need to watch for it and tackle it to the ground (even if that’s extremely painful and bloody) before it presents a mortal threat to organizations.

Lesson #2: Leadership transitions are really hard

I left Global Integrity around the same time that Ellen Miller retired from Sunlight. The processes were very different: from start to finish the leadership transition at Global Integrity lasted about 6 months and did not involve an external search firm. At Sunlight, it was nearly a year and a half (not all of it public), involving search firms and extensive sequencing and choreography. Yet the selection of Chris Gates to be the new head of Sunlight in 2014 was baffling (at least to me) from a fit perspective. Many fans of Sunlight (including me) worried privately that it wouldn’t work out…which is sadly what came to pass and ultimately set the stage for the current crisis. There’s no magical formula for getting leadership transitions right at non-profits (fast vs. slow, search firm vs. no firm, etc.) but, boy, is it fraught with risk. Non-profits need to constantly be thinking about succession planning, even in their early years, to avoid launching a leadership transition without adequate alignment between the board and senior management.

Lesson #3: Boards don’t always have the right strategic answers

There are many confusing and surprising arguments offered in Mike Klein’s rationale for shuttering parts of Sunlight and merging others. I find a number of them flawed interpretations of the current state of play in civic tech. Among them:

“We are aware that the robust maturation of technology over the past decade has — happily but substantially — reduced the urgency of Sunlight’s early role as a leading transparency innovator.” If “maturation of technology” refers to a limited set of web- and API-based techniques and tools, perhaps. But what about the myriad of vanguard technological approaches on offer to civic tech organizations today that weren’t present at Sunlight’s founding, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data, and the Internet of Things? There are very few civic tech organizations leveraging those tools and techniques currently, and Sunlight Labs could have made an enormous contribution by leading the civic tech community into the next decade with those tools.

“In addition, the board had to recognize that Sunlight’s initiating objective— to build support for better legislation against and regulation of the power of money in politics— has been significantly limited by the US Supreme Court’s 5-4 Citizens United decision.” So Supreme Court justices never die or retire? Anchoring one’s organizational strategy on a nearly split decision Supreme Court case that could be revisited under a future court seems, well, potentially short-sighted.

“The board has not found a candidate for executive director who persuaded us of both a compelling new strategic vision and of their capacity to lead Sunlight to its achievement.” I have no idea who applied or who didn’t for the Sunlight gig. But it was still one of the most exciting, plumb jobs in civic tech, and I find it really hard to imagine that some pretty superstar candidates didn’t pitch the board on a compelling vision for the future. Another way of interpreting this assertion might be, “We went through the motions of recruiting but were always biased towards shuttering the institution.”

Whether I’m right or wrong on these specific points is less the issue; what’s the more important take away is that boards (whether non-profit or corporate) don’t always have the right answers to important strategic questions. There needs to be a constant, healthy tension between the board and senior management on these questions, and sometimes the board needs to defer to management on important strategic pivots. Put another way: boards are often well-intentioned but too out of touch with an organization’s day-to-day operations to have a monopoly on wisdom, especially in the non-profit context (where they are rarely compensated and potentially less inclined to dedicate time to learning about the organization from top to bottom). I say this as someone who sits on multiple non-profit boards and likely frustrates his counterpart colleagues in senior management!

To sum up: the collapse of Sunlight feels, tragically, more self-induced than anything external, and I lay a healthy chunk of blame at the feet of the board. If nothing else, let’s try and learn from this painful moment in a way that strengthens peer organizations (and their boards) moving forward.

Measuring Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies: Launch of the SDG16 Data Initiative

(Posting here, because PDFs are just awful for Save the Dates! But if you insist on the PDF with everyone's logos, here it is.)

Organized by: “SDG 16 Data Initiative:” International IDEA, Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), Global Forum for Media Development (GFMD), Namati, Open Society Foundations (OSF), Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), Saferworld, Results for Development (R4D), Small Arms Survey (SAS), Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), Transparency, Accountability & Participation (TAP) Network, Transparency International, and World Justice Project (WJP).

When: Thursday, 14 July, 6:15 7:30 PM

Where: Conference Room D, UN Conference Building

To meet the ambition of the SDGs, it is essential that they are matched by equally comprehensive and inclusive data collection, monitoring and accountability measures. While national governments and specialized intergovernmental institutions will be responsible for official UN monitoring of the SDGs, supplementary data from nongovernmental sources - including civil society organizations and research institutions will also play a crucial role in providing the most complete and accurate picture possible of progress towards these new global goals. This is especially true of SDG16, with its ten targets aimed at achieving its overarching goal of promoting peaceful, just and inclusive societies.

This side event at the UN’s High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development marks the launch of the SDG16 Data Initiative, a partnership for the compilation and publication of existing statistical indicators for measuring SDG16, supported by some of the world’s foremost experts, organizations and data providers on these issues. This launch event will present this new SDG16 platform, showcasing the best available data on all the SDG16 targets and prompting a new global dialogue on the collective challenges and opportunities for measuring progress towards SDG16 at all levels.

With opening remarks by:
Ms. Lisa Bersales, Head of Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA) and co-chair of the IAEG- SDGs

Mr. Paul Gulleik Larsen, Project Leader SDGs, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Mr. Nathaniel Heller, Managing Director, Results for Development Institute (R4D) 

Reaching Me On Vacation (2016 Update)

I've written before about my strong belief in truly unplugging from work/email while on holiday. That attitude, sadly, seems to elicit fascination and admiration from many friends and colleagues who otherwise feel obligated to a) worry about work while on holiday, and thus b) check their email while on holiday.

But there is good news people: you are not nearly as important as you think you are! Neither am I! The world will survive, quite easily, without you looking at or replying to email for a week or two at a time. I have done this many times and have lived to tell the tale.

I came to my current, purist "no email" approach following more than one vacation in the early days of running Global Integrity where I ended up spending non-trivial time on stressful work issues while on holiday in some otherwise amazing location. That sucked. The low point came when I was forced to remotely referee a dispute between two employees over who opened the damn window in the office and who was being rude to whom in not shutting it when asked. I kid you not. This was an amazingly effective way to raise my blood pressure back to normal work levels, which is absolutely terrible on a vacation.

The only and best way to avoid this kind of nonsensical distraction while on holiday is to simply not look at your email. No glancing, no quick skimming, no short replies. Just. No. Email. How can you do it? Some tips:

  • Do not bring a laptop. Period. In 98% of cases you won't ever really need a laptop, even for emergency responses (see below). In the 2% of emergency cases you'll figure out temporary access to a computer if desperate times call for it (think the hotel business lounge, the villa property manager, etc). The laptop stays at home. (Oh wait, you store important email and files on your machine that can only be accessed locally? 2004 called and it wants its data management methods back. The cloud, people; check it out.)
  • Turn off all email and calendar notifications on your phone and tablet. These devices are allowed on my holiday trips because they are helpful in investigating dinner ideas, checking the weather, and researching transport options. But their evil email and calendar apps remain untouched until I touch down, literally, back at my home airport. During vacation, I make sure that those apps are set to not ping me with badge alerts, chimes, or banner notifications.
  • Set clear out of office messages (email & phone) indicating that you "will not be checking message until [date]," and leave contact details for colleagues that are backfilling for you in your absence. It's important to be clear that you won't be checking messages, at all, as opposed to the usual "I'll be slow to reply" euphemism we ordinarily invoke, which translates roughly to, "I'm working on vacation because I'm a sucker."

See how easy that was? Give it a try the next time you head off for an adventure!

Lastly, in my specific case in 2016, the following supplementary rules apply:

My colleagues at R4D (as noted in my out of office messages) will be able to reach me in a true emergency via SMS/phone. If your need to reach me during vacation meets one of the criteria below, you may contact them and ask them to send me an SMS.  Otherwise, I very much appreciate your respect for the time off and look forward to catching up upon my return.

Reasons to contact me during vacation:

  • Someone has filed a lawsuit against me. 
  • You or your organization wishes to provide financial support to Results for Development in excess of US$50,000.
  • I have won the lottery or an award involving a cash prize in excess of US$50,000.  

Reasons not to contact me during vacation: 

  • Anything that is not included in the above list.

What to pack for #OGP2015

Lots of folks are coming down to Mexico City next week for the Open Government Partnership's biannual summit. It's going to be an amazing event, with nearly 2,000 folks, a load of inspiring speakers and panels, and some famous political leaders and civil society pioneers in attendance. I can't wait.

But on more practical matters: what should you pack for such an important gathering? Besides the obvious things (clothes, a toothbrush, taser) here are a few tips from one OGP veteran. It's a free country, of course, but skimp on these at your own risk.

  • Stickers. Stickers of what? It doesn't really matter, does it? Because if you have custom stickers of anything, you're obviously an important person doing serious (or cool, or both) work that's worth talking to. Sticker-less? You might as well be invisible to humanity.
  • QR codes. Why? Because QR codes. Don't question it.
  • A personal hot spot. I brought one to the summit in London in 2013 and it was a lifesaver. You know what Wireless Access Points never handle well? Being hammered by 1,450 people simultaneously in a plenary.
  • Exercise clothes. That's a joke, obviously. Stop pretending you're going to get up early to break a sweat. The only sweat you'll be breaking is walking off last night's mezcal on the way to a morning plenary.
  • Printed reports. Another trick question. You know who has two thumbs and doesn't want to drag your thick-stock glossy report home on an international flight? This guy. Related: no one is going to read those 80 copies of your report that you leave out randomly around the conference venue. Save yourself the weight and the cost of lugging them to Mexico.
  • A sense of humor. People I want to hang out with at the summit: people that take their work seriously but not themselves. People I don't want to hang out with: pretty much everyone else.