NPA Project Plan Guide

DRAFT: NPA Project Development Guide

Step 1: Initial Proposal

Target date of completion: End of 3rd NPA month

Questions to consider when initiating a proposal:

• What particular elements of Free Geek's mission grab your interest?
• Is there a program, building area, and/or constituency within Free Geek where you want to make a special impact, or where needs are not optimally being met?
• What special skills do you have that you'd like to express and/or develop through your NPA year?
• Are you interested in coordinating an event, a one-off investigatory project, creating documentation, and/or instituting an ongoing procedure, policy, or programmatic element?
• Does your idea fulfill at least 2 of these indicators of a project beneficial to Free Geek?
  • Saves and/or increases resources (money, time, materials, efficiency of processes.)
  • Allows program area/s to use physical space more efficiently.
  • Increases/improves Free Geek's exterior visibility and/or builds organizational relationships.
  • Provides information that will be useful for strategic planning and/or moving a program forward.
  • Creates and/or updates documentation to meet clearly defined educational, procedural, programmatic, or policy needs.
  • Contributes to improvement of volunteer, staff, and/or donor retention.

Step 2: Investigation

Target date of completion: End of 4th NPA month

Your proposal should satisfactorily address the following questions:

• Who are the stakeholders in your idea, what roles do they each play, and are they on board? Approach all stakeholders and seek their input (contributing ideas and/or concerns.) Factor concerns into your planning process and try to resolve them by adjusting the scope of the project or finding alternative paths to meet the same goal. Seek out institutional knowledge; you may find out from documentation or a long-term staff member that your idea was attempted before, and why it did or did not succeed.

• How many additional admin hours will the project take? Does it require extra work from any other staff members? Can any of this work be delegated to volunteers? Will delegation require recruitment, outreach, and/or management? (Be sure to factor this work into your extra admin hours estimate.)
  • You may be able to structure work delegated to volunteers as an internship opportunity. This is a great way for NPA's to practice one-on-one volunteer supervision and mentorship.

• How much $$ will this project cost? Can estimated costs be reduced through in-kind donations, or compensated through end-result earnings (example: fund-raising event?) Does Free Geek have the funds available to support this project?

• Do you have the training necessary to move this project forward? Seek any training you need to create documentation, recruit volunteer support, procure funds/donations/other resources, etc.

• If this project is intended to continue after your NPA year is up, what is your proposed plan for sustained support?

Step 3: Planning/Action

Target date of completion: end of 11th month

Create, and follow as closely as possible, a timeline for the project.

• For one-time events, include major logistics/prep stages, a target completion or execution date, and an evaluation period.
• For potentially ongoing implementations, include logistics/prep stages, a pilot stage, an evaluation period, and a stage for adjusting the parameters of the pilot to ensure the project's longevity.
• Build in checkpoints as needed to meet with other NPA's, your floor supervisor and/or other concerned staff, as needed, to track your progress. Check-ins can be built into NPA meeting agendas if time allows, or scheduled separately.

Other Tips:

• Make your project inheritable. Keep a record of your process, project parameters, feedback received from your checkpoints, and evaluation data in an accessible place. (User accounts on the Free Geek wiki are a good place to keep this sort of documentation while it's being created, then when finalized it can be moved to an original page in the NPA category.)
• Don't just trust your own eyes to ensure the usability of your records. Have someone else read your documentation to ensure that it's easy to read and understand.

Step 4: Evaluation