Intended audience: DataKind Volunteers
Saying “no” to a partner is always difficult, especially if you have invested time scoping a project. However, you’re responsible for identifying and scoping high quality data science projects, and that means that you may be faced with the decision to pause or discontinue a potential project. Whatever the reason you are unable to move forward with a project in the current moment, clearly communicate the rationale with the partner - your role is to guide potential projects that could eventually advance the data science for social good space, and just because a partner isn’t a good fit now doesn’t mean they won’t be in the future.
So how do you know if the potential project should not be pursued during the Discover Stage? How should you communicate that decision?
Remember that in the Discover Stage, you’re primarily concerned with identifying a potential project opportunity from a lead, and working with the partner organization to discover if the project would drive towards impact. During this stage, aim to make sure the project meets the minimal requirements.
Here are some examples of projects during Discover Stage, which should be either discontinued, paused, or declined:
| Situation | Action |
|---|---|
| The organization is not mission- or value-aligned with DataKind (e.g., conducts work in an unethical manner, organization does not have a positive reputation, etc.). | Discontinue the project. If you have questions or concerns, please contact your DataKind staff support. |
| The organization or team does not exhibit adequate data maturity to build and/or sustain a data science solution. | Communicate any opportunities that could advance the organization’s data maturity, then place the project on pause. |
| Project is not aligned with DataKind’s mission in harnessing the power of data science in the service of humanity. | Communicate why a data science application would not provide a solution to the identified problem. |
| Concerning ethical implications of the potential project have been raised, and there is no way to mitigate them. | Do not continue with a project if there are too many ethical concerns, which you should identify and communicate to the organization. |
| There isn’t available data to support a data science solution. | Identify the data that is missing and communicate this knowledge to the organization, then place the project on pause. |
| The organization is unable to share all or a portion of the data for legal, regulatory, or operational reasons. | Investigate additional sources of data that could be used, such as recommended sources of open data. However, if the project is not possible without the data the partner organization is unable to share, then explore different problem statement possibilities or discontinue the project. |
| The organization is unable to independently acquire data needed to complete the project from a third-party. | Do not independently acquire data on behalf of an organization. Communicate that this is not something you can do, and ask your DataKind staff support if you need help. |
You’ll need to communicate responsibly and professionally as to why the problem and solution may not be a good fit for a DataKind project. We recommend that you customize our email templates (and please get in touch with your DataKind staff support if you have any questions or concerns!). Here are a few tips and best practices we recommend:
- Find a way to provide value to the organization, if possible. They’ve spent time talking with DataKind, and we want to make it worth their while. During Discover Stage, we recommend providing the partner organization with some suggested next steps that could improve the project. This could include a summary document of action items that the organization could implement to improve, for example, their data maturity. For an example, see this concept note in which we essentially declined a project. The DataKind volunteer did a great job here to capture the challenge in brief and is clear with the recommendation not to proceed, while still giving the partner recommendations on how to proceed. You may not need to create such a long report - but think about something structured like this that you can provide to the team.
- Always communicate in a professional and responsive manner. It is important that you immediately communicate issues to the partner organization and DataKind staff support throughout the scoping process.
Contributer(s): Caitlin Augustin, Mitali Ayyangar, Benjamin Kinsella, Emily Yelverton, Mallory Sheff, Rachel Wells
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