Slow Down, Think Again and KISS

Introduction
Dear  all,

ITA Team has been established in 10th of March, 2014. There is no doubt whatsoever that what has been achieved so far is HUGE, period. However, nothing is perfect.

As with any project in the entire world, there must be some ups and downs. There must be some good and bad moments and/or decisions. When you apply this 'standard rule' on ITA, you come to know/notice that despite we have achieved a lot, we have 'failed' to do some necessary and important things. In this post, I shall explain in details and will do my best to KISS (Keep It Simple and Short).

[Mistakes] Why We Must Slow Down?

1. ITA as an idea and a Project is entirely NEW to Iraqi People. They do need more time to understand what is going on. Not because they're stupid but simply because they didn't get used to such HUGE projects. Since ITA is targeting The Iraqi People, it is very important to understand this fact.
2. Those who joined ITA Team were, in most cases, lost in the translations. They can't understand what is going on due to the rapid pace of everything around them. Some showed that clearly. Some decided to be silent. But it doesn't require a genius to notice that ... there are lost and they're right. It is normal.
3. Clearly, even ITA Team Leaders were confused and somehow lost in the middle of what was going on. Again, they do have all the right to be confused.
4. Lack of clear plan of what we need to exactly do. Yes, there is a Roadmap for ITA but there is NO Roadmap for our actions. We were acting based on day-to-day unplanned decisions. This is a serious mistake IMHO.
5. Using unreliable platform (Facebook) that is not designed for any kind of Project Management and Planning is a huge mistake.
6. Depending on Facebook for each and every communications for the team members is yet another mistake. Fact that Iraqis 'are used to' use Facebook for EVERYTHING is not ITA's Problem if truth to be told. There is a reason why there are other sites/platforms out there.
7. Despite the fact that we had so many meetings, words were much louder than actions. Perhaps the main reason is #1 and #2 above. Another main reason is #5 and #6.
8. While the intentions were good, kind, nice and noble; one of the mistakes that pushed too hard and made the Founders of ITA burned out quickly is dealing with members, recruiting, social media and marketing tasks ... basically doing everything. Founders shouldn't worry about these things. There is a good reason why we have 25 Sub-Teams.
9. Because of #4, we have the problem in #8. We should have realized and figured out that since recruiting and communications are happening on Facebook, there should have been a dedicated Department/Sub-Team to take care of that task.

[Solutions] We Must Think Again

1. Slow Down + KISS (Keep It Simple and Short) - to Solve #1, #2 and #3 in the previous section.
2. Use Launchpad and Blueprints for Planning and Project Management and use ITA Mailing List and meetings for serious discussions - to solve #4 and #5 in the previous section.
3. ITA Mailing List MUST be used for day-to-day communications between Team Members. This will reduce the off-topic posts, the endless useless and pointless chat on Facebook Group, unnecessary messages, etc. Facebook must be ONLY used for: (a) Recruiting New Members (will be explained in details later). (b) Schedule meetings events. (c) Welcoming New Members to ITA Team. To solve #6 in the previous section.
4. Meetings must be between The Founders and The Team Leaders ONLY. Each Team Leader has the full authority to have a meeting for his/her Sub-Team together. Members of ITA without a Team Leader may watch the Meetings Live or after we post the link - to solve #7 in the previous section.
5. New Department/Sub-Team must be established and it is called: Human Resources or Management. This Sub-Team/Dept. will be fully in charge of: (a) recruiting new members to ITA Team. (b) welcome them and explain to them the basic rules and everything they must be aware of. (c) dealing with any kind of Question or Inquiry from the newcomers to ITA Team. (d) be the direction connection or 3rd party between The Founders and/or Team Leaders and the newcomers to ITA Team. It is very important to understand that newcomers will NOT immediately join any Sub-Team. They will first join the Facebook Group of ITA Team ONLY and Get familiar with everything and understand the basic and only then, they can decide whether to carry on (choose a Sub-Team to join of their choice + Join Launchpad, etc) or leave. To Solve #8 in the previous section.
6. Yet another New Department/Sub-Team must be established and work side by side with #5 above. This new Sub-Team/Dept. is called Marketing and Communications Team. Yes, it is indeed listed but we failed to deal with it as a very high priority. That supposed to be the first Sub-Team we ever establish before anything else - to solve #9 in the previous section.

[Summary] KISS

It is very ironic that we set the rules and we forget to follow. KISS = Keep It Simple and Short must be our one and only priority.

It is actually 2-in-1 High Priority:

• Simple = Make life simple and easy for ourselves so we can do the same with others.
• Short = Make our plans, processes, etc as short as possible and reduce both time and efforts as much as we can.

This is of course if we want a successful project in less time with less efforts.

Coming Next?

Insha'allah I shall write a proposal for the Sub-Team. It would be ITA Sub-Team version 2.0 :)

Yes, obviously after all what I have explained above, I'm NOT happy with the current list and it is time to change.

25 Total number of Sub-Teams will remain intact. I will do my best to come up with a better list and share that for final discussion and vote.

Thank you!

Thank you so much for your time to read my above analysis to the current situation.

"All Of Us Are Smarter Than Anyone Of Us"