Keys to Success - Coordination

During the past few months I have had the privilege to work with Tara Vecchione, Anna Diller, and Matthew Scally on the budget formulation process for the Global Health Bureau at USAID.  The process is if anything complicated and relies on a strong coordination of stakeholders coming together for the common good.

The same principles apply to the field of IT, especially in the homeless health context.  Here is an excerpt of the most recent email I received from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development:

Updated Guidance on the Homelessness Pulse Project

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Pulse Project collects quarterly data on homelessness from Continuums of Care nationwide.  The attached guidance:

·         Reviews the objectives of the Pulse project,

·         Describes recent revisions to the Pulse reporting requirements,

·         Provides definitions of key concepts, and

·         Answers frequently asked questions.

The guidance is designed to help HMIS administrators and vendors program accurate Pulse reports in their systems.  HUD is currently developing programming specifications for the Pulse project, which will be released in early 2012. 

If you have any questions about the Pulse project or want to learn more about participating in the project, please send an email toAHAR@abtassoc.com.

Here's what I found so impressive about the email from a coordination standpoint (and we're not even talking about the actual guidance document)

1)  Each guidance document takes the time to review the objectives.  How many times have we been at board meetings or management meetings when someone asks "why are we doing this again?"  Presenting guidance in this format brings everyone back to the same page to have a productive meeting

2)  Recent revisions and key concepts are highlighted.  This allows everyone to follow on all the changes made to the project.  A small step toward establishing corporate memory independent of people.

3)  The contact information for any further questions was provided.  Having points of contact for different elements in the project are absolutely crucial in order to pass information in the right order and to have action administered by the right people.

All in all, the coordination of the project is greatly helped by a common understanding of objectives and rebuilding buy-in with stakeholders at each point of contact.