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OSPO Advisory Board §

Pattern Summary §

Establish an OSPO Advisory Board/Committee to build relationships with key stakeholders, enhance effectiveness, amplify impact, and maintain awareness of the wider academic and external landscape.

Problem / Challenge §

Academic OSPOs operate in complex institutional environments with diverse stakeholders, varying priorities, and limited resources. Without structured input and guidance, an OSPO can find itself siloed and:

  • Lacking crucial connections to key stakeholders, projects, and communities both within and outside the institution.
  • Developing ‘blind spots’ in its understanding of the academic landscape it operates in.
  • Missing opportunities for strategic partnerships or collaborations.

Pattern Category §

  • Community building
  • Demonstrating value as an academic OSPO
  • Working with Tech Transfer / External Partners

Context §

A research university creating large volumes of research outputs across every discipline.

A wide and diverse range of open source creators, users and projects operate within the university.

There is inconsistent awareness about the OSPO and its services across the university.

Forces §

OSPO staff have the time and capacity to establish the Advisory Group, co-ordinate meetings and report to the committee on a regular basis.

The university, OSPO or relevant Department (e.g. Data Science Institute, School of Computer Science, Library) is aware of or has an existing relationship with potential Advisory Group members.

Committee members have an in-depth understanding of open source projects, the internal academic ecosystem and/or the broader or local open source ecosystem.

Solution §

Set up an Advisory Committee/Group to:

  • Better understand stakeholder needs.
  • Inform the OSPO’s strategic direction and activities.
  • Strengthen the OSPO’s profile and reach.
  • Develop strategic partnerships both within and outside of the institution
  • Maintain awareness of the evolving internal and external landscape in which the OSPO operates.
  • Promote the OSPO, its services and the importance of open source and open source software within academia.

The solution below outlines some core activities to consider. The sequence of the sample activities may also differ between OSPOs and institutions.

Define objectives, scope and composition of the Advisory Group §

  • Determine the specific purpose of the advisory group.
  • Establish the types of input required (e.g. strategic guidance, stakeholder representation, networking connections).
  • Clarify the group's decision-making authority (purely advisory vs. some decision power).

Identify optimal composition and size of the committee §

  • Map out the key internal and external stakeholder groups that should be represented.
  • Determine ideal size of committee membership.
  • Balance institutional knowledge with external perspectives.

Develop formal governance structure §

  • Draft a charter outlining purpose, responsibilities, and procedures.
  • Establish meeting frequency and format.
  • Define communication channels between the Advisory Group and service leadership (if applicable).

Recruit and onboard members §

  • Agree on a recruitment strategy with senior leadership or management.
  • Approach potential members with clear expectations about commitment.

Plan and facilitate effective meetings §

  • Develop structured agendas with clear objectives.
  • Share relevant materials in advance.
  • Ensure balanced participation and productive discussion.

Acknowledge and recognize contributions from the Advisory Group §

  • Provide appropriate recognition for committee members' service at key events or in OSPO communications.

Evaluate and evolve the advisory structure §

  • Periodically review the group's composition and effectiveness.
  • Refresh membership as needed to maintain relevance and energy.

Resulting Context §

An academic OSPO can benefit from an Advisory Group in some or all of the following ways:

  • Expanded connections and networks both internally and externally.
  • Enhanced strategic insight.
  • Increased credibility and visibility.
  • The OSPO’s activities are directly informed by key community members and stakeholders.
  • The OSPO can facilitate valuable connections and relationships between the university and external partners from both the region and the broader open source community.

Additional learning from the George Washington University OSPO §

We have an OSPO stakeholder group. We don't use the term 'advisory' because we don't want our stakeholders to feel the need to advise us, rather, we are a community sharing ideas, feedback and working together.

Additional learning from Saint Louis University §

We have a Faculty Advisory Board of experienced researchers and educators across the university. They provide strategic guidance on academic initiatives and ensure our program aligns with university priorities. Our Industry Advisory Board comprises seasoned technology leaders, open source practitioners, and innovation executives. Members provide insights into current market trends and workforce development needs.

Additional learning from University of Wisconsin-Madison §

The UW-Madison OSPO identified the need for two distinct bodies to guide operations and provide strategic support during the planning phase.

The Executive Committee, composed of representatives from the Libraries, the Data Science Hub, and Madison College, was tasked with hiring the OSPO Manager and maintaining close collaboration with our office. These organizations were identified as crucial future partners in the original funding proposal.

The OSPO Advisory Board drew from a broader range of campus and community stakeholders to guide the OSPO's overarching strategy.

Including these governance structures in the initial proposal demonstrated institutional buy-in and strategic support from the project's inception. This undoubtedly contributed both to the success of the OSPO proposal and our OSPO's subsequent effectiveness, as the office launched with built-in capacity through these established advisory relationships.

Additional learning from George Washington University §

The GW OSPO created a Stakeholder Group and we consciously refrained from calling the group an advisory board as we did not want to denote any heirarchy or obligations in the relationship. We are very happy with the way our Stakeholder Group is functioning. We meet bi-monthly for 1-2 hours (hybrid meetings) and we update the group and also facillitate discussions to ask for help.

We have approximately 40 members which include faculty, staff, and students. We strive to have a diverse set of members from many schools and departments to help us connect across many academic silos and boundaries. We are planning to invite specific alumni who are strong open source advocates to diversify our membership even more.

Thus far our Stakeholder Group has been an enormous success. The members are critical for marketing our new OSPO initiatives and for strengthening our open source community. All of our successes including our student award program, our lunch & learn series, and our GW OSCON were only possible due to significant contributions from our stakeholders.

Known Instances §

References §

Contributors & Acknowledgement §