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→ to begin
Breakout 1 · 12:15 to 1:15

Demystifying RDM Across Units

Seven or six people. Sixty minutes. It runs into lunch, so a small overrun costs nobody anything.

Before you start: packages on the table · folders and triad sheets out · timer visible · both notetakers set up and the structured notetaker seated where you can read their screen · your tag card beside you.

Press T now and read the six tags and three tiers once before anyone sits down. T works from any slide, all session.

Press D now and read the instructions for keeping the discussion moving. D works from any slide. all session.

Press → when the session starts. The clock starts itself.
Opening

Set it up0 → 2

“This morning we heard Dom on the Tri-Agency policy landscape, then four people describing RDM from four different angles, and Lee on what already exists nationally. This session is your turn to do that at the table. By the end you should have a sense of what people outside your own department actually do, where your work overlaps, and where things fall between you. This is the first breakout, so we’re all getting used to the format. There are no wrong answers here.And these two are our notetakers, gesture to them, and they’re here so I can concentrate on the conversation instead of writing things down. As you heard this morning, they’re capturing what gets said, not who said it. They won’t join in, so don’t wait for them.”
Optional
Let them say their own first names if they’d like to
Don’t
Re-explain the anonymity commitment. It was covered properly at the welcome; one nod to it is enough
Then
Straight into Q1. Do not ask if anyone has questions.
Two minutes total. If you are still talking at the three-minute mark you have started the session badly.
Q1

Introductions2 → 16

“Let’s go around. Your name, your institution, your role, and one line on how research data touches your work. I’ll start.”
Format
Go-around · 100 seconds each
You first
30 seconds. Yours sets the length everyone copies.
Watch
Speakers two and three. That is where the norm locks in.
If someone starts on their whole portfolio: “we’ll get into the detail in a minute, let’s keep going round.”
Q2

What people get wrong16 → 22

“Take the Breakout 1 card out of the package in front of you. The question’s printed on it. One line.Ninety seconds. Then we’ll go round and just read them out, no explaining yet, because the next question is where we dig in.”
Format
90 sec silent write, then a read-out round
You first
Read yours in about 8 seconds
Then
Collect the cards and keep them in front of you: they are your Q3 fallback and nobody else has a copy
Tagging
Starts here, and it is a warm-up. Only tag the two or three that obviously fit. Skip the rest. Press ↓ for worked examples.
Say aloud
“Let’s tag that as ___”
Hold the full ninety seconds of quiet, then read yours first. Press T any time for the six tags. Tagging becomes routine in Q3; this is just where you get the feel of saying it out loud.
Q2 · tagging, worked

What it sounds like

You name which of the six the item is about, out loud, so the notetaker types your decision instead of guessing one. A tag names the subject, not the problem.The test: “this one is about ___.” The blank is the tag. If it will not fill, say “other”, or say nothing.
“People think the library only wants the final dataset. We’d rather hear from them at the proposal stage.”→ “That’s an ownership and referral one.”
“Everyone assumes IT storage is infinite and free.”→ “Infrastructure and tools, that one.”
“People think ethics is a form you do at the start, not something running through the project.”→ “Policy and compliance.”
“People think I’m the one who fixes the printer.”→ say nothing. It does not fit one of the six, and forcing it is worse than leaving it.
Two or three of the seven, not all of them. Woven in as a short aside while the group is still on it, then straight to the next person. You are summarising, not announcing.
Q3

Overlaps and gaps22 → 37

Task first, then split them.“We’re going to do this in small groups for six minutes. The question is: where do your jobs overlap, and what falls between you? One line each on the sheet, and then we’ll hear them all.”Now point: “You three together. You three. And you two. Don’t move, just turn your chairs toward each other.” Hand each group a sheet.
Split by
Pointing, not counting off. Faster and nobody loses track.
Groups
7 people → 3 + 2 + 2, or 3 + 4. 6 people → 3 + 3.
One table
Everyone is round one table, so nobody moves seats. Chairs turn, that is all. It will be loud and they will half-hear each other, which is fine.
You do
Stay in your seat. Lean toward each group for twenty seconds to check they have the question, then leave them to it. Do not join in.
At 6 min
“Let’s hear them.” Back to the full table.
Tagging
Every example gets one now. As it comes back to the table, say the tag and the units. Press T if you need the list.
Say aloud
“Let’s tag that as ___” “So that’s ___ and ___”
Give the task before you split them, or they will split and then ask what they are doing. Do not sort overlaps from gaps; just capture the example.
If it stalls

Q3 · Overlaps and gaps

  1. “Think about the cards we just read. Several of those are half an overlap already.”
  2. Read out two of the Q2 cards from the pile in front of you. Not from the notetaker: Q2 was never captured live.
  3. Pick whichever fits: “Who owns the DMP once it’s written, and who checks it gets followed?” · “Who fields a researcher’s question about anonymization: ethics or the library?” · “When a grad student leaves, whose job is it to make sure the data doesn’t leave with them?”
Q4

Collaboration37 → 53

“Given the overlaps and gaps we just named, where would working together actually make things easier?”
Format
Open floor
Say aloud
“Let’s tag that as ___” “So that’s ___ and ___”“That’s a bigger ask”
Careful
Name a big idea, don’t develop it. That’s Breakout 2’s job.
Bigger-ask items get read aloud at the start of Breakout 2. Say them clearly enough to be quoted.
If it stalls

Q4 · Collaboration

  1. Ask the context notetaker for one specific Q3 example to react to.
  2. “If you could ask one other unit for help with one task tomorrow, what would it be?”
  3. “Is there a single point of contact that would save you time right now?”
Wrap

Close it out53 → 58

Thank the group. Read back two or three things that came up more than once, off the notetaker’s screen, in your voice.
Then
Q2 cards and triad sheets into the numbered folders
Nothing else
No slip in this session: Breakout 2 picks this up in an hour, same room, same you
Do not ask the student to summarize. You deliver it; they keep it on screen.
↓ if it stalls
press R twice: reset the clock for Part 2
T or esc to close

The six tags

A tag names the subject, not the problem. So a gap and an overlap take the same tag: “nobody owns the handoff” and “we both do it and never compare notes” are both ownership and referral. Same question, opposite answer.
Ownership and referralwhose job is it, and where does someone go first
Training and awarenessthey don’t know it exists, or don’t know how
Capacity and staffingnobody has the time or the position
Infrastructure and toolsstorage, platforms, software, documentation and deposit
Policy and complianceTri-Agency, institutional policy, ethics and sensitive data
Regional communityshared resources, contacts, community of practice
Othersay it, the notetaker writes it in
Unsure? Say “other”, or say nothing. A blank is honest; a wrong tag is worse, because nobody downstream can tell.

The three tiers

“Could we start this next month, with the people in this room, and no new money?”
Yescoordination only
No, but a unit head could say yeslight lift
No: budget, a position, or a decision from aboveneeds real backing

Say these out loud

“Let’s tag that as ___”
“That one’s ___” tier
“So that’s ___ and ___” units
Never a name in the capture. Units only. Asked to be quoted by name? “Let me follow up after the session.”
D or esc to close

Someone is taking up too much room

“That’s useful, and I want to hear how that lands for a smaller shop.”
Thank them specifically, then redirect. The cleanest move there is.

Someone hasn’t spoken

“Number 5, you’ve been thinking about something.”
Numbers are less exposing than names. And after any card write, go round in order: nobody has to volunteer, and the quiet people have already written their answer.

Keep a round short

“Just read them out, no explaining yet. The next question is where we dig in.”
A constraint with a promise attached reads as a plan, not a brush-off.

Big-institution voices

Seat them sixth or seventh in any go-around. Give them one planned moment:
“I’ll come to number 6 near the end, for the view from a bigger shop.”

Yellow card is up

“Hold that thought a second.”
The notetaker is losing content. Fifteen seconds now saves the capture.

Gone somewhere difficult

If it drifts from the Code of Conduct, step in. Unsure, or it continues? Catch Nick or Sandra at the next transition; they are walking the rooms. You will not be second-guessed for flagging.