Client - MolSSI

In 2022, we worked closely with the team at the Molecular Science Software Institute (MolSSI) to examine what made the project so successful. The MolSSI was originally a five-year NSF-funded project that supported a mix of software scientists, postdoctoral researchers, and MolSSI software fellows to improve and advance open-source molecular science software. It has received a second 5-year funding round and is working to determine its long-term sustainment plans.

In our engagement with The MolSSI, we worked online via Zoom twice weekly for 60 minutes each session to perform a retrospective of where the MolSSI had been in its work, where it could go in the future, and what key next steps the team would undertake to advance toward the desired future state.

Phase I - Retrospective

Looking back, what's made MolSSI special and impactful?
What have been the key impacts?
Who should we talk to to learn more?
What are the stories of past fellows, how did MolSSI shape their careers so-far?
What didn't work as planned?

Phase II - Blue Sky

Where could MolSSI go?
What areas of Molecular Science haven't been reached, but could benefit?
What other orgs do you aspire to be like?

Phase III - Sustainment

Developing multiple revenue streams
Mapping out experiments with new revenue sources
Engaging new stakeholders
Building a consensus vision for directions to explore
Setting tangible, measurable goals and a clear roadmap with next actions

Feedback

Lots of collaboration and sharing

Everyone was engaged and active, and quite extroverted (for us)

Really liked the small-group discussions instead of just trying to have one large zoom discussion. It allows for a bit more open discussion where everyone has an opportunity to share if they would like.

Good session. Can you just do this every week forever?

The prompts were extremely interesting. They gave me a sort of knee jerk reaction about each in a different way. This is making me think more specifically about what I want for the future of molssi.

A facilitation output where the MolSSI team talked about their strength areas and weak areas needing more support

Impact communities

Throughout the work with MolSSI we were looking at other impactful communities and exploring and doing research on their operating models to learn more about what kinds of organizations are out there doing similarly structured impactful work.