How We Work (part 2)

In today’s edition of How We Work, I’m going to talk about how we apply the Agile concept of “the backlog” to historic research. The backlog is basically the pile of work that is ready to be worked. Our backlog is housed in Trello, a free project management software by Atlassian, and has been a great freeware solution for our organization.

This summer, our backlog has been composed of three primary work tracks: Web + Branding, Black Churches in Des Moines built prior to 1925, and Old Congregations in New Buildings (congregations dating back to the 1800s who were displaced by interstate and hospital complex construction). A well documented, organized backlog ensures that there is enough work, and that everyone knows what to work on and where to find more work. In a corporate environment, team members select work in the order that it is presented, and stick to it. Instead, I encouraged our interns to pick what sounded interesting to them. This was the right choice. Amani jumped on the branding and created our amazing new logo. Having grown up in Bethlehem, Palestine, she was drawn to New Jerusalem Church in Des Moines. Evelynn decided to start with Mount Olive Missionary Baptist and then…

SQUIRREL! Squirrels are our fourth work track. Squirrels are topics that we bump into when we’re researching something else. Squirrels are people, events, and movements that are worth some additional research. It’s important that we enjoy the journey, and these topics help paint a more complete picture of Black life in Central Iowa during late 19th and early 20th centuries. We create a Trello card with a brief description and a link to where the squirrel was found. Back to Evelynn’s squirrels: Holy Jumpers, The Iowa Bystander, and Des Moines’ Black ministers involved in the Civil Rights Movement…and then back to the backlog for a look at Corinthian Baptist. Amani heard a rumor that the first mosque in the United States was located in Cedar Rapids. It sounded far fetched, and we were delighted to learn that it was true! My squirrel: I was reading about Bethel AME raising money for a Black women’s dormitory at Iowa State University (ISU) in 1934, went searching for the name of the dorm, came across some harsh criticisms of ISU’s poor treatment of Black students by none other than W.E.B. DuBois.

I’m so impressed by our interns’ work, and how well they’ve adapted to this odd, Agile-ish structure. Our branding + web work track is closed out, and we are making good progress creating narrative around Des Moines’ oldest Black congregations and their impact on our community.