[pp.int.general] [pp-eu] Party IT systems.. - the back ends..

[Andrew Norton]

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On 5/28/2012 3:02 PM, Andy Halsall wrote:
> On Monday 28 May 2012 19:48:07 Justus Römeth wrote:
>> Yeah great officers/volunteers would not just drop out ;-)
> 
> True, but they do get dumped on and eventually can end up taking a step back, 
> or get hit by a bus, or ill, or have kids (surprise!) etc..  It does put lots 
> of eggs in a few baskets and doesn't help in delegation (And then it gets 
> compelx..).

The problem is the old chestnut of Alpha males... In this case 'alpha
geek males'

People are of the belief that they know everything better than anyone
else, so they take on all the roles they can, and refuse to delegate and
supervise. Any volunteers they have then feel 'you don't seem to
want/need me, so sod you' and they then don't' bother. Alternatively,
little cliques form (as with PPI) with much the same result.

It leads to a mess as you end up with everything just going through one
or two people, and their views only imposed on people. And their 'alpha'
position means that they won't ask for help, or if they do only want it
on the fringes, and won't listen if it conflicts with their beliefs.

The crux is, when something happens to someone, everything's been so
concentrated on said people, that no-one else knows whats going on,
except for the few who are already overburdened

It's something I've noted happening at least half a dozen times with
various pirate parties over the last 6 1/2 years, and it will still keep
happening. Want an example? Take a look at Travis' sig. What do you
think will happen if something happens to him? 3 orgs lose someone in an
essential position.

There are plenty more examples, but it all boils down to confusing what
makes sense, with what works on hobby groups. People at the top know how
to delegate. Most of us don't have the experience in that yet. Instead
we treat it like a game or hobby, in that it doesn't matter how well the
work gets done, just that it looks good to have the position on your
CV/wiki page.

If we are to move on, then we have to start thinking about what's best
overall, and less about personal glory; and learn a little humility.

Also, everyone needs to stop thinking in terms of 'we need this kind of
software to do something'. Software is ONE means to an end, not the ONLY
one. Everyone goes on about Mumble for instance, but mumble doesn't work
for some people (it will NOT run right for me) and is just impractical
other times (I can't be the only one with a living environment that
makes long chats with (sometimes) less-than-great spoken English
impractical at best? It turns into using tech for the sake of it, and
that's never a good tactic, things just turn into a mess.

Communication needs to focus on the COMMUNICATION, and not on (to borrow
a concept from Soviet Russia) the approval from the zampolit of the
method used to communicate.

Andrew

- -- 
Andrew Norton
http://ktetch.co.uk
Tel: +1(352)6-KTETCH [+1-352-658-3824]
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