Life In 19x19

Quick response, perhaps more later.

Bantari wrote:As it was stated, my impression was that AGA did not have any ideas, did not have any prior priorities, and there is nothing that needs to be carried over. There is no projects the board members have already set their heats on, which we can think over and come up with ideas of execution.

It appears to me that this is about 85-95% correct.

Bantari wrote:In short - in my opinion, AGA should be in a more advanced state than 'lets throw any general ideas in the wind and see what we like'.

This is what I referred to when I said "if that astonishes you, then be astonished." I agree it should be in a more advanced state than it is. But it's not. Astonishment on your part won't change that.

daniel_the_smith wrote:Quick response, perhaps more later.

Bantari wrote:As it was stated, my impression was that AGA did not have any ideas, did not have any prior priorities, and there is nothing that needs to be carried over. There is no projects the board members have already set their heats on, which we can think over and come up with ideas of execution.

It appears to me that this is about 85-95% correct.

Bantari wrote:In short - in my opinion, AGA should be in a more advanced state than 'lets throw any general ideas in the wind and see what we like'.

This is what I referred to when I said "if that astonishes you, then be astonished." I agree it should be in a more advanced state than it is. But it's not. Astonishment on your part won't change that.

Lol.
In spite of the fact that whatever I do or say won't change anything - I can still be astonished.

And so my advice as to the priorities - take my astonishment as a sad lesson, and try to do things better in the future.
Because unless you first root out the reasons for such astonishment, no ideas will go very far, I think. Ideas are cheap, talk is cheap, and I am sure there were plenty of talk and plenty of ideas in the past. The hard part is to create a system, a body, and an environment in which the ideas can be turned into reality and thrive. And for that, you need to fundamentally change the way things are approached, not just gather a new bunch of ideas to maybe be half-way realized in some undefined future.

I think you are doing a tremendous job here, and I see some of the other board members speaking up. I assume more are reading. And this is a great start!

I guess this is exactly what i was trying to suggest in my previous posts.
No amount of ideas will do any good unless you first create an environment in which these ideas can be properly handled.

Bantari wrote:The hard part is to create a system, a body, and an environment in which the ideas can be turned into reality and thrive.

I totally agree.

Bantari wrote:As for you yourself... even if you are only one, there is still no reason you cannot come up with ideas. Each one of us is only one, and if we all thought like you, then nobody would ever have any ideas worth voicing. Or do you disagree.

Sure, I have added my own ideas into the list I sent the rest of the board, too, not just the ones I stole from all of you. I guess my point was more that I can't expect to personally come up with the best idea. I see my role as finding the best possible ideas, and making them happen.

Bantari wrote:Part of my point is that you, even though only one among equals, are a little more equal than many of us here... but only because of your proximity to what is going on in AGA. For this reason, I think your ideas might be at least as interesting as mine, possibly much more so. And things you propose, from your higher vantage point might be generally more appropriate and need than what I would say.

That kind of perspective takes time to develop. I will get there, but I'm not there yet. Bear with me.

Bantari wrote:
Yes and no.
I have read some but not all of the minutes.

However - I remember from some time ago that the minutes were not being updated regularly. This is why I suggested somebody actually doing it as a job for AGA. Maybe there already is such position, I don't know. And maybe from now on the minutes will be always current. Great, I withdraw this point in such case.

My guess... give it a year or two, and lets see if this page is still maintained and the minutes current. The we talk again.

This is trivia I know. Towards the start of the year, it fell on the webmaster to post the meeting minutes. Towards the start of the year, there was no webmaster.

daniel_the_smith wrote:Sure, I have added my own ideas into the list I sent the rest of the board, too, not just the ones I stole from all of you. I guess my point was more that I can't expect to personally come up with the best idea. I see my role as finding the best possible ideas, and making them happen.

Personally I think you're setting too high a goal. The AGA in its current state is dysfunctional--it is incapable of taking an idea (good, bad or the best) and pushing it forward to completion.

The usual response from the leadership is that they are constrained by the limited number of volunteers, but I have heard this excuse too many times. Any serious project that has real value is going to require a wide variety of skills beyond that of a single volunteer. The AGA does not seem to be capable of finding the multiple people necessary for a project and bringing them together. This is an operational issue, and the responsibility falls squarely with the president and the volunteer coordinator. This has to be fixed if the AGA is to progress.

Any serious project will also require decision making at the top level of the organization, i.e., the board. The board seems incapable of reaching timely decisions, but will not delegate the decision making authority. Board decisions don't stick--a policy is edited, reversed and deleted largely by whim. It leaves volunteers who need decisions initially left drifting and later having their work rendered obsolete by new directions.

This is a time for the board and the president to step up. Pick an idea--a good one, but short--and practice getting the organizational aspects down. If you can't figure it out then we have another decade of the same AGA until a new generation of volunteers comes along.

pwaldron wrote:The AGA in its current state is dysfunctional--it is incapable of taking an idea (good, bad or the best) and pushing it forward to completion.

Let me provide evidence to the contrary.
1) About 20 months ago, I suggested a fundraising idea for the AGA.

2) When I went to congress in 2010, the idea had already been picked up by the board, and was slowly moving forward.

3)That idea has now been implemented.

I would like to emphasize that I didn't do jack. I just had the idea and it worked it's way up through the system and became reality.

rubin427 wrote:

pwaldron wrote:The AGA in its current state is dysfunctional--it is incapable of taking an idea (good, bad or the best) and pushing it forward to completion.

Let me provide evidence to the contrary.

While this is a one-off score, it was picked up by a desperate development committee (headed by a board member) and they ran with it. I can honestly not remember a successful goal that came from the top. I only remember successes that came from the bottom and were forced/begged to the top.

vash3g wrote:I can honestly not remember a successful goal that came from the top.

In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with that.

vash3g wrote:I only remember successes that came from the bottom and were forced/begged to the top.

You and I have very different expectations from a non-profit, volunteer based organization. I would assume that success being fostered from the bottom up would be considered natural and positive.

The original source of a goal/priority/task/etc is inconsequential. The important thing is that the organization as a whole is capable of (1) identifying useful things to do, and then (2) actually doing them. IMO, we haven't seen a great deal of either step from the AGA over and above the minimum.

You should expect some visionary thinking from those in charge. But it's totally OK if they didn't come up with the ANY of the elements of their grand plan on their own. Criticize us for the net deficiency in visionary thinking and subsequent accomplishments; that would be totally fair, but it doesn't sound like the criticism you're making.

daniel_the_smith wrote:You should expect some visionary thinking from those in charge. But it's totally OK if they didn't come up with the ANY of the elements of their grand plan on their own. Criticize us for the net deficiency in visionary thinking and subsequent accomplishments; that would be totally fair, but it doesn't sound like the criticism you're making.

Agreed. Delivery is what matters, although the topic of visionary leadership brings this to mind...

The board voted to try and accomplish 5 things before the next congress, including (one of) my suggestions of improving the member experience. Allen, Lisa, and I are supposed to have a discussion about which of the sub-points I listed would be best to focus on. I'll keep you posted.

(The other four were fundraising, finding new methods to market go and increase membership, rank certification, and the hopefully-upcoming American pro system.)

It's an ambitious list, but it's good to aim high. I (and I'm sure others) will watch closely for updates.

Nice goals.

Can you define them a bit more? ( I mean "improving the member experience" sounds great, but what does it involve? Beer and hookers? )

Joaz Banbeck wrote:( I mean "improving the member experience" sounds great, but what does it involve? Beer and hookers? )

Please. Go is one of the highest blossomings of mankind's aesthetic yearnings. We need to conduct ourselves with a dignity appropriate to the rich cultural traditions of the game. Crude behavior and crude moves go hand in hand.



So we shouldn't settle for anything less than sake and geisha.

Joaz Banbeck wrote:Nice goals.

Can you define them a bit more? ( I mean "improving the member experience" sounds great, but what does it involve? Beer and hookers? )

Well, for that one, I can repeat the list I gave. Lisa, Allen, and I are supposed to discuss it in more detail and pick a few.

me wrote:1. Fix the AGA "user experience."
* Make interacting with the AGA as easy as possible (example: no one had been looking at the email to the webmaster while the position was vacant; lots of requests had gone unnoticed for months).
* Don't overload/overwork volunteers; make sure volunteers get public recognition.
* Improve/fix/change whatever the AGA does now to make a system which: a) notices when a volunteer goes AWOL and recovers, b) doesn't make volunteers feel like we don't trust them, and c) reduces the chance that volunteers will go AWOL.
* Create a "How to run an AGA chapter" document. Send it to new chapters. (method: task someone with soliciting feedback from current chapter reps and compiling it. Have someone else edit it.)
* Create a chapter mentorship system. Obtain and publish a list of chapter reps who are willing and able to help new chapters get started. Make sure everyone knows who to contact when they have a question they don't know the answer to.
* Announce our goals in the ejournal so members can hold us accountable. Inform the membership about what the board is doing; I think there ought to be a position, held by one of the board members, with a job description of keeping members informed. This person would do things like write press releases for the ejournal, etc. Posting the minutes to the website is not enough; people don't read them and they're a month behind anyway. If you all agree, I'll volunteer.

For the other goals, no list like the above was behind them. You'll have to judge from the minutes how well defined you think they are. IMO one of them has an under-specified success condition.

The board meeting was quite long, we spent a lot of time discussing this, and perhaps even more discussing some policies Gordon has recommended we implement. (We voted to send the policies to the policy and governance committee for review. HKA, if you're lurking-- hide, they're coming for you. )