[Steering Committee] A Change Proposal

Thu May 28 10:03:44 PDT 2009

I propose a summary to the summary for those people who are too busy
to read the summary.  It should be read in either a cookie-monster or
James-Hetfield voice.

Times tuff.
Food cost much.
No more pizza.
Must exhibit penurious behavior to ameliorate financial jeopardy.

--- Your summary follows ---

On Thu, May 28, 2009 at 10:29 AM, Brett L. Schuchert
<schuchert at yahoo.com> wrote:
> I like it. It covers all the points well and gives current thinking. I'd
> like to follow-up on Paul's recommendation and suggest an executive summary
> (that also makes a specific decision, which is open for discussion). Here's
> an example:
>
> Summary:
> Due to economic considerations and a desire to not spend more than we taken,
> starting in July we will discontinue providing food. Membership will still
> be free and we will continue to meet at the CoCo. We are doing this to be
> able to continue to offer a wonderful, free experience to our group. If you
> are concerned with these decisions, please:
>        - Read further for a more detailed background and other possible
> options
>        - Consider coming or writing to the steering committee.
>
> --- Your letter follows ---
>
> Or something like that.
>
> This:
>        Makes it quick and gives a clear direction
>        Provides background if people care
>        Alludes to alternatives, which can be found below
>        Puts people into action by making a possibly unpopular decision
>
> Brett
> On May 28, 2009, at 9:34 AM 5/28/09, Jason Lee wrote:
>
>> OK, fellas.  Proof-reading time.  I'd like to send this out today or
>> tomorrow, so please give me feedback as soon as possible.  Thanks!
>>
>>
>> =====
>>
>> One of the things we in the JUG leadership have always tried to stress is
>> that this is *our* group.  While there may be a few of us making the
>> decisions, all are welcome to come to the meeting and help us make those
>> decisions, even taking over leadership if so desired.  That being the case,
>> we try to operate the JUG with complete transparently.  To that end, I'd
>> like to take some time to discuss the state of things concerning our group.
>>
>> As you may recall, late last year, we incorporated the JUG, which, among
>> other things, has allowed us to open and maintain a bank account.  As a
>> result of that move and the resulting, if meager, account balance, we have
>> been able to entertain larger, more long-term arrangements.  One such
>> arrangement, which we're still in the process of finalizing, is a
>> multi-month agreement with the Oklahoma City Coworking Collaborative, or
>> CoCo.  As many of you have seen, Derrick and his team have built a fantastic
>> facility in downtown Oklahoma City that solves a number of issues for us,
>> the most pressing of which has been space.  At several of our last meetings
>> at the University of Phoenix, we were standing room only.  To ameliorate
>> that issue there would have doubled our costs.  The CoCo gives us much more
>> room, at only a modest increase in costs.  The CoCo also provides for the
>> recording and hosting of meeting videos, as well as a more central location,
>> which helps out those on the south side of the city.
>>
>> For those reasons, we feel such a partnership with the CoCo is a boon to
>> the JUG.  At the same time, we are able to help out Derrick and crew who
>> have been very active and supportive of not only the JUG, but several other
>> user groups in the area.  The catch is that such an agreement requires an
>> upfront payment for the facilities rental, which is a normal and not
>> unreasonable arrangement.  What that means is that the lion's share of our
>> current funds are now committed to this partnership, leaving us with only a
>> small sum left.  Seeing this small amount, the SC discussed Tuesday what we
>> should do to make sure that we can continue to operate.  While it is true
>> that in the past we've gone month to month in our funding, given the
>> volatility in the market and the loss of one of our sponsors, we feel that
>> it would be prudent to take steps to insure that we're not spending money we
>> may not get in the future.
>>
>> Having said all of that, we came up with a number of options for the
>> membership to discuss, select, etc.  Aside from the facilities rental, we
>> have two other regular expenses, door prizes and food.  With food being the
>> larger of the two, our proposals focused on that.  They are:
>>
>> 1) We no longer provide lunch, and expect each attendee to bring his
>> lunch.
>> 2) We continue to provide lunch, but require that each attendee pay a flat
>> fee for lunch, say, $5.
>> 3) We move to a paid membership model, wherein members would continue to
>> get a "free" meal at each meeting but non-members would be required to pay
>> for the meal at each meeting.
>> 4) Someone in the group donates the food. Or, alternately, the
>> entrepreneurial might find a nice business opportunity here.
>> 5) Continue business as usual and then suspend operations should funding
>> dry up.
>>
>> There are likely other options.  If one comes to mind, please feel free to
>> propose it.  We decided that, given the time frame, nothing will change for
>> the June meeting, but, starting with the July meeting, one of these
>> proposals (or, perhaps, one suggested by the general membership) will be
>> implemented, so if you have a strong feeling one way or another, now is the
>> time to make your voice heard.  The decision on which option to adopt will
>> likely be made at next month's Steering Committee meeting, so if you've been
>> thinking about coming, now is the time.  That's the best way to get involved
>> in the decision-making process for the JUG.
>>
>> Our hope, of course, is the economy begins to swing back up and that our
>> awesome local sponsors will still be in the position to partner with us.
>>  While there may be signs showing that that will happen in the near term, we
>> felt it best not to do "deficit spending" and implement a strategy to insure
>> the continued operations of the JUG.  All of us on the SC feel that we get
>> value from the JUG, hoping, of course, that everyone else feels the same, so
>> it is in the best interest of all involved that the JUG continue to meet.
>>  It is our hope that this proposal will do just that.
>>
>> Thanks for taking the time to read this giant missive.  Your feedback is
>> greatly welcome.
>>
>> Jason Lee, SCJP
>> Senior Java Developer, Sun Microsystems
>> Mojarra and Mojarra Scales Dev Team
>> https://mojarra.dev.java.net
>> https://scales.dev.java.net
>> http://blogs.steeplesoft.com
>>
>>
>>
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>
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