From dan at thecsl.org Sat Apr 4 10:55:25 2009 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Sat, 04 Apr 2009 10:55:25 -0400 Subject: [Cadre-politics] DRAFT status: links Message-ID: <49D774DD.4020008@thecsl.org> For the last couple weeks I've bombarded the board with status emails. It doesn't seem fair to create entirely new email for them to digest. Perhaps you gentle reader will care for a peek at our unpolished inner secrets. The whole list is at: http://lists.thecsl.org/pipermail/divinerightofkings/ Some highlights. FINANCES Message containing a links to: 1) checkbook register (all payments & deposits) 2) 15 line budget 3 other juicy stuff http://lists.thecsl.org/pipermail/divinerightofkings/2009-March/000756.html FINANCE QUIZ A quiz designed to provide a study guide to our finances, so far no board members have taken it. http://lists.thecsl.org/pipermail/divinerightofkings/2009-March/000757.html JOB DESCRIPTION A rough revised job description for new a VISTA spot. Instead of brute donation solicitation, the position will focus on getting people to use our free software: http://lists.thecsl.org/pipermail/cadre-nothere/2009/001379.html GOVERNMENT PAPERWORK Various bits of un-done government paperwork, that will eventually cause us to be fined heavily. http://lists.thecsl.org/pipermail/divinerightofkings/2009-March/000759.html WHY WE DIDN'T GET A BIG GRANT Feedback from the funder on why we didn't get a huge grant. http://lists.thecsl.org/pipermail/divinerightofkings/2009-March/000766.html From dan at thecsl.org Tue Apr 7 14:38:45 2009 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:38:45 -0400 Subject: [Cadre-politics] status: Power is perfected in weakness. Message-ID: <49DB9DB5.1060804@thecsl.org> For an organization with a grand goal of setting a good example to wider society, discussion of the proper role of hierarchy may be important. (hint, hint: discussion) 2 Corinthians 12:9 is about as close to a topic sentence as we are going to get today: My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses,[..] I (dan) am quite conflicted about the whole hierarchy thing. My step dad hates the company (any company). My step-dad's father worked at Bethlehem steel. One day somebody elses' careless accident put a billet of white hot steel through his hip. My step dad's strongest childhood memories are of his crippled father. My dad, a journalist, wasn't a big fan of hierarchy either, but that is another story. Paradoxically, both men have as much contempt for slackers as for bosses. For lack of any particular purpose, I spent the first 7 years of my full time working life (age 19 to 26) loading and unloading trucks, washing dishes and digging ditches. In such places there are many opportunities to defy authority. Sometimes, when I'm a bit down, I pull out a memory of filing the "most complete and accurate complaint" the OSHA inspector had seen in his career. By definition, the boss is at best a fool and at worst an evil bastard. Consequently, as a clever yet humble revolutionary poser thrust into the role of fearless leader I'm often playing against type. Sometimes not. In some situations, I'm as conflicted about administering dope slaps as I am about thumping the dog for peeing on the rug after I've just taken him out. For example, from experience, I tend to automatically translate volunteer applicant statements like: "Can't work in hierarchical corporate environment." To: "I whine when people call me out on my laziness" On the other hand when people say specific stuff like: "The corporate goal of improving napalm's ability to stick to flesh wasn't aligned with my personal values" ...I tend to believe them. Most cases aren't this clear cut. So far my best strategy for dealing with typical ambiguity is to pretend that my minions are actually my bosses, but that I have to defy them in a sneaky way that wouldn't get me fired. This is a bit different than Servant Leadership: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servant_leadership This seems to work pretty well in developing people's ability to think for themselves. (but what do I know? The boss is at best an idiot) Further twisting my view of hierarchy and power is Laura's experience getting her MSW. To be a licensed social worker you need to do some hours of internship with very structured weekly "supervision". Academic social work supervision is way different from what they do at Walmart. The goal is to evaluate/improve the learning not evaluate/improve the amount of unpleasant work you can suck out of people without paying them. The CSL board probably supervises me in the social work sense and therefor probably doesn't obligate me to much defiance. While not having any money or much prestige has some drawbacks when it comes to time to plan the annual corporate golf outing, I like the fact that we're weak. Like all open source projects we are run by a dictator. (It is hard to admit that about myself) Unlike dictators in North Korea or MEGA Corp, I can't shoot people or take away huge salaries when people leave. My evil overlord style: http://eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html ...gets further cramped, if our projects turn out successfully. If we have a successful project and I turn out to be a jerk, people will fork the project, recruit all our laborers and get all the glory: http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/gpl-compatible.html#xfree86 It would be nice if people could fork Walmart now instead of waiting for the post-scarcity society: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-scarcity From dan at thecsl.org Sat Apr 25 16:07:33 2009 From: dan at thecsl.org (Dan MacNeil) Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:07:33 -0400 Subject: [Cadre-politics] recruiting VISTAs Message-ID: <49F36D85.40707@thecsl.org> It's that time of year again. We're scrambling to get the word out about our software development and marketing VISTA spots. Given my usual procrastination and the new (reasonable) complexities of this year's appliation, we are just getting started. We need to have the paperwork for the final candidates done in just a few weeks so if you could forward this around now.... For more info see: http://thecsl.org/go/vista/