[NCUC Finance] Toronto event

[Avri Doria]

Hi,

One reason for budget memory is to know how to budget for the future.

avri

On 8 Feb 2013, at 03:20, Tapani Tarvainen wrote:

> Hi Milton,
> 
> Looks like I am having difficulties in expressing myself clearly.
> You have read things between my lines that weren't intended -
> my apologies for any misunderstandings.
> 
> On Feb 07 23:54, Milton L Mueller (mueller at syr.edu) wrote:
> 
>> If you want me to follow up, can you clarify the specific concerns
>> you have and the reasons for those concerns?
> 
> I am concerned about our poor institutional memory.
> 
> I would want things to be managed in such a way that even if
> the entire EC were to disappear at once in a plane crash,
> our successors would be able to pick up where they left off
> without having to start everything from scratch.
> 
> More modestly, I would like new EC members in the future to
> have an easier job in finding out how things work than
> I'm having now.
> 
> I am not accusing anyone of any abuses in the past.
> 
> I know very well how hard it is to manage documentation
> when you are busy doing things of substance.
> I realize you all have just been too busy in the past
> to build pretty paper trails of everything.
> But I'm not trying to make things harder for you,
> on the contrary: I'm trying to help.
> 
> I know I'm way behind you in substantive policy issues, and
> will probably remain that way for a long time, maybe forever.
> 
> But I have some experience in running organizations.
> And I know that while it takes some work to get
> processes running smoothly, it pays off in the long run.
> In particular, it would free you to spend your time
> in doing the really important stuff.
> 
> This is not the first time I've stumbled on a volunteer-driven 
> organization that's slowly grown to the point where it becomes
> necessary to revamp processes, not because they are bad as such,
> but simply because they don't scale.
> 
> And that's what I'm trying to do: to build processes that
> scale and will carry NCUC on during the (hopefully)
> expected period of growth. It will have to be done
> eventually anyway, and it is easier sooner than later.
> 
> To that end I need to understand how things have been
> working in the past.
> 
> Building new processes cannot be done from nothing.
> They need to be built on history, to create continuity.
> Documenting the past is essential.
> 
> That is why I keep asking these questions.
> Not to air dirty laundry or to assign blame,
> but to better prepare us for the future.
> 
> I understand answering may feel like waste of time,
> but it will pay off in the end.
> 
>> If you tell me what you are trying to find out it will be easier to
>> answer you.
> 
> Simple: I want to find out everything NCUC and it's EC in
> particular have ever done. :-)
> 
> Or at least everything that's been documented over
> the last year to start with.
> 
> I've been planning to build us e-tools to manage all our
> documents easily, as automatically as possible,
> as a side-effect of routine processes as it were.
> 
> I'd like to include all historical material as well,
> not only for the intrinsic value of documenting our history,
> but also to help in designing the system.
> So I want to collect as many documents of the past as possible.
> Nothing more sinister than that.
> 
> Will you help me out?
> 
> -- 
> Tapani Tarvainen
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