I agree this is a fixable problem; I think "this could be covered in a half-hour meeting and half of that is discussion" is an extreme exaggeration. Especially since none of the software options come with any discussion of "how many people will quit if we require this?" or "how do we convince people to actually use this as intended, and not just lie about it because that's easier than wading through the project menus?"
I repeat: I think this is doable. I just don't think it's a matter of "Just grab something, install it, and start using it; if it doesn't work for us, we'll just switch to something else." And that's what a short meeting with a decision would mean.
I would like to gently suggest to anyone whose thinking aligns with this to reevaluate how much they trust their colleagues and seriously consider what leadership looks like within the organization.
In a healthy, high-trust environment, you can trial solutions and switch when something doesn't work, because individuals feel empowered to express when something's not working for them, and organizational leaders are able to delegate platform selection and feedback gathering to interested/motivated individuals.
In an unhealthy, low-trust environment, you get stuff like this: the immediate jump to the idea that people will quit when asked to spend 5 minutes on an administrative task intended to help the organization scale, and the immediate jump to the assumption that people will lie about time spent.
These problems are best solved with a combination of subject matter expertise and collaboration. There is just no need for this level of control and mistrust.
Thank you oml. It feels like people on the inside are so used to the dysfunction/inaction that they don't realize how bizarre certain statements sound. As for how to convince people to abide by a self-reporting time tracking system, transparency about the goals and methods would help. "We need to track volunteer time to get data on how to make your lives easier; help us help you. We welcome your feedback as we may need to trial different methods of time tracking to meet different volunteer needs; report any feedback to X. In about X months we should have the data we need and you can expect to see results as we make changes based on it." That's clumsy but it at least starts from a place of collaboration with volunteers and lays out clear expectations
Comment on Resignation of OTW Directors
impertinence Sat 29 Jul 2023 04:41PM UTC
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switchwitchbitch Mon 31 Jul 2023 02:01AM UTC
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impertinence Mon 31 Jul 2023 02:41AM UTC
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