Awesome summary, A, J & J! Thank you for consolidating so much of what happened and communicating it so well!
Susan __ Office Nomads officenomads.com 206-484-5859 On Wed, Oct 5, 2011 at 7:16 AM, Anne Kirby < [email protected]> wrote: > Fantastic, signing up now :) > > On Oct 4, 10:39 am, Alex Hillman <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hello Coworking World! > > > > As promised, we've returned from the weekend in Santa Monica with some > tasks > > and topics for further discussion. Our #1 priority for holding this > weekend > > was to have some focused discussion on what the global coworking > community > > wasn't doing - what the biggest opportunities to work together to further > > coworking for everyone are. > > > > We're consolidating everybody's notes (and lots of photos as well) > because a > > LOT of amazing information was shared and we want you to have access to > as > > much of that as possible. > > > > In the mean time, want to share an overview of the weekend and some of > the > > results in the form of a call to action! > > > > *Here is the "fast-forward" summary of the actionable results of the > > weekend.* > > > > *More background on how we got there is included below. The "directors > cut" > > below provides more background and insight. If you have questions, please > be > > sure to read that as well before replying.* > > > > 1. Coworking's "ad-hoc" community has generated great projects in the > past, > > but we never had a consistent method in place to maintain them. The > > following is what we've come up to address that: > > > > - help people build a team first, then execute tasks and topics. > > - we'll have a group of 'coordinators' (initially, myself Jerome and > > Jacob), and teams of managers and volunteers. coordinators are a > resource to > > the teams, and teams focus on their topics/projects > > > > 2. We came up with a few goals to achieve, and some people have stepped > up > > to work on them already. Some of these topic focuses are awareness, > > research, group buying/leverage, best practices documentation. This is > not > > all-encompassing, it's just a start. > > > > Additionally, coworking.com leaves room for improvement as a tool to > house > > high-value material that's currently buried in the wiki, google group, > etc. > > This means we need to both determine the [CMS] platform, and migrate that > > content via the above mentioned teams. > > > > This form will allow you to sign up for a team, either as a volunteer or > a > > manager: > https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGQxdVhHVzBGQVlG... > > > > 3. While we do *not* at all plan to incorporate an association at this > time, > > we have recognized the importance of some functional entity just to be > able > > to hold funds, as we now have leftover "community funds" from projects > being > > held by multiple members of the community without any clear path to > > distribution for services such as hosting coworking.com, etc. A team is > > heading up the work to determine what options we have and what remaining > > questions exist before we come back to the group. That working group is > > researching solutions, not making an autonomous decision. > > > > *Directors Cut Weekend Summary* > > > > The attendance was diverse, and a lot of the topics raised tense > > conversations. What we all agreed was that there were common goals that > we > > could work on together even considering our differences of opinion. Apart > > from dense sharing of our experiences and knowledge, this weekend > generated > > the need for two primary tools: > > > > 1) an easy & common organizational structure - not an organization, > though - > > for tactical teams to form and execute coworking related projects. > > > > Many new projects form and quickly die, and others run because of the > > ongoing effort of contributors. We want to make sure that any time a new > > coworking project (not a space, but a resource or tool to help the > coworking > > community) is forming, people can do it in a way so that an effort has a > > chance to survive. > > > > 2) an effort to improve our living repository of knowledge at > coworking.com and > > related properties (like the google group, the wiki, the blog) > > > > The biggest underutilized toolset we have is coworking.com, etc, and we > want > > to make it a rallying point for all of the things we have to share. It's > a > > big task, but more then big *it's continuous and will never be > "finished".* > > > > Again, each team needs a manager that will take on the responsibility of > > being accountable for the team as a whole. Consider this very carefully > > before taking on this commitment. How the individual teams are organized > is > > left up to that team. We'll work together to learn from and develop a > plan > > for how the teams come together and how everything is presented on the > > website as information is gathered and shared. > > > > *What it's Not* > > > > This tactical model lets small teams form that contain leadership and > > volunteers. That's it. There was a lot of discussion around a "coworking > > association" or an organization. While this model provides organization, > it > > is not THE organization. It is simply a mechanism for people to get more > > done, and that benefits everybody who contributes and participates - just > > like this group always has operated, but with more action & orientation. > > > > We did, however, determine that it would be universally valuable to > > consolidate the now "leftover" funds from things like the > > coworking.comfundraiser and even this weekend's event to make that > > available for topic > > projects. A team is heading up the work to determine what options we have > > and what remaining questions exist before we come back to the group. That > > working group (myself, Jerome, Bill Jacobson, Iris Kavanagh) is > researching > > solutions, not making an autonomous decision. > > > > *The First Topics* > > > > Some of our initial projects are broken out by "topic" leaders. Each > topic > > group will contain a topic "manager" as well as a team of volunteers. In > > order for a topic team to form, there needs to be one person who "owns" > the > > topic as well as supporting people to help contribute to working on the > > topic. > > > > To get started we want to take on a few specific topics and improve the > > coworking.com website by the Coworking Unconference in Austin during > SXSW in > > March. This isn't all of the teams, or all of the work, nor is it an > > indication of priority - it's simply what self selected during our > > discussions! The intention is to learn as much as we can from the > formation > > and execution of these first few teams before we take on more ambitious > > projects. > > > > There's a lot of ambition in this community, and that's a great problem > to > > have. Baby steps take us closer to our goals! > > > > *How You Can Get Involved!* > > > > So who's in? We are learning from experience and building the teams > before > > we tackle each project. A few of them have topic managers that have > already > > stepped up and need volunteers. Others need topic managers. And clearly, > we > > haven't thought of everything. > > > > In addition the ongoing teams, we need a technology team to evaluate the > > system(s) we'll use for publishing and commit to helping us maintain it. > > > > We've got a quick form that can give you an idea of some of the topics > that > > need working on. > > > > SIGN UP HERE< > https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGQxdVhHVzBGQVlG...> > > if > > you would like to act as a volunteer or a topic manager, or suggest a new > > topic team that you'd like to manage or be a part of. > > > > Myself, Jacob, and Jerome are working together as "coordinators" to keep > > teams moving, assisting in communicating cross teams, helping identify > teams > > that need help, and help managers/volunteers through issues as we learn > what > > works and what doesn't. > > > > More than anything, we're here to help teams achieve their > self-determined > > objectives. This "meta-team" is also volunteers representing ourselves, > not > > our respective spaces, so please understand that we're here to help, not > to > > control. > > > > Onward and upward, coworking friends. We've got a lot of work ahead of > us! > > > > SIGN UP HERE< > https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGQxdVhHVzBGQVlG...> > > to > > be a part of a topic team, or of course, let us know if you have any > > questions. > > > > -Alex, Jacob, and Jerome > > /ah > > indyhall.org > > coworking in philadelphia > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. 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