[penguicon-general] Bylaws Committee officially forming.

[Rob Landley]

On Friday 04 August 2006 10:09 am, Tracy Worcester wrote:
> Hello, folks!
> 
> The time of the gathering is at hand.
> 
> No, we're not going to chop each other's head off with swords.  Instead, we
> are going to create the shape of PenguiCon's future.  We're going to create
> a full version of the bylaws,

As opposed to amending them as needed when they inevitably turn out not to 
match reality?

> and likely a mission statement as well. 

I remember a meeting we had at IBM to come up with a mission statement for our 
department during a reorganization.  I was unaware that Penguicon had senior 
management (or a venture capitalist) to please.

> We have to figure out what we want the convention to be, and then make a
> structure to support that vision.

s/support/enshrine/

Just the phrase "make a structure to support that vision" is not something I 
ever expected to hear in the context of Penguicon.  (At least the 
words "proactive" and "synergy" haven't shown up yet, but it's only a matter 
of time.)

> This is going to be more than a picky 
> word festival.  We've got to decide what should be in the legally binding
> document (the bylaws) and what should simply be customary practice.

If we ever get to the point where the people running the show don't grok it, 
how will any cleverly worded document ever help in the slightest?

We do cool stuff.  What the cool stuff is depends on who is doing it.

> And 
> once we've figured out what we want the bylaws to do for us, we have to
> figure out how to say it, and put checks and balances in to make sure it
> works for the benefit of the convention and community, consistently.

Good bylaws say as little as humanly possible.  The people running the show 
matter.  The knowledge those people have matters.  The ISO90001 documented 
procedures and policies, whether or not we follow them, do not.

Someday, I have to do a decent write-up of the three waves thing.  All I have 
is the six year old thing I did for TMF way back, and it's from the other 
side...

http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2000/foth000731.htm
http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2000/foth000913.htm
http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2000/foth000905.htm
http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2000/foth000918.htm
http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2000/foth000925.htm
http://www.fool.com/portfolios/rulemaker/2000/rulemaker000928.htm
http://www.fool.com/news/foth/2000/foth001002.htm
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_3/doheny/index.html

Rob
-- 
Never bet against the cheap plastic solution.