[penguicon-general] Bylaws Committee officially forming.

[Matthew Landry]

On Fri, Aug 04, 2006 at 12:43:23PM -0400, Tracy Worcester wrote:
> Rob, I don't enjoy bureaucracy.  But as a visionary, I've come to conclusion
> that if I want to leave any legacy at all, I have to actually a) tell people
> (preferably in written form) what the vision is, and b) create structures
> and processes which will serve some of the purposes I have been serving
> within the organization.
	How attached are we to terminology? Rob is not the only one with an
aversion to "mission statements" and other terms imported from corporate
culture. And "bylaws" have legal consequences and are intrinsically hard to
change, making the practice of keeping them very general a well-advised
one.

	But that doesn't mean that what Tracy's saying she wants (and I
suspect would be good for Penguicon) shouldn't happen. Having a plan, a
roadmap if you will, can be a good thing, as long as each outgoing concom
remembers to say to their successors "this is our plan, but it's not here
to imprison you, and you should feel free to disregard any parts of it that
get in the way of actually doing cool stuff", and as long as everyone
involved remembers that when the map and the road disagree, the road is
necessarily right and the map is necessarily wrong. These things can be
hard to do with Bylaws, because of the legal issues of entangling with
external bureaucracies, but they're not intrinsically hard problems.

	It's just probably best if any solutions are attempted
independently of the Bylaws per se.

	We can't prevent the con from drifting with the times...which is
good, because to do that even if we could would be to seal the con's coffin
here and now. But if we're careful and thoughtful, we may be able to
prevent _accidental_ drift. We can't solve all possible future problems
either, and to attempt such a thing would lead to an overwrought legalistic
nightmare...but we may be able to help future concoms avoid the problems
we've already had, and possibly some that we can readily forsee.

	I'd volunteer to help, but:
A.	I don't live within driving range of any of the meetings.
B.	A full-time job, two part-time businesses, a new-ish SO, the
process of buying a house, and little ol' unimportant stuff like sleep and
food keep me pretty insanely busy lately, and what time I _am_ free tends
to be at hours that, except when con is actually occurring, most folks are
fast asleep.
C.	I've never been closer to the innards of Penguicon than once
allowing myself to be dragooned into picking up a night shift minding the
consuite, so when I speak above of the issues "we" have encountered and the
problems "we" can foresee, I'm humble enough not to include myself, except
generally as a member of the community.

	If, despite these caveats, I'd still be welcome to offer
substantive contributions, I'd be happy to do what I can. If not, I merely
stand back in appreciation and offer what procedural advice I can think
of. Procedure is my stand-out area anyway. :)
-- 
Matthew Landry              mbl at lelnet.com                       O-
LEL Network Services                           Anti-Stupid Talisman
"You don't have to outrun the bear. Just outrun the slowest hiker."
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