[UCIMC-Tech] Fwd: [Btp-keystaff] a group of volunteers this afternoon

[Stuart Levy]

On Thu, Sep 13, 2007 at 03:34:52PM -0500, Mike Lehman wrote:
> I want to make an appeal for working groups to help contribute aid and 
> members to the Tech group. Having been through the history of the ups and 
> downs of IMC-Tech, all groups at the IMC are dependent on the services of 
> Tech and all ought to consider how they can contribute to it.
>
> Tech has dwindled to just a handful of members, who have far too much work 
> shoveled onto them. They have put out a call recently for people to start 
> attending their meetings, which are at 6pm on Tuesdays, but have found 
> little response from what I've heard. Yet I constantly see working groups 
> asking for assistance from our overloaded Tech team. In reality, you are 
> asking one of two or three people to do something for you.
>
> To avoid the frustration of lengthy waits for Tech help, I'd suggest that 
> any working group that regularly relies on Tech support to poll their own 
> members to see who has skills that could be of help and ask then to get 
> involved with Tech. Expectations that there is a large group of Techies 
> just waiting to respond to your requests are far too optimistic, given how 
> thin Tech is stretched.
>
> In the past, Tech has had active members from most, if not all, working 
> groups. Now it does not and given the structure of the IMC and the 
> voluntary nature of Tech work, working groups may have to start calling the 
> Geek Squad or someone else who expects to be paid, if they expect a quick 
> response. To avoid this increasingly likely scenario, if you aren't able to 
> wait until someone has the time to respond, it may be because Tech just 
> doesn't have the organizational capacity for quick response due to lack of 
> participation by those who might be in a position to contribute.
> Mike Lehman

Thanks, Mike.  I actually didn't realize that the announcement of
Tuesday evening Tech meetings amounted to an invitation for new people
to become active in imc techie stuff.  As a geek/sysadmin already,
I had been looking for a way to do that.  I'll try to attend some meetings!

   Stuart