General Priorities

Explanation
This is document compares all the program planning sheets and is maintained by the Optimization and Priorities group. It is reviewed and approved by the Free Geek Community Council. It should assist us in deciding which projects to push forward as we expand, and which to cut back on if we need to contract.


 * The Impact/Effort Grid
 * This is a tool that we use to help us prioritize possible projects. There are nine cells arranged like a tic tac toe game. The higher the expected net positive impact of the project, the higher it appears on the grid. The higher the effort (usually cost in staff hours) the further to the right it appears. The highest priorities will be the things that appear up and to the left, and the lowest priorities will be the things that appear down and to the right.


 * At the current time, the only items included in the impact/effort grid are programs that would expand Free Geek's activities. That is, the things we are already doing are not included here. (See sublist "D" below.)


 * Infinite Resources List
 * The infiniite resources list takes the items from the impact/effort grid and arranges them into one long list, from highest priority to lowest. The higher something is on the list the more likely we've carefully examined it and compared it to the items surrounding it. The lower the item is on the list, the more likely its exact position should be take with a grain of salt or two. It is called the "infiniite resources list" because we assume that there is enough time and money to do everything on the list (something we know not to be true).


 * At the current time, we have not put anything onto this list, but we plan to do so at our next meeting.


 * Sublists
 * There are several sublists. Each item from the infinite resources list appears only on one sublist. See the notes in the sublist section to see how the items are categorized.

Impact/Effort Grid
I disclaim that the order within the boxes has any priority-derived meaning.

Infinite Resources List
Each of these items is assigned a standing committee. It is the responsibility of the standing committee to review the program planning sheet for completeness. Some items may need to be passed to another committee for completion.


 * 1) Tennis Balls -- Technocrats
 * 2) Fundraising -- Outreach
 * 3) Grantwriting -- Outreach
 * 4) Media Outreach -- Outreach
 * 5) System Administration -- Technocrats
 * 6) Education -- Knowledge Bees
 * 7) Computers for Kids -- Knowledge Bees
 * 8) Corporate Donation w/o vehicle -- Reuse
 * 9) Corporate Donation w/ vehicle -- Reuse
 * 10) Baler -- Action
 * 11) Movable Storage -- Action
 * 12) Printers -- Reuse
 * 13) Online Sales -- Reuse
 * 14) Enterprise Build -- Reuse
 * 15) Volunteer Pickups -- Action
 * 16) Media Lab -- Knowledge Bees
 * 17) NAP -- Propagation
 * 18) Advanced Receiving -- Reuse
 * 19) Coders -- Technocrats
 * 20) Emerging Media -- Knowledge Bees
 * 21) Donation Pickup Vehicle w/o corporate donations -- Action

Notes on the sublists

 * List A
 * Things we would like to do even if we have to actually pay for it ourselves.
 * Grantwriters and other fundraisers should still look at this list. If something seems fundable, we should still try to get funds for it, allowing us to pursue projects lower on the list.


 * List B
 * Things we would like to do only if funds could be raised to pay for part of the cost.
 * Fundraisers may want to consider matching grants, etc.


 * List C
 * Things we would like to do only if funds could be raised to pay for all of the cost.
 * Fundraisers may want to consider what is completely grantable and may ignore things that are not.


 * List D
 * Things we are already doing.
 * At some point these may be integrated into the impact effort grid and the infinite resources list. This would be important to do if we saw a need to drop programs, such as if we were faced with ongoing financial losses or something we weren't doing yet is a high enough priority to take the place of a lower priority thing that we are already doing.


 * List E
 * Things that there is general agreement we don't want to do
 * This can be either because they have already been completed, or because there is no consensus around proceeding with the program or project even if it could be funded, etc.

New items to add

 * Open more hours -- Dave will spearhead writing this one
 * Alternate build -- Ali will spearhead writing this one
 * Taking over office space in the South -- Richard will spearhead writing this one
 * Move to a new building
 * Taking over office space in the North
 * Art gallery

History

 * April 2006
 * August 2005