Production plan - Revision history

Rfs: spelling

2007-08-22T19:22:24Z

spelling

Matteo: more info

2007-08-22T07:11:38Z

more info

Stillflame: /* SWOT */ used thingy

2007-08-15T03:45:55Z

SWOT: used thingy

Rfs: /* Related Documents */

2007-08-15T03:31:12Z

Stillflame: /* SWOT */ added some Ss and Ws

2007-08-15T02:48:58Z

SWOT: added some Ss and Ws

Stillflame: added SWOT section

2007-08-15T02:38:10Z

added SWOT section

Dave at 21:55, 14 August 2007

2007-08-14T21:55:49Z

Dave: 5 year production

2007-08-14T21:51:24Z

5 year production

New page

{{Draft}}
== Intro ==

Production is at the core of what Free Geek does, from attracting
volunteers to producing the items that we give away and sell. Any
major change it production over the years will cause change to Free
Geek as a whole. We should try to predict what may happen so that we can
be ready to adapt and make the changes positive ones for all of us.

== The Future ==

Free Geek is going to see a decrease in the rate of change of our main incoming stream that
Production has depended on all these years. The standard desktop
computer system is becoming less and less prevalent in the world
at large, and we are beginning to even see that trend a bit here.

If Free Geek does more outreach, and we get a larger share of systems
in the door, we may not see an actual decrease in numbers of desktops,
but we will get an greater influx of other devices: Laptops, Macs, PDAs,
Nice do it all cell Phones (not the crappy free ones).

If we stay at our current level of incoming, most likely incoming
desktops will lessen at the same time the other devices come in the
door at an increased rate.

Production needs to be prepared for and aware of the possibility of
shifting our main production line to laptops. To do this there
would need to be another level of eval, or build, that can eval and
process incoming laptops. Laptops are much harder to evaluate, and
thus may not be appropriate for people becoming familiar with computers
for the first time.

Production must also be able to handle an influx of devices that are rare
enough that flow charts may not be adequate for teaching. To be able to
test and process these devices we will need a larger advanced testing
that maintains its culture of curiosity and willingness to teach. We
may want at least a paid intern manning Advanced Testing
in the medium therm future (2-3 years out). It is hard to predict which
items would better be tested in Advanced testing or in Alt-build.
Advanced testing would probably act as a staging ground for newer devices
coming in to see if they are worth testing, and if so, to test them and
create documentation for until the time when
enough come in that it makes sense to push them into Alt-build for a
broader pool of less trained volunteers to work on.
Production needs to be prepared to be able to process unique, semi-unique
and rare devices.

In summary, Production needs to be able to adapt to encompass many smaller
and perhaps intermittent streams instead of depending on our old standard:
The Desktop.

==Related Documents==
* [[3 - 5 year plan]] and [[Vision Statement]]
* [[Long Term Strategy Process]]
* [[Meta Question]]
* [[Hiring Strategy]]
* [[General Priorities]]
* [[Free Geek Space Usage|Space Usage]]

@@ Line 51: / Line 51: @@
 == SWOT ==
+{{SWOT
-{|style="vertical-align:top;"
+ | Q = How will production changes affect us?
-|+ How will production changes affect us?
+ | strengths =
 * We are either going to recycle something, sell it "as is" for cheap, or refurbish it and be able to sell it for more or actually give it away to people or organizations.  The last option is the best for everyone involved.
 * Working with and giving away more popular hardware will attract more volunteers.
+ | weaknesses =
 * Moving away from the easier PC architecture will lead to an increased barrier to education, and we may not have as strong an educational program.
+ | opportunities =
-|-
+ | threats =
-!style="background:teal; color:white"| External<br />(to Free Geek)
+}}
 ==Related Documents==

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:31, 15 August 2007
Line 98:		Line 98:
	* [[Free Geek Space Usage\|Space Usage]]		* [[Free Geek Space Usage\|Space Usage]]

−	[[Category:~~Big Picture~~]]	+	[[Category: Long Term Planning]]

@@ Line 65: / Line 65: @@
 ==== Strengths ====
 ''Strengths are advantages we have that are internal to Free Geek. (Good things we do.)''
 |style="vertical-align:top;"|
@@ Line 70: / Line 72: @@
 ==== Weaknesses ====
 ''Weaknesses are problems we have that are internal to Free Geek. (Things we do poorly or not at all.)''
 |-

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:55, 14 August 2007
Line 57:		Line 57:
	* [[General Priorities]]		* [[General Priorities]]
	* [[Free Geek Space Usage\|Space Usage]]		* [[Free Geek Space Usage\|Space Usage]]
		+
		+	[[Category:Big Picture]]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 {{Draft}}
 == Intro ==
+Production is at the core of what Free Geek does, from attracting volunteers to producing the items that we give away and sell.  Any major change it production over the years will cause change to Free  Geek as a whole. We should try to predict what may happen so that we can be ready to adapt and make the changes positive ones for all of us.
 === State of the program ===
-We are Very good at producing desk top computers. We are so good that is seams that we cant get rid of them fast enough. We are also master testers of things like memory, hard drives, and some other drives and cards in advanced testing. Our prebuild stream works very well in getting computers where they need to go and to teach people just what goes into a computer (and if nothing else, how to open every case ever made).
+We are very good at producing desktop computers. We are so good that is seams that we cant get rid of them fast enough. We are also master testers of things like memory, hard drives, and some other drives and cards in advanced testing. Our prebuild stream works very well in getting computers where they need to go and to teach people just what goes into a computer (and if nothing else, how to open every case ever made).
-We also have a few growing programs both in knowledge and physical size. These programs include Laptops, Macs, and Printers. Laptops is setting is self up to move closer to build. Macs are currently learning just what its like to be in a Linux world.
+We also have a few growing programs both in knowledge and physical size. These programs include Laptops, Macs, and Printers. Laptops is setting itself up to move closer to build. Macs are currently learning just what its like to be in a Linux world.
 === Current and past issues ===
-Starting up Programs at Free Geek takes allot of energy. in the past when we have created infrastructure we didn't for see the future. and example of this is with monitors in build, we built every thing to fit 15" monitors now we use 17s and they don't quite fit and are dangerous. We also seam to create our like locations far apart, The laptop and Printer Programs are located out of the flow of the normal day to day operations. There is not enough over lap of volunteers and staff in these areas for that reason.
+Starting up programs at Free Geek takes a lot of energy. In the past when we have created infrastructure we didn't foresee the future. An example of this is with monitors in build, we built every thing to fit 15" monitors now we use 17s and they don't quite fit and are dangerous. We also seem to create our like locations far apart, The Laptop and Printer programs are located out of the flow of the normal day to day operations. There is not enough overlap of volunteers and staff in these areas for that reason.
 === Trends and predictions ===
-Free Geek is going to see a decrease in the rate of change of our main incoming stream that
+Free Geek is going to see a decrease in the rate of change of our main incoming stream that production has depended on all these years.  The standard desktop computer system is becoming less and less prevalent in the world at large, and we are beginning to even see that trend a bit here.
-If Free Geek does more outreach, and we get a larger share of systems
+If Free Geek does more outreach, and we get a larger share of systems in the door, we may not see an actual decrease in numbers of desktops,
-in the door, we may not see an actual decrease in numbers of desktops,
+but we will get an greater influx of other devices: Laptops, Macs, PDAs. Nice do it all cell phones (not the crappy free ones).
-If we stay at our current level of incoming, most likely incoming
+If we stay at our current level of incoming, most likely incoming desktops will lessen at the same time the other devices come in the door at an increased rate.
-Production needs to be prepared for and aware of the possibility of
+Production needs to be prepared for and aware of the possibility of shifting our main production line to laptops.  To do this there would need to be another level of eval, or build, that can evaluate and process incoming laptops.  Laptops are much harder to evaluate, and thus may not be appropriate for people becoming familiar with computers for the first time.
-Production must also be able to handle an influx of devices that are rare
+Production must also be able to handle an influx of devices that are rare enough that flow charts may not be adequate for teaching. To be able to test and process these devices we will need a larger advanced testing that maintains its culture of curiosity and willingness to teach.  We may want at least a paid intern manning Advanced Testing in the medium therm future (2-3 years out). It is hard to predict which items would better be tested in Advanced testing or in Alt-build. Advanced testing would probably act as a staging ground for newer devices coming in to see if they are worth testing, and if so, to test them and create documentation for until the time when enough come in that it makes sense to push them into Alt-build for a broader pool of less trained volunteers to work on. Production needs to be prepared to be able to process unique, semi-unique and rare devices.
-In summary, Production needs to be able to adapt to encompass many smaller
+In summary, Production needs to be able to adapt to encompass many smaller and perhaps intermittent streams instead of depending on our old standard:
-and perhaps intermittent streams instead of depending on our old standard:
+the desktop.
 == SWOT ==