One year plan 2010

The staff is developing a one year plan. We're going around to each area and asking for input. The responses are being collated here.

1. First we're evaluating our areas and where they are at currently.
2. From this we're setting goals and expectations for one year out.
3. Then we state the expected tasks to be done in order to meet those goals, things that may stand in the way, etc.

We'll want to look for resource problems and resolve them. For instance if all departments expected to grow in floor space in the next year, and no one expected to shrink, we'd have to negotiate who should grow, who should stay the same size, etc.

This is a draft document, but once completed, it should be usable to predict income trends, and expected costs.

These are mainly in the format of:

Goal is listed here.

Comments, tasks to be done in order to meet those goals, and things that may stand in the way are listed here.

(In some cases comments and tasks apply to more than one goal, and are listed at the end of all goals for that section.)

To do:

• Finish getting responses from everyone
• Make sure all goals have any relevant bottlenecks stated.
• Maybe itemize major resource issues (increase in money, floor space, or staffing for instance)
• Identify conflicts between goals.
• Standardize wording and style.
• Write a high level document that explains the goals and overall plan for achieving those goals.

Main Gizmo Flow

Collection Events

It will be a rare case if we do any collection event in the next year.

People will continue to ask us to do them, so we should craft a simple message that says "Nope".

Receiving and Hardware Donations

Be open over the weekend

or open one hour earlier on our busy days (Tuesdays/Thursdays/Saturdays).

(less dumps, more stuff; happy customers, more money!)

Revamp the basic testing area

so that all of those keyboards/mice/speakers/TV don't fall to the wayside so much.

We need to reevaluate the area where basic testing happens, and we need a different computer (perhaps a different program) for testing USB keyboards.

Have a efficient way of testing USB keyboards (maybe Mac keyboards, too) and sorting out wall warts.

Standardize how we train new staff/interns

so that important information isn't lost when the area changes hands. Standardize practices of updating staff to make sure we're not giving out conflicting information to our volunteers, un-doing other people's hard work, or perpetuating undesirable practices.

We would have to coordinate with the rest of the areas (namely recycling; perhaps system eval, perhaps the thrift store) and staff to make this happen without getting backlogged. We would also need to develop a game plan for how/when volunteers come into receiving and get trained.

Create a way to get feedback from other areas about their needs, what they no longer need, and what could be improved.

We should develop training protocol/checklists as well as visual aids to train staff & interns (much like hardware identification classes). We need to devise a quick, easy way for receiving staff to communicate new information to each other, and we need to create a way for other areas to give us feedback.

Increase space for incoming Mac laptops by installing one more set of more shelves.

(This might be a goal for TARDIS in the next year?)

Prebuild

Keep up with expected increase in incoming systems

This requires developing processes that move to-be recycled systems through our area more quickly while ensuring data security.

We will need to have better communications with production about what components to keep and what is not worth it, pull out less stuff.

This will put more pressure on recycling to do this work. Recycling processes will need to be tweaked.

Increase awareness among build volunteers that Hardware ID is an educational resource station.

Better documentation (posters, etc.) that attract curious build volunteers.

Figure out a better way to figure out who can skip Hardware ID.

This will affect people at the Front Desk and tour guides.

We may want a computerized placement test (ala moodle)

Need to design test and develop it.

Also need to develop a simple brochure explaining how to do this (and how to schedule your first shift in Prebuild).

Recycling

Ban certification process, which includes more than likely ISO-14001 certification, which is a big deal

getting printer deconstruction optimized,

volunteer intern training more streamlined

keeping up with incoming recycling stream,

become an official training place for job skills (like POIC) with other groups, who pay people to come and help, not sure if we can survive with only volunteers

Time and space

to get BAN certification/ISO 14001 cert. one of us will have to facilitate the process with an auditor, big time commitment as well as monetary costs toward the audit ( estimated $4000)

more printer shifts- more staff time in printers

staff time to recruit interns

develop partnership with other groups to get workers in to the warehouse

Production

More coverage in Macs, Laptops, Advanced Testing, and Build to allow for vacation and staff absences without a negative impact on cash flow.

Produce and sell or disburse gizmos as fast as they are coming in.

More hardware grant capacity.

Better quality of incoming gizmos (through partnership arrangements).

More predictable production

1 more production person.

A/V

Keep on top of it all

Below is a five year statement:

Like every other department at Free Geek, Audio Video testing is presently processing a higher volume of donations than ever before. The implementation of triage standards in receiving, updating of specs for keeper equipment, and general elimination of pack rat-ism have allowed A/V to maintain a productive and profitable work flow process, while utilizing minimal volunteer hours and floor space.

Going forward, I envision more of the same. The equilibrium between the continually increasing volume of donations vs. A/V's output to either the store or recycling can be maintained by proactive updating of specs and standards. Production bottle necks which occasionally arise due to variances in process flow through both receiving and the store can be reduced by the continual refinement in those departments. Increased work space and volunteer commitment could possibly lead to donated televisions being included in the Audio Video testing process. Splitting professional audio gear such as PA systems and mixers to a separate department run by interested parties could be an option as well.

My four years of Audio Video testing at Free Geek have seen an evolution in both productivity and profitability. By actively responding to the needs of the work flow process, I have every expectation that in five years time A/V will continue to successfully evolve.

Advanced Testing

Testing more types of gizmos

Need to develop processes

Need online sales to justify this financially.

Build

I want to expand the build program to make it as accessible to as many people as possible.

One solution: have a full build room for every shift; that way, volunteers spend less time waiting for next build shift; volunteers complete the program faster allowing more people to cycle through the program; build can then direct volunteers to other, post-build areas of FG thereby allowing other programs to grow.

How accomplish?

Build will need more space - more workstations, more room between the workstations - they are too close now. One possible solution for gaining more space: move LCD monitor testing to whse. It will also need more infrastructure (network connections, monitors/keyboards/mice/speakers) if we have more workstations. And it will need more shelving, storage space for components, parts, machine storage for builders from one shift to next (build already needs this, one-year from now we will need more of it).

FG will need to have better inflow of systems - the partnership programs will help; PR about FG and our partnership programs will help bring in new partners.

FG will need to have better outflow of systems - having a hardware grants coordinator working closely with volunteers will allow us to give away systems regularly. PR will need to do a better job of letting community know what we have to give and how we go about giving it. And increasing the adoption program would mean being able to give away more freek boxes; this will also mean we need more volunteers in the adoption program which means all areas of Free Geek will need to grow so we can put more volunteers to work earning their adoption boxes.

Cell Phones

Until some months ago we were sending all of our phones to Recelular, a vendor that recycles and refurbishes cell phones. They would give us a tiny bit of money for phones that they could rebuild. Since we started clearing the data and reseting the cell phones with cameras, we have been selling them in the thrift store from $10-$90 and the good phones fast. We do not unlock the phones so the customer needs to make sure the phone is labled with their service provider: T-mobile, Verizon, ATT &Cingular, ect. Some phones are really easy to clear and reset taking a mater of minutes and others require a lot of internet research, going into each folder and clearing the data, ect but those phones often sell for at least $40.

Current scale - 8-10 cell phones a week

Sell 40 cell phones a week

To make this happen I believe we would need to create a program that would have regularly scheduled volunteers. Right now most of the testing is done in Advanced Testing but the adapter sorting and matching is done during my shift in Receiving when it gets slow. I think both of these tasks should be done at the same time but to make that possible we need more space and access to a computer to research how to clear and reset specific models. We will need at least 2 volunteers that are independent problem solvers. So far I have had 4 volunteers over the last few months work on phones. They did a great job but were only volunteering for a few weeks and much of what they learned went with them.

Document process

Need to create documents that cover the basics of testing, clearing data and reseting phones. We would either need a committed intern who would just work on documenting cell phone testing or I would need staff time to do it. This would help ensure all volunteers are covering every nessasary step and make it easier to train new volunteers and giving some volunteers a better

Unlock phones (subgoal)

This way the phone can be used with any service provider. I have no idea how much time would need to be invested to make this happen and if it would be worth it.

Laptops

Ten laptop classes per week, preferably full of reliable, high-caliber volunteers

Staffing, i.e. having enough staff to teach the classes

Flexible coverage for vacations

Staffing, i.e. having enough staff to cover and not having their schedules be inflexible

Revamped physical layout to efficiently accommodate more volunteers and gizmo flow

Decision on laptops storage - will/can we build a space in the Laptop Build area? if so, when? This is probably reliant on Darryl and the Production team discussing feasibility and timelines.

Improved documentation

• improved volunteer educational experience (Laptop Build volunteer manual, FAQ's, etc.)
• overhaul of wiki pages in Laptops category

More of my admininstration time devoted to this, which also means less of my admininstration time elsewhere.

Macintoshes

Goal-Mac eval can move into the current laptop storage area and there can be a daily scheduled Mac Eval volunteer shift. This will free up area for other programs and improve the flow from receiving to Macbuild (thus increasing production and volunteer involvement). This would also mean an end to paying staff members 1-4 hours daily to take apart Macs in eval.

Challenges- Have to wait for laptops to move into new area. There is not always a steady flow of Macs through eval.

Goal-Mac build can adopt a similar setup as laptops by working on one type of Mac per shift. This could potentially double production.

Challenges- This would work fabulously for a while, but the increase in production would eventually overtake what we get in receiving (unless we secure steady Mac donations). But, the store wouldn't be able to sell as many as we produce. Another issue is that Mac laptops take a really long time to deal with and there would always be carryovers to the next shift. We need a better tracking system for the status of unfinished systems and a place to put them while they are in progress. Also, our main volunteer, Roy is resistant to this idea.

Goal- There are piles of Mac systems (especially laptops) that sit around for long periods of time that need a new part, or need fixing, or need recycling, but are held onto for the hope that someone will somehow make them work someday. These systems could be sold in bulk for parts. This could bring in money and save space and volunteer time.

Challenges- we would need a staff member to research and carryout the sales of these systems. Possibly an online sales coordinator? Or we could create a partnership with a local Mac business.

Goal- Make it possible to sell Macs in our store with Mac OS. This would greatly increase the value of Macs in our store. It would also make building Macs astronomically easier. Production would go way up.

Challenges- Have to work out a legal agreement with Macintosh. May not be possible. There could also be cultural ramifications for not using open source software even though the move would still be in line with our mission. The other challenge related to this goal is that MAC OS 10 no longer supports the PPC systems, and now only supports intel systems. This makes older systems (what we have) way less desirable. We may get to the point where we have to recycle huge numbers of PPC systems and wait until we start getting the current systems in receiving. It's hard to predict when this lull in Mac systems would occur and how long it would last.

Goal- Have 3-4 volunteers at every Mac shift, including a skilled volunteer instructor. Make sure that the instructor is supported by a staff member and that there is always something for these volunteers to do.

Challenges- We need to make sure that we have a working system in place to be able to do this. We need highly technically skilled volunteers to be instructors. We also need an outlet for the increased production. The other concern is what happens when/if we don't have enough systems coming in for the volunteers.

Printers

Advanced Printer Testing (for post builders)

More recycling shifts for the area

Room in the classroom for tested printers (Spacies)

Bulk sellers Postings on Craigs list, More e-Bay sells(research)

In order for Advanced Testing of printers to be fully operational power and networking will need to beadded to the area. This is being discussed with Action at this time.

Adding a shift or extending an existing shift in printers might help with the approxamite 5 Gaylord backlog that is created ea. month.

At this time 2 more shelves for storing tested printers that are ready for the store or grant in the classroom. Somthing in being discussed with Spacies and Action at this time.

I would like printers to contribute to online sales as well as attract more bulk sellers. In order to do this I must communicate with someone who knows how to give our information out on Craig's list. Research in to what kind of printer parts people perches from e-Bay that is small enough to send and easy to remove from a printer with out being broken is needed as well.

I hope these are not to vague but vague enough to work.

Server Eval and Build

1-2 weekly server build workshops with 4-6 volunteers each, run by volunteer instructors.

this should keep the space used for server eval/build no larger than it is now, and possibly even reduce the amount of space used, as equipment is more quickly triaged and built or rejected. should produce an additional 5 servers per week available for infrastructure, hardware grants, thrift store and/or other sales, and possibly valuable spare server parts for sales.

server eval/build will need half of the build workshop area 1-2 times per week. need to ensure this doesn't unduly hurt the build program.

documentation for server build is difficult, as servers tend to be very proprietary (perhaps moreso than laptops or macs) and quirky to work with (getting the right ram can be a hair-pulling experience). help with free-form documentation and ensuring volunteers in the program who can handle minimal, flexible documentation.

Sales

Thrift Store

Open more days

Coming up with a way to be open and take donations, but not have the whole building open. Staffing for presorting (hardware donations) of

goods accumulated in that time.

Online sales moved back into the black and then some

Time (staffing). Online sales can easily be moved into the black, but creating a real revenue stream out of it will require a lot of work. Mercenary salesmen might "prime the pump" to make it more palatable to be more aggressive about expanding the program. My basic plan is to wholly cull useful information from street-hustling mercenaries about which post-production stream items have the best bang for the buck.

Bin sales out of the warehouse (currently just safari) expanded

Time (staffing) and space (in the warehouse). We could start with a second, third (etc) safari. This ultimately needs to be an every day every hour pursuit on a per-pound basis (like goodwill bins). The space may never come in our existing building, but some hope exists if the flow of desktops and CRTs diminishes significantly.

Online Sales

Develop online sales as a third avenue of outgoing items from production

The first two avenues are sales and disbursements (grants/adoptions/builder computers).

Make more money than we are paying in salaries, supplies, rent, etc.

Need: the right staffer to coordinate and/or do this. (Not just hours, the right person.)

Other Program

Education and Classes

the classroom will look unmistakably like a classroom. This will involve the following

The museum will either be sold, recycled, or beautifully organized within six months.

We need to come to consensus on what we want to do with the museum.

Those of you that have an opinion on the museum, speak now!

I want storage shelves in the classroom along the new wall for adoption and build peripherals.

I need shelves along the new wall for peripherals (these will cost $. I am not sure how much, but probably around $100-150.)

Storage of other items (LCD monitors, FG-PDX boxes) -- I want to find a different spot to store these items. We could possibly leave the FG-PDX boxes in the classroom if we had shelves for them, but the LCD monitors need a new home.

Physical Layout of the room -- whiteboard on south wall, shelves for peripherals along the new wall, large table desks in the middle of the room facing south wall for class.

Need whiteboard installed on north wall, and need hole in wall patched.

I want to expand or class offerings and to improve those we already offer.

• 2 additional high-level classes (C and Python in the works right now) taught in a series of 6 or 10 class sessions.
• new thrift store/grantee class (newto ubuntu) with a fee ($25)
• turn the office classes into a series.
• track who has taken which class in the database (enter classes like we enter hours)

Need consistent volunteer teachers to teach new classes.

Need time to develop curriculum.

Need easy way for thrift store folks and grantees to prove payment for the classes.

for classes tracking: need technocrats (ryan) to add this feature to the database.

GAP

There are currently two GAP sites: A Chance of Rain and Red and Black.

Maintain status of GAP sites, perhaps picking up one more.

No problem here, unless one of the current sites closes down or tosses out the computer. Then we'd likely want to find a replacement.

Have a better system for maintaining GAP boxes.

Develop docs on current setup.

Document profile of a GAP site.

Hardware Grants

More volunteer involvement, less staff involvement.

Problem: There is currently an "over-allocation" of staff hours put to grants. This week, from 9/8/2009 to 9/12/2009, there are a total of 21 scheduled staff hours towards the hardware grants program. This number is blurred by the fact that many staff use that hardware grants time for other administration. Debra Hubbard also volunteers semi-regularly on the Hardware Grants committee. She logged four hours last week under "outreach," which I believe is grant time. There are currently only 39 open hardware grants tickets. This roughly evens out to each open grant taking 2 staff hours per week. My estimate is that one grant may take up to this amount of time TOTAL, not per week (for example, if a grant is open for two weeks, it may require an hour per week each week). This is a guess. I work 8 hours of hardware grants per week and currently own and (I feel) successfully manage 21 grants. A couple are stalled, but I could manage about 20 entirely active grants with 8 hours a week.

What stands in the way/what needs to happen: Before staff hours can be taken off of hardware grants and volunteer/intern/Americorps hours are (hopefully) added, the hardware grants committee needs to redefine limitations. The "Can I get involved?" section of the grants wiki is accurate in detailing the responsibility of someone working hardware grants (http://wiki.freegeek.org/index.php/Hardware_Grants#Can_I_get_involved.3F), EXCEPT for one missing detail: it is difficult to determine 1) if non-profits REALLY need what they are asking for, and 2) if we have and can disburse what they need. This is not in the "Can I get involved?" section, probably because it is difficult to pinpoint and describe at this point in time. If the hardware grants committee put together some sort of limitations guideline (eg. 1 laptop per 10 people within an organization, 50 systems per org, etc. etc.) we would be able to have more volunteer & intern involvement.

Once limitations are established, I feel that post-builders and/or interns would be suitable for grants.

Give out more grants!

Numbers according to the database (no reliable data from 2006 and earlier)

Number of hardware grants given out by year and gizmo type

2007

40 Laptops

629 Systems

2008

77 Laptops

494 Systems

2009

234 Laptops

1056 Systems

Problem: Recycling too many and giving out too few systems! This year we have already given out more laptops than 2007 & 2008 combined and almost more systems than 2007 & 2008 combined. This is great! However, we could be giving out more. I estimate that we will have given away 1200 systems in 2009 by the end of the year, and because of the interest in the build program AND the amount of computers we recycle, we could double that number by 2010 with a potential change in system specification. The current low-ends that we sell & grant out are more than reasonable for web-surfing/lab computers. Non-profits use their computers for these purposes most commonly:

1. As a teacher tool for recording grades or doing powerpoints with a class
2. In administrative offices
3. In a lab setting

Low end computers are, in my opinion, reasonable for office and lab work.

What stands in the way/what needs to happen: Not enough grant requests for systems! Some community outreach could change this.

Publicize the awesome grants work we're doing! (This is in the works, though.)

Problem: RT is somewhat inaccurate and has no spreadsheet or easily table creation function, as far as I know, which would connect grants to Wordpress.

What stands in the way/what needs to happen: Tony is working on some sort of Wordpress thing to document grants. This will add a new layer of work to hardware grants committee members, but it should be more than worth it.

Library and Internet Access

Get a Free Geek Library program created to replace current one

Get one of the lab computers set-up for folks to look up books.

Get museum books matched with equipment in our museum space.

Update wiki on howto handle cataloging problems-list each one with correction process needed

Create a howto find a book via computer for all to use. Post on lab library assigned computer and on wall at Library station

Set-up a formal logging out/in system (do not use borrow book at front desk)

Create a Free Geek Library Sign and place where clearly visible.

Set-up procedure for tracking checked out books, which includes reminder calls or notices.

Work with technocrats to fine tune use of current library program.

Follow-up on asses progress and use of final product (FR Library program)

Work with technocrats to get one lab computer set-up for folks to look up and find books.

Delegate this to an adoption volunteer, once museum has been established.

Establish a volunteer pool to keep library functioning.

Tech Support

Getting tech support open during all of Free Geek's open hours.

For the first goal, I need to build up a large enough volunteer base so that the hours can be covered. Because of training issues, this cannot be done too quickly, but I think a year out is reasonable. I think it would require at least 10 volunteers for that many hours (I have 6 now), of which half at any one time would need to be well trained. Of course the time could be covered by paid staff, but I think that would be less desirable. Paid staff should be oversight and backup and can be doing something else and check in as necessary. I would expect a program of that size would needs *some* more staff time.

Developing a cross-training program with tech support and build, offering time in tech support as part of the build training program.

For the second goal, it just needs development time and working out the bugs

We *may* need more space (about 20% more), although spreading tech support over more hours could mitigate that.

Administrative Services

Facilities

Finish Classroom Wall Project

Schedule Monday work day w/ volunteers.

Laptop Secure Storage - build adequately large area for laptop/parts lockup in laptop area.

Purchase materials, set up another Monday work day w/ volunteers.

Infrastructure for New Office Space - dividers / accoustics / power / phones

Discuss with Space Cadets, create and execute plan.

Electrical "Clean Up" - many dead outlets, minor wiring changes in warehouse and other places.

Work w/ Santi, bit by bit over time to correct these issues.

Hanging Strips for Receiving Door - keep heat in and keep heat out!

Get budget, purchase and install.

Technical Infrastructure

move all servers to racks, reducing the space devoted to servers by 30%.

possibly use this extra space for storage of ready-to-deploy pre-built infrastructure systems (servers, desktops, thin-clients, etc.).

re-wire south part of building, and keep an updated physical map of cabling.

Warehouse

Make room for a 2nd worker in Advanced Recycling.

No space.

Shrink nearby System Keeper shelves &/or relocate Advanced Recycling.

Make more room for Printer Bulk Sales (not too much).

No space.

Reconfigure Printerland &/or relocate Laptop Gaylords or TV Recycle shelves.

Make room for Flat-Panel Monitor testing.

No space.

Shrink CRT Monitor testing to make room.

Recycling Instructors not having to teach CRT Monitor testing anymore.

Nobody else seems to want to do it.

Show that having Adoption volunteers do CRT Monitor test leads to inefficient space usage & threatens to increase labor costs.

Partnerships

Free Geek gets an institutional donor to give money and computers, thereby setting a precedent that can be used in future negotiations.

Free Geek get 2 or 3 more large institutional donors with an eye to tailoring our solicitations towards donors who can improve the quality of our stream.

Nothing but time. It takes a lot of time to negotiate with an institutional donor, sometimes as long as two years. For this reason, a half dozen or so partnerships should be pursued at all times. We need to position ourselves to compete directly with a the Dell buyback program, including considering taking deposits for pickups from large institutional donors (as dell does).

More flexibility in FG-PDX outgoing systems.

By this I pretty much mean ability to sell them. Right now we are swimming in high-end laptops, a significant number for which we do not have power supplies. If we were able to sell some of the FG-PDX laptops, then it would be worth our while to purchase the power supplies from Ebay. Even for the laptops that do have power supplies, some of them are *way* higher-end than what any grantee needs. Also, the laptops take up space on the shelf when they have no consistent outflow.