Intergalactic Plan

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Intro

How will coordination with other Free Geeks change over the next 3-5 years so that Free Geek can better fulfill its mission and live up to its principles?

State of the program

Free Geek Intergalactic is the name used to refer to the embryonic umbrella organization that coordinates activities between the various official Free Geek chapters.

• Several Free Geeks exist
• We have an email list that participants from the various Free Geeks (and other organizations) use to communicate
• We've met as a group face to face once, and a few times over IRC
• Most of the groups have members that have visited at least one other group.
• We have official trademarking of the name "Free Geek"
• There are unresolved issues about unsanctioned usage of the name "Free Geek"

Current and past issues

• Each group needs to focus on its own day to day work, sometimes leaving the coordination and development activities of the umbrella group by the wayside.
• Conditions for the new startups can be quite different from those we were presented with at the mothership in the early days. Sometimes they have more to say to each other than we have to say to them.

Trends and predictions

• There will be a legally incorporated umbrella organization that all the official Free Geeks participate in.
• We will have established, legal authority to use the name "Free Geek", and the process for defining and enforcing that will be shared by the pool of official Free Geeks beyond the Portland area through the umbrella organization.

SWOT

Increase coordination with other Free Geeks, encourage people in other places to start affiliated organizations, and charter an official umbrella organization.

	Good (for Free Geek)	Bad (for Free Geek)
Internal (to Free Geek)	Strengths: Strengths are advantages we have that are internal to Free Geek and helpful to achieving the objective. (Good things we do.) We have an awesome idea that others want to use We have a pretty clear idea of what makes us tick	Weaknesses: Weaknesses are problems we have that are internal to Free Geek and harmful to achieving the objective. (Things we do poorly or not at all.) We are not very good at following up with other groups, especially if things get uncomfortable
External (to Free Geek)	Opportunities: Opportunities are advantages we have that are external to Free Geek and helpful to achieving the objective. (Good things that will or could happen to us.) More and more people will get interested in our idea	Threats: Threats are problems we have that are external to Free Geek and harmful to achieving the objective. (Bad things that will or could happen to us.) People want the free geek name without going through the work and without adhering to our principles

See also Trends and Attributes | What do we want to do?

Related Documents

• 3 - 5 year plan and Vision Statement
• Long Term Strategy Process
• Meta Question
• Hiring Strategy
• General Priorities
• Space Usage