Providence Planning 06 27 2006

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  • Date: 27 June 2006
  • Facilitator: informally, rfs.
  • Scribe: laurel
  • Minutes Checker: Seamus
  • Place: Meeting room

Attendance

Seamus, Jeanne, matteo, Liane, Richard, Jim F, Kerm, Jac, laurel, Dave

Old Commitments

  • Oso will send email to Providence to ask the questions we still have, and report the answers to council - UNKNOWN
liane will poke Oso to communicate anything he knows and take over if he hasn't done it

Procedural

(laurel) some of this will have to be dealt with by subcommittees, since this group is too large. Many of these issues are contingent on space changes; a subgroup should work on space design issues and make proposals/recommendations to this group.

Concerns

Major categories of concerns: volunteer capacity; space limitations and transformations; cultural change resulting from large growth; expense.

Volunteers

(Dave) We have been short on volunteers for some time but that's because we've been falling short on taking care of volunteers. We need to make sure that volunteers have a positive experience and want to come back. (Jim) Do we need more volunteers? How many and where? (Dave) we certainly need more; there will be a lot more work, and great turnover leads to less efficiency. If we make sure people want to come back, we won't need more outreach.

(Jac) But how many will we need? (Kerm) We'll need fifteen more build volunteers per day. (Liane) We'll also need a lot more recyclers and receivers. We should be doing outreach as well as improving our volunteer retention. (Jeanne) We have some volunteer appreciation events already in planning. (Dave) We'll need more people in intake (mass eval, probably 3 people/shift) and in recycling (probably 6/shift + intern).

Space

(Dave) Get rid of most of the shelving for stored boxes; move printerland and UPS to make room for incoming pallets and burn-in area. (rfs) People like Dave and Kerm who have ideas about how to make the space work should meet with Oso to consult on design. (Liane) Putting Calbag materials in an outdoor container would free up lots of space. (laurel) will we need more room for recycling?

This design process is too detailed to hash out here; we need drawings and input from others. Dave and Kerm will be making drawings and talking to people to come up with proposals for this group.

Flow

(Rfs) We're relying on the idea that the systems will be selling consistently. Do we have enough buyers? What if they go under? What if we get stopped up? (Dave) I'm communicating with a lot of people, checking on their ethics, and we have lots of interest from different types of buyers. There's lots of demand, and my concerns are that they handle the computers appropriately, especially with disposal.

Eval changes: things that pass Eval 1 should go to burn-in; Eval 1 becomes mostly salvage. We need to remain conscious of the educational function of the eval process. (Rfs) Can we ask Providence for a representative pallet so that we can test out how our procedures might work or break? (Jac) You need to expect that the pallets will be mixed. Getting an example pallet would be a good idea.

(Kerm) While we can sell systems in bulk and send them around the world, our priority should be to get them directly to people. (Dave) Yes, getting computers to volunteers and to everyone in Portland who wants one is first priority; in selling them, we want to sell them to good people locally first, then regionally, then internationally.

Cultural changes needed

  • Cleanliness to make the place safer and more habitable
  • Emphasis on data security (esp. in eval)

Criteria for going forward

  • Reassess our treatment/handling of volunteers
  • Workable collaborative floor redesign
  • We need a new forklift
  • ...and many more! This is just a first few.

New Commitments

  • Liane will poke Oso about unanswered questions and take over if he hasn't sent them a message. She'll also ask if we can visit the warehouse or get a sample pallet, or both.
  • Dave and matteo and Kerm and matteo will make drawings and revise them based on input from Kerm and Jim; then consult with other concerned parties (Action, core, etc.) to formulate proposals in an interative way.
  • (Jeanne) Outreach will have to work on a plan for volunteer outreach
  • (Richard) HR will work on a plan for volunteer retention/handling

Next Meeting

  • Facilitator: laurel
  • Scribe: Liane
  • Minutes Checker:
  • Date and time: Tuesday July 11
  • Place: Meeting room
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