Why Haven’t You Changed Everything?

The first in what I hope will be many regular reports on what I’m doing on the PASS board.

To answer the question that I’ve already been asked (who had 47 hours in the pool?), first, I’m not on the board yet. I was elected to it and my term starts in January. So, don’t expect a lot in the way of ongoing structural changes at the organization instigated by me. Second, I’m the lowest of the low on the board (after I’m actually on the board), so I won’t be making a whole lot of changes at all (whether I wanted to or not). Third, the board is a board, a bunch of people, who get to vote on things, so even if I were able to call a meeting (I’m not) and I had some grand idea for rearranging the Summit (I don’t), I’d still have to get a majority on the board to support what I wanted done. Fourth, on the board, different individuals are responsible for different aspects of the PASS organization. These aspects are organized into what they call portfolios. The portfolio I’ve been assigned (yes, assigned, and I so wanted the “Drink Tickets at Summit” portfolio), is Chapters. So, I won’t be tasked with rearranging SQL Saturdays or whatever your favorite issue might be. Instead, I’m going to be working with the people running your local user group, the regional mentors, and the HQ people responsible for everything around Chapters. Oh, and, a healthy chunk of the decisions for direction in 2015 for this portfolio have already been made. You can read about the portfolio direction for 2015 on the PASS web site (in fact, if you are interested in what’s going on at PASS, you should read all the portfolio plans).

So no, I haven’t, and won’t, change everything. I’m learning about what I can and can’t do as a board member (and what I can do, I still can’t do until January). If you have ideas for things you’d like to see PASS do for the Chapters, I’m open and interested. I have a couple of ideas of my own that I’m going to push for. More on that once I’m actually on the board. I’m writing this just a couple of days after the election, and I’ve already been on multiple phone calls with other board members, getting a handle on this job AND I HAVEN’T EVEN STARTED YET. In short, please, let’s set some reasonable expectations (and no, I haven’t drank any kool-aid, haven’t even been offered any yet).

Expect another blog post after the Summit.