Re-org times two

Our organization is going through a reorg which, ideally, will make all of our lives easier. It looks like I will be reporting to a new person, which, of course, brings its own fears and trepidations. I feel like I’m given the opportunity, however, to position myself EXACTLY doing the things that excite me the most. I also believe that while this reorg clamps down on my individual autonomy (i.e. going out willie-nillie and doing whatever I want), it actually empowers me to better use the resources of the organizations to really take off running with those things I find exciting which also fit with the organization’s mission. I’m not seeing this reorg as fundamentally inconsistent with my current interests and personal vision, yet.

I’ve also been fired as EFF-A secretary and have been re-hired (at least I THINK I’ve been rehired) as Outreach / Membership Coordinator. I basically went through the exercise of listing out what I WANT to be doing with EFF-A, and it was obvious from my lack of enthusiasm that “Secretary” doesn’t capture my interests.

This is actually a very good and exciting thing. It’s going to let me focus on process-type stuff which will become particularly important as we’re looking to grow the organization in a healthy, but rapid manner in the upcoming months.

I think an Outreach Coordinator’s primary role is to evangelize and promote the organization in its mission; the role is an externally facing liason between the group and the world. It does things like organize road shows, putting together outgoing speaking engagments for the team, and organizing events (social (like Cyberdawgs) and educational (like Robofest)).

If I were to be Outreach coordinator, it would require my becoming a well-informed supplier of information. I must be able to process and understand all the little bits of EFF-A’s agenda, but I wouldn’t be expected to be an expert on any of them.

Getting geeks to talk to each other, then the world, and then to have them accept non-geeks into the clan is a personal mission of mine. I think the events coordinator aspect of this job is good fit for that mission.

I think a Membership Coordinator is focused on member relationship management. The role would intake new members/volunteers, make sure they get their benefits (and decide what those benefits would be), and make sure they are happy.

I’ve written some job descriptions for these two roles, but I’m not sure they are ready for prime time.