The future of PDX.rb

[Sam Livingston-Gray]

Hello, friends-

I'm concerned about the long-term viability of this group.  We've always described ourselves as an "anarchist ghost pirate ship," but recently I've felt as though the ship is adrift.  It's getting harder to find speakers—and, more importantly, to find people who are willing to do a few hours of volunteer work every month.

We use the anarchist ghost pirate ship metaphor to encourage you—yes, you, the one reading this message RIGHT NOW—to step up and help out.  I actually think it's a pretty good metaphor, but that's... sort of the problem.  You see, it is not my impression that history is filled with examples of anarchist sailing vessels, successful or otherwise.

In the past, we've tended to do well when we have someone who does a disproportionate amount of the work to wrangle speakers, coordinate a venue, and publicize meetings  (think Igal, Kirsten, or Shawna)—but we don't currently have such a person, and I think it's really starting to show.

We've had a few people, mostly old-timers and more senior Rubyists, volunteer to take on some of the necessary tasks, but for at least the past few months, this group has been running more or less on inertia and the efforts of Brent and Lauren, both of whom work at New Relic.  In fact, I feel confident saying that without Brent and Lauren, we wouldn't *have* a group at this point.  (We certainly wouldn't have such a great venue or emcee, so thanks, you two!)

This is not sustainable.  We need folks to step up, especially (IMO) in the areas of recruiting speakers and publicizing meetings.  Most importantly, we need folks who can sustainably do these things month after month—or, sometime soon, the meetings might simply stop.

Don't want to see that happen?  Show up!  Specifically, show up this January 2, where we're having a business meeting in place of our usual content (because, uh, we don't *have* any of our usual content, for reasons already mentioned).  Be prepared to volunteer (or at least to "voluntell" someone, lol), or this ship is going down.

NOTE: all of the above is predicated on the assumption that 'regular talks' is the format we want.  If we just want a monthly hack night, that's easy enough to sustain—but based on turnout for the Game of Life exercises, it seems like talks are the main thing people are looking for?

-Sam

[Jesse Cooke]

Thanks for sharing your concerns, Sam. It means a lot to me and the group to see this kind of message from a long-time member.

I'd encourage the rest of the group to attend and chat about the structure and viability of pdxrb. It's truly amazing what we have here, and if we're at the point where things need to change, then let's figure out a way to make those changes to keep the group alive.

See you at the next meeting!

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[Tim Loudon]

This might be anathema to the anarchistic spirit, but how about setting up some clear structure/process—that’s my best suggestion for sustainability?  As in create a position w requirements/responsibilities and term length (say six or 12 months).  You could even call it the helmsperson in keeping w the ship w/o a captain motif.

I think this could help avoid burnout and a dependency on singularly generous individuals while sharing the burden on a predictable schedule.

Perhaps this is what you were suggesting Sam, but I don’t want to make assumptions.  Also I think it’s a good idea if at least some of the discussion is over the mailing list.

FWIW I get a lot out of the weekly coworking meetups in Sellwood (thanks Rico!).  And I consider myself a part of the pdxrb community despite rarely attending monthly meetings or spending much time on slack/irb (daytime, in-person activities are easiest for me to participate in).  So while I don’t think the end of the monthly talk necessitates the death of the group, I am up for organizing monthly talks for six months.

Cheers!

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/pdxruby/CAFgS5CysqGC%3De6ewhQH6HVEFU%3DacHzAtQ%3DcG_-MGZYGApcs1LQ%40mail.gmail.com.

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--

Tim Loudon

[Benjamin Turner]

I rarely make the meetings, but want to support the community. How can people like me (I *assume* I'm not the only one) help out? 

[Godfrey Chan]

I have spoken at PDX.rb before, and I would be happy to do it again.

Godfrey

[Chuck Vose]

Tim, it’s not anathema; please do attend and help people figure out how to do it. :)

On Fri, Dec 22, 2017 at 11:08 AM Godfrey Chan <godfr...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have spoken at PDX.rb before, and I would be happy to do it again.

Godfrey

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[mike]

i am not located in oregon, but several of my clients are/have been. and it has been a great resource. if there are some mundane tasks that can done remotely I would be happy to be of assistance.

[Joel Christiansen]

Hi all,

I'll be at the meeting Tuesday. I've been trying to come since attending my first RailsConf last April and work, family, vacation, traffic, etc. make it difficult. I'm new to the group and would love to help out however I can. I'm not a Ruby dev by trade (PHP dev turned attorney) but I've been learning tons of Ruby/Rails and would love to get involved in the community and, hopefully, some projects.

I also wanted to add my +1 that remote and asynchronous involvement is really appealing. If there's any group that has wherewithal to leverage remoteness, it must a Ruby user group.

See you on Tuesday at New Relic!

Joel Christiansen | VOGELE & CHRISTIANSEN

812 NW 17th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209

(p) 503-841-6722 (e) jo...@oremploymentlawyer.com

On Sun, Dec 31, 2017 at 5:07 AM, mike <noiri...@gmail.com> wrote:

i am not located in oregon, but several of my clients are/have been. and it has been a great resource. if there are some mundane tasks that can done remotely I would be happy to be of assistance.

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[m...@lucascharles.me]

Hey everyone,

Big thanks to everyone who was able to make it out and show some support for keeping PDX.rb vibrant and energized!

Two of the main outcomes from tonight's meeting were the proposal of burnout-avoiding term limits for coordination leads (starting at 6 months) and appointment of said leads to head organization efforts around pdx.rb (for the coming 6 months). By the magic of volunteership, I present our new Coordination Lead, Tim Loudon, and his secondary, Lucas Charles (me).

Huge thanks for the trust of the community in letting us step in and help PDX.rb have a long and bright future. We're still in early stages and will be meeting up in the next week to discuss some actionable next steps. It was encouraging hearing so many volunteer their time and we will definitely be reaching out to those of you who expressed interest.

<3 

On Sunday, December 31, 2017 at 4:49:22 PM UTC-8, Joel Christiansen wrote:

Hi all,

I'll be at the meeting Tuesday. I've been trying to come since attending my first RailsConf last April and work, family, vacation, traffic, etc. make it difficult. I'm new to the group and would love to help out however I can. I'm not a Ruby dev by trade (PHP dev turned attorney) but I've been learning tons of Ruby/Rails and would love to get involved in the community and, hopefully, some projects.

I also wanted to add my +1 that remote and asynchronous involvement is really appealing. If there's any group that has wherewithal to leverage remoteness, it must a Ruby user group.

See you on Tuesday at New Relic!

Joel Christiansen | VOGELE & CHRISTIANSEN

812 NW 17th Avenue, Portland, OR 97209

(p) 503-841-6722 (e) jo...@oremploymentlawyer.com

On Sun, Dec 31, 2017 at 5:07 AM, mike <noiri...@gmail.com> wrote:

i am not located in oregon, but several of my clients are/have been. and it has been a great resource. if there are some mundane tasks that can done remotely I would be happy to be of assistance.

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