can we pay to move one of our neighbors and take one of the sides?
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Nope. It’s more about realizing it’s just not worth the effort.
What I don’t think DMS realizes is that when the fundamentals-yes even something as mundane as who is the constant contact for computers-is ignored, then it’s really tough to get the big stuff done.
I always thought I saw the potential for big stuff, but I guess the core/active membership is ok with still treating the organization like there are only 300 members.
DMS is interesting to me, but really not necessary. I’m glad Stan ran me off before I started paying dues again. It’s kind of like paying to relive the very worst parts of junior high school. I’m ok with skipping the sequel.
Every one look around. Is the place really functioning as well as it could? As it should? Did you have an idea that was shot down by insiders in the last month? Did you receive the “volunteer organization” excuse/lecture lately in response to a frustration you voiced?
DMS has a budget of over half a million dollars a year, but committees buy equipment they don’t get around to putting on the tool list. Are you ok with that?
I’m not. I thought I’d try to change that mindset. I failed.
This rant of mine will be flagged and hidden. It might even be deleted. I don’t care. If DMS were publicly traded stock, I’d short it. Management-the old timers-are stuck in a mindset that will eventually wreck the goodwill of your company. You’ve capitalized on the maker trend and survived your constant churn, but just like the craft beer phenomenon, I suspect you are about to have some competition. The new group might not be as cool as you, but they’ll be in a better location, or set up a leaner organization that sticks to a better business plan, and then you’ll look around at the end of two years and realize not only do you not need to move, but because DMS never asked itself hard questions, you can’t afford it.
You prove me wrong. If I hear about you someday in more than a puff PR piece, I’ll be genuinely happy for you. But right now a group of makers can’t even get a guy who uses a wheelchair into the building comfortably, and they just kicked to the curb a talented, intelligent woman who knows when to cut her losses.
It will hurt for a few days. I’ll get over it.
Does the landlord even want us anymore?
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About?
- TheLab.ms https://www.thelab.ms/
They cannot seem to achieve critical mass. They have two classrooms and a combination electronics/break/meeting/server/laser cutter room.
Unless the laser cutter brings in lots of paying members, I do not see them getting a workshop. They have had one “training the trainers” class on the laser, but no other public indication that tool even exists.
- Rockwall Makerspace http://www.rockwallmakerspace.com/
Their web site says nothing. Their forum is only accessible to members. There is no way to decide that this organization is worth a look unless i lived really close.
Cindy,
Nothing you have written here is either innapropriate, or untimely. Many issues you have raised are in fact, things we face, but I ask that you consider them from a somewhat broader point of view. I’ll check in here, but please do note, that my opinions are my own - I’m not stating a Board position here, or speaking on their behalf. I’m in a good mood however, so bear with me.
I’ll share with you an analogy I gave a former Board member, the irredoubtable Mr. Bowling. DMS is a lot like a person who has developed too much fondness for milkshakes. The more he drinks, the tighter his clothes get, until eventually his belly button is sticking out, and he has to wipe his butt with a stick with toilet paper taped to the end of it.
We have grown very very fast, and this growth keeps outpacing the best efforts of our volunteers to deal with it. Consequently, we have more than a few kludges in place to deal with various things. We’re not quite to the stick&paper stage yet, so we can all take a deep breath. But people stepping up to help, sure makes the likelihood of the stick less.
There are things we do so very well with volunteers. And things (usually the dull repetitive ones), that are just too much to expect from volunteers. Volunteers also tend to have built-in expiration dates - peoples lives change, circumstances change, finances change, interest wanes, etc etc. Continuity is a big problem for us.
Makers, in general, tend to be pretty smart folks, with strong opinions. Many are introverts, and sometimes have trouble expressing themselves socially in constructive ways. And many introverted folks, just struggle dealing with the ways of others. Consequently, we occasionally get beset with upset caused by talkwash, personal grievances, differences of opinion, and lack of respect for others. Meetings can be awful, but lately have been a lot more productive…
But if you focus on these things, you’re going to miss the woods and see only the trees, There’s something pretty damn awesome happening here. We’ve taught a bunch of people how to make things, how to use tools, and then watched them put that knowledge to work. We’ve seen gifted artists creating really wonderful things, household repairs, the pursuit of perfection in craft, and the creation of crufty craptastic wonderment, and everything in between. Our members share a profound human need in common, that defies our sometimes all too human shortcomings.
You know what? How many articles have you read about the human need to screw? But know this - all humans spend more time making, than making out. So which is the more important human trait? One is fun as hell. The other makes our life better, and the lives of those around us too.
So, yeah. DMS is tapped in to something important here. I personally feel its worth working for and spreading. But we’re Makers, and we’re in the middle of making. Yeah, its a little messy at times, and sometimes it smells like Kee’s poo glue. But the end product is always worth it, and will be worth it this time too. Give us a little faith baby, we’ll get you there. But its easier to see where we’re going, if you ignore the mess we make while we’re making.
I can tell you this - the current Board is well aware of the strengths and weaknesses of our enterprise. But any Board, must prioritize and focus, to really accomplish anything. And that is what this Board is doing, despite the distractions and occasional silly stuff along the way.
Of course. But its more a question of quality, than quantity. We frequently have to listen to a lot of “all hat no cows” opinions along the way, and that can get frustrating. But with 1600 members, we have a deep well, and so we do also hear thoughts from members with experience and well considered points of view to share as well. It would be a mistake, to think Talk was an important resource however. Opinions here are nearly always tinged with a bit too much assertion, but now and then a thoughtful post does cross the boards.
And it would also be well to remember, that Board’s need times of discussion, reflection, and yes, negotiation. Some folks think consensus is something that just happens, like a light bulb appearing above your head. But consensus just means “reached agreement”, and sometimes that can take a while to sort out. And believe me when I tell you, the best Boards have divergent points of view. The last thing you want is marching in unison, up there behind the tables.
So, perhaps not the answer you were hoping for, but I confess it was the answer I was inspired to give 
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I really think you fundamentally misunderstand the DMS. The DMS as an organization is a work in progress.
- Is the place really functioning as well as it could? : Nope, but it gets
better? worse?different every day. - Did you have an idea that was shot down by insiders in the last month? : Who cares? DO it anyway.
“Be the change you wish to see in the world” - not Gandhi
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We have no shortage of good ideas. Great ideas, perhaps. What we have is a shortage of well-developed ideas, supported by facts and data, with people committed to implementing them. We can’t expect the Board and the Committee chairs to bear all of the implementation burden for all these great ideas.
It’s easy to recommend what someone else should do to improve DMS. Any idea put forth without a commitment of what that person is willing to do to implement it is just wishful thinking.
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It has come to my attention that TheLab has apparently set their “starving hacker” rate at $10/month.
https://www.thelab.ms/makers/Board_Meeting_2017-08-12.html
Comments?
To be honest, Brandon targeted a group of members at DMS with the explicit intent to run them off. That wasn’t an attempt to do-ocracy fix issues at DMS, it was a poorly disguised attack on DMS. Thus, the resulting response from the group.
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Already done. But you didn’t write it - so I guess it’s just a PR puff piece.
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While that’s a popular narrative, I disagree with it.
The broader implication of do-ocracy all the things is that like all dogmatic philosophies, it will fail you at some point, particularly as the size of the group grows beyond a small number of like-minded people.
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Yeah, I disagree with this Nick, and I think if you gave it some thought, you would too. I think Brandon was getting hammered from a lot of directions mainly because his point of view understandably got a little cynical.
Brandon was a hard working volunteer that did a lot of good for the Dallas Makerspace, and that’s a fact. He was an extremely talented Maker, and like most talented people, was very driven when he had a goal.
One of the hazards faced by dedicated volunteers, is that there is a dark side to all the heady thank yous and compliments that hard volunteer work can bring your way. At some point, you begin to feel “owed” for all that hard work, and this can present itself as a sort of disdain for those who don’t contribute at the same high level. The result can undo an awful lot of goodwill, in an awful hurry, and some of the negativity is motivated by dark reasons of its own.
I’d like to see Brandon come back, and just focus on making things. He’s frigging good at it. And one good maker, making and teaching, does more for DMS in an hour, than all the talkwash that was ever typed. Making is what we are about, and people that are good at it motivate and educate others. We need that one hell of a lot more than we will ever need floor organizers, potentates, or social adepts.
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+1 to this. He had a lot of energy that was contagious.
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@tapper, Your comment shows more of the back ground on how Brandon transitioned from helping DMS to attacking DMS. I also saw the disdain you highlight and read in this forum as he announced in his own words that he was acting in a manner to run off a class of members. Brandon did many good things in the group, but in the end, he also took advantage of the group and attacked the group. None of us are perfect, nor should we be judged by only one of our actions. However, as your point out, our poor or miss guided actions can stain our legacy.
I too would have no issue with Brandon rejoining the group. I believe we can all learn and change for the better based on our past experiences. Pain fades and broken ties can be mended. We are an incredibly accepting group that allows for all members to reinvent themselves for the better.
I don’t argue for dogmatic following of Do-Ocracy. But, it has it’s place in a majority of our governance of DMS even at our current size. What Brandon was run off for was not Do-Occracy, he stopped solving problems and started making them.
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your good intentions are eclipsed when you go into scorched earth mode. Resorting to comments that are demeaning and insulting to individuals is an ineffective way to change minds. Doing that to an entire group of people tends to alienate those who you say you are trying to “help”. You may be able to convince yourself that everyone but you is marching out of step you, but I believe you strive for and relish the conflict. There are others ways to communicate if you want different results.
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Brandon was justifiably ‘hammered’ for multiple reasons.
- Attempting to dispose of the fire cabinet for fluids after assuring board he would check with chairs before disposing of anything.
- Responding that if the fire marshal said we needed one, we, could buy another. This was normal mismanagement of funds by him.
- Stating at the ‘election’ that he had no plans to remove the freebie shelf, then disposing of it within 72 hours.
- Finally, stating in no uncertain terms, that there was an entire class of members he wanted to drive away.
Oh, almost forgot this one.
- Stating he didn’t care what the board’s rules were when he deleted all members of the Logistics committee when a second meeting was called to discuss alternative chairs.
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Agree. Do-ocracy is only as good as the actions behind it. And without a balancing portion of don’t-ocracy - don’t be a dick is one of the most important (on Talk as well as in person) - then a do-ocracy can wind up like a bunch of four year old kids on playground, all doing something.
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Speaking of…I expect to see you on the lathe this weekend 
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Woke up with a head cold this morning. Not too bad, but snotty as hell.
Still a far easier weekend than you are having maam. We’re all thinking about you and your husband.
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