[HOT] Some thoughts about HOT Inc.

Om G om.imap at gmail.com
Wed Jul 11 13:30:04 BST 2012


Jean,

without being privy to Cat's response, it is fair to say that any reaction might be from the perspective of people who try very hard to 'do good' and I can see how your message might ruffle a few feathers.
I, for one, certainly hope that an honest statement from a productive member isn't sufficient grounds to be excommunicated though!

All of your points are valid and it seems that what you see are growing pains, nothing more. The Stand-By Task Force and to a lesser degree Crisis Commons are going through a similar experience. Actually Crisis Commons has benefitted greatly from a strong central core and explicit communications, but an influx of money did have a lot of unintended consequences and there is a clear feeling of hierarchy when interacting with them that I find troubling. HOT and SBTF seem to be slightly more ad-hoc and the leadership tasked out in many directions at once. Unsurprisingly, the backgrounds of each leader group are reflected in their management and governance styles. In each group I have seen resistance to change but no outright rejection of positive suggestions.

This is a vulnerable stage for the entire VT&C community as commercial interests and well funded organizations 'utilize' crowdsource capacity. If HOT takes the lead in transparent operations (fiscal and otherwise) I think that other groups will make use of that example when forming their own operating philosophies.

It doesn't harm us to acknowledge our limitations and accommodate them. Within the volunteer community this seems to be less of an omission than a matter of available time. Overall, I think we are just emerging into the promise of interconnected beings and that the future won't look much like we do, but the ideals set forth now will make all the difference.

Thanks for sharing,

Om


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