ALV November 2018/Justa2
--- Proposed HR text ---
On the concept of Tool-guardians:
1) The board may designate certain members of the space to function as 'tool guardians' for a particular region/subset of the space. The member in question must, of course, agree. If a person is no longer a member, the status consequently ceases to exist. Any member can ask to be considered for such a status.
2) The board also reserves the right to retract the above mentioned status upon their own discretion. Members can protest the functioning of any particular tool-guardian region/subset through an Official Techinc Poll or at an ALV.
3) There may be more than one such tool-guardian for any particular region/subset of the space who will have joint responsibility and are required to find agreement on matters amongst themselves in any manner they see fit.
4) A tool-guardian is to be seen as the authority on the usage/storage/maintenance of tools/provisions/etc of whatever section has been designated to be under his 'watch'. It is understood to be a privilege AND a responsibility, as well as a potential burden.
5) In principle, one is to make sure to understand and adhere to a tool-guardians provisions for usage of the region/subset they govern. The tool-guardians have a responsibility to have it be clear what, if any, these provisions might be and to maintain their documentation and evolution.
6) A tool-guardian does NOT get special provisions on the usage of whatever they govern over. They do not get exceptions or enjoy any particular benefits other than being seen as someone who 'should be someone who should know'.
--- Supporting text ---
The set of rules proposed above is purposely left 'free' or 'undefined' in a number of important and less important ways. There are no suggested election processes, no procedures for monthly reports, mandatory documentation-systems, etc or escalation procedures.
It is expressly intended to be simply a manner to have it be known that there are people who do get to say 'Sorry, but I/we have decided that this is the way we are going to do things around here' , for a particular amount of space/tools/activities in the space.
The particular 'areas' are also not defined here, either. Logically, things as 'the kitchen area', 'the dirty room', 'the solder-area' come to mind; but something like 'The plotter expert' 'The lathe-guru' might make sense too.
Note that it only makes sense to have someone be a tool-guardian if the person's passionate/concerned/knowledgeable about the matters at hand. Conversely, if a member is no longer active, or simply doesnt care, he/she should make it clear that there is no interest/time to put in the required amount of work and have it be clear another guardian is required, either to replace or to supplement the one there.
The word 'status' should not be misread as 'honorary' or 'better'; it should be understood to mean that this person has more responsibilities to worry about than the number that comes with any particular random member. The only reason he/she would be able to enjoy such a status is through seeing tools/materials/locations being taken care of in a manner that fits well with their personal philosophy. There is no garantee that this is one that doesnt clash with the general membership...There'll exist the need to form a common understanding, communicate this clearly to everyone involved, to re-work provisions as the need arises and to advice members on the implementation of particular matters. Going further, it might well be that this person might be called to defend a particular decision made before the board; or be called in to advise the board on matters of abuse-of-space-infrastructure as outlined in, for example, the HR-text on tool-usage (currently in 'proposed' state).
Being a tool-guru should be possible for *ANYONE* who is knowledgeable about a particular process/tool/area; no matter their verbal skills; as long as he/she is able to properly communicate his/her ideas/guidelines/restrictions in a clear manner in written form in some manner; easily found either in electronic of physical form. Being empathetic to the concerns of other people is a great plus, too.. The worst guardian is one that only implements the 'because I said so' part of the whole concept.
Despite it being an obvious true-ism; it is expressly stated here that a next ALV can and should re-shape, amend or ultimately scrap/replace/destroy the concept of tool-guardians if the need arises. If the board sees the mechanism malfunction for any reason, they should feel free to simply revoke the statuses dealt out and have the situation be as if concept does not exist until a next ALV can be used to fix the situation one way or another.
It is my hope, however, that the general *concept* will have some value in and of itself; much like the HAM-group and the Network-Team already function somewhat along these lines at current. Their functioning might not be perfect, but their existence currently has two areas function quite well for the purposes of enjoying their useage by those involved, or in the manner they supply services to others and the space in general.
