Chiming in, after watching this go back and forth and feeling frustrated here.
The issue here is about holding volunteers accountable as if they were paid staff. It's about expectations as well. Noone is questioning whether the volunteers worked their butts off. What we're talking about is that the AMSAT community (at least some, anyway) have an expectation of performance equivalent to what would be provided by full-time paid staff. Well, as long as it's volunteers only, that expectation is not reasonable (IMHO). None of the volunteers can provide that kind of support day-in and day-out. Holding volunteers to that standard is, in my opinion, a mistake. Having said that, what AMSAT volunteers have accomplished is SO FAR ABOVE what a normal volunteer organization achieves, that it BOGGLES THE MIND. I have been an AMSAT member for 18 months and active on satellites for about as long. To see what has been achieved by volunteers, spanning across geography, is AMAZING. The ability to ask ANY question about satellites in general and AMSAT in particular on this BB, and get an accurate response in a timely fashion is impressive. The collective intellectual capital and horsepower is deep and very valuable. And THAT'S the issue! We're so accustomed to outstanding performance on so many things with AMSAT that we start *expecting* above and beyond in all cases. That's not always realistic. I had a few 1:1 threads with some folks about this over the past few days, and I think we could address some of the problems if we had a paid position or two. I understand that this is being presented to the ARRL in the near future (additional funding support) Another side note: it sounds like more communication/interaction would help clarify some of these questions and concerns. Regular status reporting on progress for specific projects would help the community understand: (1) the progress (2) the risks (3) the level of effort provided by the volunteers (4) opportunities for additional input for addressing problems (leveraging some of that powerful intellectual capital and horsepower in our community). Meanwhile, as a project manager w/ PMP cert, Electrical Engineer, and a 35 year ham with military background, I am raising my hand as a volunteer for helping with the planning of future AMSAT projects Mark Lunday WD4ELG Hillsborough, NC - FM06kb wd4...@arrl.net http://wd4elg.net http://wd4elg.blogspot.com _______________________________________________ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
