Perhaps a good question to ask is: What do LOPSA members feel the most important contributions LOPSA has made to themselves and the industry at large since its inception? (this should possibly be a separate thread of its own)
If we know what we've done well perhaps we can at least focus on doing more the things that matter vs. wasting time on things people do not care about. I'd be particularly interested to know in the greatest accomplishments of LOPSA before the past 3 years or (before the mentorship program started). It's all too easy to focus on the negatives, it'd be nice to see what we're doing right as an organization. On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 3:55 PM, Derek Balling <[email protected]> wrote: > Essentially, I don't think I'm going to agree with you here, and I'm not > sure there's a compromise position to be found, so diametrically opposed am > I. > > I think the reality is that depending on member-altruism as a growth > methodology is, to me, a fundamentally unsound strategy that nine years > have proven to be a failure. If this organization was going to grow based > on altruistic membership, it would've done so by now. But membership > numbers have -- if you factor out those folks forced to pay for memberships > by going to LOPSA-East or CascadiaIT -- been largely stagnant to the best > of my knowledge. > > We are not a political organization where people are paying us money "for > what we do for the industry". In part because there's very little agreement > amongst members on what we think an organization SHOULD do for the > industry, let alone a position they should take in so doing. > > And if we're not in that category of organization, we're going to fall > into the other category you describe, the "what does the organization do > FOR ME" category. > > And on that front, the answer is "precious little", with folks seemingly > hell-bent on keeping it that way. > > D > > > > On May 14, 2014, at 3:15 PM, craig constantine <[email protected]> > wrote: > > > People ask themselves two questions when considering joining a > professional organization: > > > > What can the organization do for me? > > What does the organization do at large to benefit the profession? > > > > LOPSA will grow if it is overwhelmingly awesome in its answer to either > of those questions. > > > > It’s in our nature (as people sure, but especially as pragmatic > technology workers), to focus on the first question when we first encounter > LOPSA. Unfortunately, it is very hard for a small organization to muster > overwhelmingly awesome benefits that attract members. > > > > Instead, LOPSA should do great things which are available to as many > people as possible. LOPSA should be so awesome at benefitting the > profession at large, that it becomes the de facto professional > organization. Then people will join just so they can say, “I support LOPSA!” > > > > LOPSA should make as much as possible of what it does, and provides, > free and accessible. > > > > --Craig Constantine, http://constantine.name > > > > > > On May 14, 2014, at 2:06 PM, Derek Balling <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > This still does nothing, then, really, to answer the "Why should I pay > money to join LOPSA?" question which LOPSA boards have been struggling to > answer in a reasonable fashion for nigh on a decade. > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > > http://lopsa.org/ > > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.lopsa.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > This list provided by the League of Professional System Administrators > http://lopsa.org/ >
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