Loomio
Tue 14 Jun 2016 2:39AM

Choose a decision-making platform

DE Derek Eder Public Seen by 291

Currently, we make decisions at the Chi Hack Night Leadership Council in person by group consensus. These decisions are proposed, discussed and the decisions we've made recorded in a series of Google Docs.

This has worked pretty well over the last 2 years, but is limited in a few ways:

  1. Only the people who show up get to make the decisions. Because most of our regular members are either participating in or leading breakout groups, it's difficult to get them to attend.
  2. In-person meetings are only held once every 4 weeks, so decision-making is slow

Loomio (this website!) is a tool that can supplement our in-person meetings, and I think would help address these two issues.

A few things to discuss on this thread:

  1. What other organizational issues do we have?
  2. Are there other tools out there that can help us organize this leadership body?
ZB

Zane Blanton
Agree
Wed 15 Jun 2016 1:29AM

better to have a log of decisions and to allow more people to participate

RMP

Rene M Paccha
Agree
Wed 15 Jun 2016 1:44AM

Easier to get up to speed before a meeting because it reaches my inbox. However it does send more mail to my inbox.

SE

Steve Ediger (ChiCommons) Tue 14 Jun 2016 3:55PM

In light of Eric's comments, I believe that we need different decision-making tools in play and perhaps what we'll end up with is a combination of tools that we can use for various purposes. I don't mind AYAI if it adds a valuable toolset (and I think that Loomio does). Here's a possible set:
* Flash surveys in the introductions, such as Ethan and Eric collaborated on last week. It's a good way to get quick feedback in a manner that encourages broad participation, painlessly. It definitely has breadth and depth limitations, but can be very informative.
* SurveyMonkey, for slightly deeper feedback, but with a limitation that fewer people tend to answer them. (This can be mitigated if a)we design simple surveys, b)leave them up for at least a week or two, and c) announce them in multiple ways [announcements, meetup agenda, email, etc.])
* Leadership Council Meetings, for decisions that may require significant dialogue. We can look at improving/restructuring them to improve participation.
* Loomio, for asynchronous/aspatial discussion and decision-making.
* Google Apps, to support more complex descriptions of materials involved in the decision
* SurveyMonkey (again) for actual straw polls and votes.

Whatever toolsets we use, I strongly advocate a consensus approach to decision-making.

SV

Steven Vance Tue 14 Jun 2016 4:01PM

The proposal needs to be rephrased into a statement. The response choices are "Agree" and "Disagree" and "Abstain" and "Block", which aren't appropriate for a "Yes" and "No" question.

DE

Derek Eder Tue 14 Jun 2016 4:03PM

@stevenvance good point. unfortunately I can't edit a proposal once it's been created. next time

EZ

Emily Zvolanek Tue 14 Jun 2016 5:55PM

I like Loomio. I also don't know of a better suggestion for this type of platform. If someone has another option they would like the group to look at, I'll try that one, too, but Loomio works for me.

I think we should continue the Loomio probationary period and open it up to other Chi Hack Night peeps to join. Only then we will know if the site will be truly useful to the group.

Derek's first point is correct: decisions are made by those who show up. I think Loomio will create an avenue for those who want to come to leadership council meetings but can't. Keep in mind, though, not everyone at Hack Night wants to be part of the decision making. Even if we use multiple methods for surveys and contributions, we will not get responses from everyone.

SE

Steve Ediger (ChiCommons) Tue 14 Jun 2016 8:24PM

@emilyzvolanek This software space is call Decision Support Systems. Stormboard is an early leader (I think it's FLOSS, but you have to pay for hosting) and Loomio is the up and comer. There are high-end products for business that cost a bomb. I don't like stormboard because the UI is really funky. Loomio is the best I've seen so far.

SV

Steven Vance Tue 14 Jun 2016 8:40PM

How much money does CHN pull in / how much money will be left after spending $19 per month on Loomio?

DE

Derek Eder Tue 14 Jun 2016 8:43PM

@stevenvance you can see our finances here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1RM52e--xtg1hDrGYzSc9XGeYM-CbkIVjMgHPaeqsDxA/edit#gid=0

The short answer is our expenses are covered for the year from sponsors & merch sales and we can afford to buy Loomio