Talk:AGM Agenda

User:bWare: I am afraid I am very sceptical about the AGM with the current agenda and pitch. It seems to me to confuse multiple streams of independent discussion. Each of which is complex enough and likely to be bike-shopped to death anyway.

1) Reading Makerspace Ltd:

The limited company has several duties that will always land on the Directors. Keeping proper accounts, maintaining insurance and basic health and safety records, being solvent etc. So long as Ryan is happy with this it doesn't need to change, and where possible people have been helping with delivery. However in the long term it would be fairer to spread this burden.

2) Organizational Structure of the 'club'

This is largely separate from the legal duties above. Deciding on the internal layout. Trying to source tools, running fund-raising and membership drives. Keeping the membership happy. Organizing internal and external events etc. etc. This today has been running fairly well as an anarchy, with a little pretence at democracy.

I would like to see policies for serious dispute resolution added, but obviously the critical and overriding concern being the funding deficit.

I have strong reservations about a simple democracy. For instance sourcing a lathe is much more likely to succeed if the small group that wants one buy one. Taking it to a vote just leads to an discusion about what tools other people want which isn't constructive. Or Mike's latest plee for help at the gadget fair, being told to do it by a board member isn't going to motivate anyone.

I think we should aggree that helping Mike is a "good thing", probably worth recruiting for a Makerfair team too (Gary did try). But let's stay a true hackers anarchy.

3) Delivery

Overall I think everything has got remarkably well to-date. However we have built up three contentious issues that need to be dealt with at the tactical rather then the strategic level: a) Service provision (heat and hot water). b) The stalling of the delivery plan for the outfitting. c) Ongoing concerns over lack of labelling, filling, and tidiness

These existing issues are best delt-with outside a AGM. Happy to talk to the landlord but it shouldn't be all v one at the AGM. Can refit the sink if people where happy with my first go. Maybe trying a "hack the space" day as well. I don't think our filling is that bad but happy to keep working on the label system.

Tl:dr; I see the missing organisation more at the delivery level then the trustee level, let's just try some project teams.

-- Barnaby

User:Hkwhi: I think I agree with Barnaby's final point. I think we do need a board of trustees or something (just in case Ryan does go off to MIT or whatever), but what the space really needs is a set of focus groups or project teams working in specific areas in the Space. We've kind of achieved that with the 3D printers and that is now more or less a completley operational area of the Space (the Mez room just needs tidying tbh and a log book needs to be made). We could do with a similar focus group for the chemical/wet working area, the "messy/mechanical" working area and maybe one for the spaces IT infrastructure. If we could organise that kind of team level thing, I'm pretty sure we could get a lot more done with few working weekends/evenings focusing on specific areas.

TL:dr: Yes to a board of trustees, but more immediatley we need to split the Space into focus groups and set teams working in them.

--Matt Daubney