Some thoughts…
When I was a Project Manager, I knew (and let it be known) I did not have all the necessary skills to run an agency by myself. I can’t be a master programmer and developer, security expert, database administrator, writer, designer, lawyer, manager, pr person, answer the phones, and so on. But I could sure as **** be the “ram rod” or crack the whip in a generous hearted way - basically saying that we have a business to run at the end of the day and we need work done to keep it running and profitable. Profits are the fuel of business, whether it’s a typical business or a non-profit. If it’s a Non Profit Organization, the only difference is you put profits back into the business and decisions must be made by committee vote and you get audited more often.
I could help define what a secretary should do, sure. And if you like it, great, if not, great. Could I actually be the secretary…I don’t know yet. It’s a time issue for me…
One of the issues in being a secretary is all the communications channels with forums, email, Slack, it’s important to tidy up all of that for regular monthly updates and defining tangible objectives.
I see motivation and sincerity but I also see alot of people (myself included) worrying about CP a few years out. How will updates work or not work? Security issues? Automattic is not going to blow kisses our way (and they surely aren’t doing it now); and most people other than developers don’t know what CP is or that it even exists. That makes marketing important. It makes fundraising important. It makes active recruitment and solicitation of new developers important in order to build a roster of new plugins and get more help.
All those factors makes an organized plan very important, and execution of such a plan just as much if not more important. Those things matter to me, and why I keep asking about them. I want CP to maintain as I have a vested interest in its perpetuation. Without a gameplan for going forward that is “lean and mean,” I have serious concerns. That’s something I’d want to be a part of certainly, but even more so, having some input in trying to get going beyond talking about a plan or implementing one. I was the whip-cracker so to speak at agencies because I"m driven and always have been and grew up around military people who were very objective-minded - so it’s tough to not continue that way when it’s done me alot of good so far. I’d really like to see more of that somehow. It’s a tough time of year to have meetings and get things moving, but messages can still be relayed and some work can still be done.
So I guess I can try to help by more clearly defining what I think a CP Secretary can or should do, even if that role is divided between two people. That’s okay. I don’t know if I’m the person for that job - since there are so many channels for communication to monitor and different aspects I’m not informed on. I’ll submit something back to you in a few days and see what you think. In my heart, very sincerely, marketing is more vital to me; and that to me is primarily organizing and executing on a plan for moving CP forward as if it were a force of nature that can and must grow.
Just my humble thoughts…and I’ll let you respond whenever convenient…