[6696] in APO-L
Re: Little projects vs. Big Projects
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Michael Leahy)
Mon Sep 13 09:56:12 1993
Date: Mon, 13 Sep 1993 09:54:40 -0400
Reply-To: Michael Leahy <Michael.Leahy@vt.edu>
From: Michael Leahy <Michael.Leahy@vt.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list APO-L <APO-L%PURCCVM.BITNET@mitvma.mit.edu>
>It was brought up at our meeting tonight that it would be a good idea for
>us if we found a number of big projects and stuck to those, as opposed to
>continually searching for and doing little projects.
>
>What do you all think? I'm of the <current> opinion that whatever works, works.
>Therefore, I'll take it as it comes, and if a good project presents itself, I'd
>say take it.
>
>But enough about me....what do YOU think?
>
I personally like the idea of having a mix of projects...
A few big, continuing projects that the chapter can get good at and, while
they might involve a lot of work to pull off, you don't have to continually
replan the entire event. Down the road, the brothers in charge of this
project will get experience working with a large logistical effort without
the need to do a lot of planning.
Continually looking for small projects is also good. Your chapter and your
brothers will get into the habit of looking around for situations where
your chapter (and perhaps others!) could help. Some chapters (or a
subgroup) even develop a "Rapid Deployment Force" mentality -- "give us a
need and we'll be there tomorrow." Most of these will require few members
(3-8) and probably will not require a massive effort to get equipment, so
there might not be too much planning required.
I also think it works well for the service VP to delegate projects to
brothers. Let them chair some projects and develop some leadership. Let
the brother most excited about a particular project chair that project! At
several chapters in my section, this is how the future officers show
leadership skills and get experience working with brothers.
I think variety is the key. Variety in size, effort, subject, etc. Too
much of one type of project can become boring. Having projects that
require different leadership skills will allow the service chair to better
match projects to project chairs.
--Michael
Section 82 Vice Chair
Michael Leahy, Programmer/Analyst
Educational Technologies, Virginia Tech
703-231-3272 703-231-5922 (fax)
