Introducing the ABC virtual office

Thanks to everyone for their survey responses. The number of responses was much higher than I would have predicted. It proves to me that people really care about the club. That fills me with enthusiasm for bringing a new vitality to ABC and doing some really cool stuff. But I know that I can't hog all the fun! There is a dedicated group of individuals who have been tirelessly working for the betterment of the club. In some cases, these folks have decades of loyal service. I applaud that service and I trust that I can count on them for continued support. But, based on the survey results, it seems clear that there are plenty of additional people willing to lend a hand. Thanks! We just need to be coordinated so that we're all pedaling in the same direction. In order to help communicate my vision for the club, I have started a blog and already created a few posts. Please check it out at: http://azbikeclubrides.blogspot.com/ Feel free to leave comments on the blog or email me directly.


One of my first goals is to make the club's business much more efficient so that portion of the monthly meeting is very quick and easy. That will leave time to do other more fun stuff. We need to lay all the groundwork between the meetings so that at the meetings we can quickly bring things to a vote when necessary and easily report progress. To kick off the fun stuff, I'm planning to put together a presentation on route mapping technology for next month's board meeting. I hope you can attend.


But the business of the club isn't just about board (bored?) meetings, minutes, agendas, etc. There's the riding. That's what we're about! Putting on a major ride is work. There's no doubt about it. And we're going to put on several major rides in 2009. But it can be fun work if it's done well. In addition to rides, there are numerous other volunteer opportunities that could also be very satisfying and rewarding. Having functioning committees is critical to getting things done well, and having fun doing it. To be effective, the committees must manage themselves, get guidance and direction from the board, and actively report results. I will have an acting chairperson for each committee before the next board meeting. I will work with each committee to consider the survey results and develop goals for the coming year.


But to make this work, we need new tools for communicating and collaborating. Our new Ride Coordinator, Kristi Felts Moore, has been burning the midnight oil setting up just such an environment on the Internet using software available from Google. This software is free for the club because of our non-profit designation. More importantly, this software is designed so that you don't have to be a computer nerd to use it. If you're able to surf the web, you're more than half way there. I think this software has great promise for helping us in many ways. The survey is just one example of what can be done with Google's offerings. I think that the response demonstrates its potential. Getting over 150 responses is incredible!


Please check out what's going on at AZBikeClub.org. Even though there are public portions of this domain, it is intended as a collaborative workspace for managing the business of the club. Dennis MacLeod and Terry Mickelson's work on the AZBikeClub.com site is independent of this and still vital. But these new tools can help coordinate and manage any project that the club undertakes. In the public portion of the new .org site, there is:

• a form for submitting agenda items for board meetings
• a form for volunteering to work on our major rides for 2009
• a form for volunteering to work on committees
• an online calendar
• a report of survey results

As we add registered users to this site, I look forward to:

• publishing meeting minutes there
• managing the work of the committees in sites they control
• finalizing the draft of a strategic plan and other documents
• creating a project management system
• and much more.

Because this software can do so much, there is a bit of a learning curve and some people will be initially intimidated and perhaps even frustrated as we acclimate to a new way of doing business which maximizes our productivity. I've been in the Information Technology industry since the '70s and I sometimes feel overwhelmed in this environment. I suspect that it's because I'm being asked to think outside the box. When I take my time and open my mind, I see the value and am sure that we can put it to good use. The dizzying array of tools and features all need to be evaluated, tied together, documented, and rolled out. Right now, that effort is in its infancy. I'm confident that with patience, dedication, and feedback, we can create a powerful and user-friendly environment for achieving the club's goals.


I value your opinion. Let me know what you think.