[HCoop-Discuss] Volunteer response times

[Graham Freeman]

On 26 Mar 07, at 20:25, Adam Chlipala wrote:

> Graham Freeman wrote:
>> Considering that life gets busy for us all at times, and that he's
>> not being paid for his considerable and uniquely valuable
>> contributions, I'd be inclined to give Nathan as much leeway as he
>> needs or wants.  :)
>>
>
> Every volunteer in a specific position has agreed to respond to e- 
> mails
> within 24 hours.  No exceptions except in life-threatening situations,
> with the easy way out of allowing advance notice of _any_ away time to
> cancel this provision for that time period.  I've confirmed with  
> Nathan
> twice in the past (after previous incidents of non-responsiveness)  
> that
> he agrees to this rule in principle and sees how important it is to
> enabling any group planning over the Internet.
>
> I really don't know what to do.  Nathan acknowledges that he has a
> problem with this, so I decided that public confrontation was the
> logical next step in my effort to help him overcome his problem. :P


I can understand that this must be very frustrating, especially in  
light of the datacenter transition-in-progress...  But clearly the 24- 
hour-without-advance-notice policy isn't working for a valuable  
member of the Hcoop community.  Perhaps there's a way to resolve that  
without losing that member's unique talents?

Personally, my work and life is such that I couldn't in good faith  
commit to a 24-hour response period for any non-emergency situation  
in an unpaid project.  Even with my paid clients, they have to have a  
retainer in place in order to achieve my assured availability for non- 
emergencies.   This is in part because I generally want to be  
compensated for providing something of value - the compensation isn't  
always measured in dollars - and in part because it imposes a not- 
insignificant psychological and logistical drain on my life to be on  
the hook in such a way.  For me, this would detract from the  
enjoyable and motivational aspects of volunteering.  I'm not  
presently thinking of volunteering in any particular capacity with  
Hcoop, but I'd bring unique and valuable expertise to bear if I were.

So, I guess the question I'm putting forth is whether the 24-hour  
policy is worth alienating the people who can still make valuable  
contributions without being able to commit to such a response time.

Graham
(speaking only for myself)