Solo Concerns

Solo (Autocross) Posts.

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GT4CE
Posts: 27
Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2016 7:06 am

Solo Concerns

Post by GT4CE »

I apologize for the delay in addressing some of your concerns. I'd like to address the feedback I've been receiving about this year's Schedule, the Steering Committee, and the Planning Meeting.

First of all, please know that I share your frustrations about this year's schedule. The schedule took longer than normal this year due to changes in personnel at all three of the sites we utilize. This meant we needed new contact information to reach new people, resulting in long communication delays. One venue in particular looked up the wrong calendar year (which meant we were told that dates we were interested in were booked, and then later that they were available). These issues made planning this year's schedule in a timely manner very challenging.

Some of you have heard about the Steering Committee. Concerns have been raised about the exclusiveness of the Committee, with some people being “on the inside” and others being “on the outside”. The purpose of the Steering Committee is to give me, as Solo Director, access to the broader perspective of the Autocross Community. Since I’m working, married with kids, and I have other activities I’m involved with besides Autocross, I don't have much time to hang out with fellow Autocrossers and get their input for improving events. I initially invited proactive people who have had experience running past events to form a Committee to advise me.

Current Steering Committee members are knowledgeable and help me with the schedule, policies and procedures for events. They are friendly group whose names I will shortly make public so you may address any concerns you have directly to them, if you would prefer not to bring them directly to me. My long-term goal is to make the Steering Committee a public volunteer group so that anyone who wants to contribute can join. Interested people may request to be on the Committee and, providing they can demonstrate that they are helping with events, I am more than happy to ask current members to step down to cycle new people into group.

Even with the small number of people currently on the Steering Committee, the discussion generated by the decision making process can take a long time, even days. It is not possible to contain that discussion within a two-hour Planning Meeting, which is why we use the Planning Meeting as an open forum for people to address issues that that Steering Committee hasn’t thought of and make suggestions for the future.

Every decision has a background behind it. For example, we can't do events in the summer at MIS because they don’t have availability from early June through September, most years. When the planning group is too large, background facts like these aren't known to everyone. It can take a long time to answer people's questions about each decision that is made, explain our planning methodology, and present the history that has led to the current decision. This is why we don’t plan during the Planning Meeting; there are simply too many people who aren’t experienced. Instead, it is an opportunity for feedback and suggestions for improvement. I have rarely said no to any request for change, providing that individual is willing to put in the work to make it happen.

The key here is that many hands make for light work. My job as Director is to help navigate us through the planning and to coordinate our efforts, but I rely on all of you to make our events happen successfully; I cannot do all the work myself. If you want things to be better, identify what you want changed the most and work with me and others to make those changes happen; take ownership of that issue. Learn about it. Take it on. Get involved.

If you want to know how things are changing, look for my thread from the planning meeting.

I will be putting out a list of people with experience as chiefs of various positions; event chairs can use the list as a reference and people interested in those positions can contact the chiefs about them. For example, if I want to volunteer to be Grid Chief, I would talk to someone on the list who has been a Grid Chief, shadow them, and learn to do their job. When that chief can vouch for me, I could be added to the list. My goal is to have those who are volunteering in these positions keep the list up to date by removing inactive members and transferring members from one role to another, if they so desire.

I will also be seeking people to form a committee for Regional ProSolo, there are a few people engaging in making a Regional Solo School happen that I’ll have make themselves public for others who want to help.

I know criticism can be painful but I do my best to take it as constructive criticism. I do believe that some of the points recently discussed are incorrect; rather than nit-pick the details, I think we should do our best to work together make improvements and make the Detroit Region's Solo program even better. Thanks for taking the time to read through my thoughts; I welcome your feedback.
Jeremiah Mauricio
Solo Director
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