[burpg] Re: BURPG Elections
- From: Mehmet Akbulut <meak@xxxxxx>
- To: burpg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 21 Feb 2014 16:09:42 -0500
I'm running for Vice Director.
On Fri, Feb 21, 2014 at 2:52 PM, Armor Harris <armorharris@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Ladies and gentleman,
>
> If you don't want to run for anything, you don't have to read this. Just
> show up to vote on Feb 24.
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> If you want to run for something, please email me about what you are
> running for before Sunday night at midnight (verbal doesn't count). I will
> email out the list of candidates to the whole group by Monday morning. We
> will hold elections on Monday, Feb 24.
>
> We are required to do elections and to submit the official officers for
> next year in February so we will do this on Monday.
>
> Right now Drew is VD, Sindel is Finance, and Mehmet is Secretary. These
> titles make basically zero sense for what we do, but I'll outline my vision
> for these roles below. I'd like you to consider the thoughts below before
> you decide to run and what position to run for.
>
>
> *Director/President:*
> I guess if anyone decides that they have a totally different vision for
> the team and wants to take over, we can vote on kicking me out haha.
>
>
> *Vice Director/Vice President: *
>
> Drew's role has been the most like what his title actually is, as I
> consult him on basically everything and he has the next best grasp on how
> everything fits together. His job is also by far the hardest here, as it
> requires 100% commitment to the vision of launching a hybrid rocket into
> space in 2015. He's done an admirable job so far.
>
> If you want to be Vice Director, RPG has to be your #1 priority over all
> of your other commitments. When you have a conflict, RPG has to win 95% of
> the time. It takes real sacrifice to achieve something great, and you have
> to be all-in. That's not to say that you can't do other things, I also have
> a Christian students club that I co-run. But in all honestly RPG wins out
> when push comes to shove.
>
> *Finance/Treasurer *
>
> In practice, I end up running the budget. It's hard for someone else to
> run the budget because I have to constantly keep it updated in real time
> and having someone else try to catch up with it just doesn't work. It
> doesn't take much extra effort from me, and I know exactly what's going on
> as opposed to trying to go through someone else.
>
> What the Treasurer should do next year is focus on aggressively acquiring
> sources of funding with extreme fervor.
>
> *Secretary*
>
> I'm not sure what the secretary is supposed to do, send emails? It would
> be of most help for us for the Secretary to keep tabs on the project
> management. This means consistently checking in on people, getting them the
> help they need to overcome barriers, and keep us on schedule, all while not
> pissing them off.
>
> Right now I kind of serve as the project manager for everything. If I can
> focus on the critical path, or the most risky development items, and this
> person can keep everyone else going, that would be a tremendous
> productivity boost.
>
> *Balance*
>
> So you can see what the common denominator is here- passion, drive, and
> initiative. We've gone from the mentality of a club to that of a research
> group. Now we have to go from a research group to a startup type
> environment if we want to make it to space. People taking the initiative to
> go identify potential problems, start projects, and solve problems.
>
> However, the most important thing to realize here is that we are not
> defined by the hybrid rocket. We are defined by how much we impact the
> students that are a part of this project. Are we helping people not only
> grow as engineers, but also as people? Are we giving our students the
> greatest experience possible? Is this fun?
>
> The leaders of this team are critical to maintaining and improving this
> balance.
>
> *Conclusion*
>
> The danger that I run is making this too intense for students to identify
> with. But we are truly pushing the envelope here, doing things that nobody
> else has ever done before with our level of experience and funding. If you
> are ambitions, a dreamer, and a believer in what we can do, to be a leader
> of this team is the best place you can be right now.
>
> I'm ok with a smaller team made up of the most capable students in this
> college (not in terms of grades or IQ, but capability and passion) than a
> massive team of students who aren't committed. Success breeds success, the
> numbers and the funding that comes with the numbers will come as we
> continue to have more success.
>
> *A note about skill sets*
>
> Technical firms that fail are the ones that a) don't realize that
> leadership skill sets are very different than technical skill sets and b)
> don't value those two types of people equally. In other words, your best
> engineer should realize that he can't be CEO and your CEO should realize
> that he can't be the best engineer in the organization.
>
> So I would like to point out that other than Drew, it could be argued that
> the two most critical people on this team right now are not official
> officers. If you decide that you don't want an officer position because
> you'd rather put all of your energy into your engineering, I respect that.
> A lot.
>
> Best,
> Armor
>
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