killeen@spcvxb.spc.edu (Jeff Killeen) (04/24/91)
ATTENTION:
Are you a part of the Digital Equipment user family: an end-user, developer,
pundit, or Digital employee? If the answer to this question is yes, then this
article is important to you. DECUS, the Digital Equipment Computer Users
Society, may or may not be on your list of important information resources -
but it ought to be. This 30 year old, volunteer-driven organization is in the
throes of a major internal struggle over its bylaws that may permanently
relegate it to the class of irrelevant, "over-the-hill" user groups.
If you are a DECUS member you will soon receive a ballot to alter the bylaws.
The changes are supported by a majority of the nine members of the current
DECUS Board of Directors, but are opposed by a substantial number of the rest
of the DECUS volunteers. More than 700 DECUS volunteers devote their energy,
time and expertise to make DECUS events, educational activities, publications,
and other information-sharing services happen.
Through this article, we hope to explain to you that more important changes
are needed to assure the effectiveness of DECUS as a credible user
organization, and as a useful resource for you in today's computing
environment. The proposed bylaw changes either impede these important changes
or ignore them; you should reject the proposed changes by voting "No".
The focus of the debate is whether to retain the current consensus-driven,
decentralized model or to convert to a highly-centralized structure. The
question is, which organizational model is more responsive to the needs of the
Digital community and is more consistent with the culture and values of this
volunteer society? The opponents of the bylaw change believe a
highly-centralized approach is inconsistent with the nature and culture of a
volunteer-operated organization, that it will permit growing domination of the
Society by Digital marketeers, and that it will, therefore, damage the
long-standing relationship between DECUS members and Digital product
developers.
Today, DECUS volunteers in partnership with over 200 Digital counterparts
(developers and field support specialists) provide a broad spectrum of
services including: local user group meetings; electronic conferencing
systems; the DECUS Library, a large collection of public-doamin software; a
monthly technical newsletter; regional and national seminars; and regional and
national symposia.
Distributed authority is exercised by the 150 Local User Groups (LUGs), 23
national Special Interest Groups (SIGs), and a host of support committees. A
Management Council of senior DECUS leaders coordinates efforts between units
and with the Digital-supplied, paid staff. The Board of Directors is
responsible for developing a DECUS voice in the computing industry and
creating a vision that sparks the changes which leads the Society into the
future.
Despite a persistent lack of an industry-wide vision by the Society as a
whole, the last seven years have seen significant changes in DECUS. Over half
of the Special Interest Groups have changed to track the evolution of the
industry. There has been an increased emphasis on delivery of services through
local user groups. New member services have been added, such as regional
seminars and conferences, electronic conferencing, symposia session notes, and
on-line Library services. Four new User Interest Groups have been created in
the past two years, two of which seek to expand DECUS' reach to new groups of
professionals and new problems beyond the tightly-defined realm of bits and
bytes. DECUS continues to grow and meet new challenges. Services now in the
pipeline include a new third party providers technical update (to be presented
in the spring of 1991), no-fee electronic conferencing (likely for the fiscal
year beginning in July), improved organization of symposia schedules (probable
in 1992), and an exploration of ways to serve new audiences.
Regardless of the success of any organization, the future is always made up of
challenges, pitfalls and the organization's own hidden potential. In the case
of DECUS, this is especially pertinent. The computing industry changes on a
daily basis. Even Digital, which for so long seemed to be able to run a
maverick course, has had to face up to new economic realities and to a world
that is rejecting traditional proprietary technologies for the allure of "Open
Systems".
DECUS, as the ultimate provider of information on _existing_ Digital
technology, has traditionally trailed the marketplace in order to support
users of existing products. Clearly this is a role that DECUS must not
abandon. However, DECUS must take on new responsibilities. There should be a
focus on leading the industry and using the collective muscle of more than
60,000 members to positively influence the computing industry. This requires
some level of independence from Digital. The key is to avoid stagnation while
continuing to support traditional DECUS services.
Some of the challenges DECUS must face in the near future are: supporting a
broader cross section of the computing community; making services more
accessible to the membership; exerting leadership in the industry; responding
to the change from proprietary to open systems; and influencing Digital to be
responsive to its customers' needs.
The proposed bylaw changes create a new beauracracy centered on the Board of
Directors that concentrates activities and control of the Society in the Board
of Directors. The change will disperse and decrease participation of the
elected chairs of DECUS committees in the decision making process. This
breaks the process of building enthusiasm in the volunteer workforce. This
will dramatically reduce the ability of support committees to deliver services
to members. While most of the business world, including Digital, is moving to
decentralize and distribute decision-making, the proposed reorganization goes
in the opposite direction. In addition, the new organization would mire the
Board of Directors in details of DECUS' day-to-day operations. This would
drain their creative energies and preclude the development and promotion of
the vision we need to succeed in the future.
The new services and organizations DECUS has spawned over the past three years
indicate that the current organizational structure is fundamentally sound, and
is capable of responding to perceived needs among its members. Indeed, the
study that is used to support the proposed changes reaches this conclusion
itself.
Volunteers continue to deliver high-quality products and services. It's not
uncommon for volunteers to contribute 1,000 hours or more to DECUS in the
course of a year. Volunteers do this because they perceive that they have
input in the decision-making processes in their product/service delivery
units... volunteers don't get paid.
The changes needed in the current organization are changes to further expand
DECUS' reach into, and relevancy to, the global computing community. DECUS
needs Board members who are industry visionaries to design and support DECUS'
expansion beyond its roots. DECUS needs empowered and enlightened volunteers
to implement those designs, and to "network" the Society with other user
organizations. DECUS needs more support, but not more control, from Digital.
DECUS needs to make Digital aware of the broad constituency DECUS represents.
DECUS needs to get Digital's ear on matters of policy, as well as technical
details. DECUS needs to solve personality problems and communications
problems at the topmost level of the Society without disenfranchising
volunteers. DECUS needs to develop more new methods to reach today's computer
users who cannot afford or justify the travel costs of Symposia and who are
inadequately reached by our other current products and services. DECUS needs
to begin to represent all Digital customers/users, not just the largest
companies that Digital seeks to service. DECUS _urgently_ needs to develop
fully-open methods of informing its voter/members about election issues and
candidates' stands on them. DECUS needs to work hard on open communications
across all parts of the Society, to eliminate the pockets of resistance that
are sometimes felt by members with new ideas. (Current DECUS bylaws and
procedures do not even allow concept documents like this one, opposing major
ballot issues, to be circulated with the ballot or to be published in many
major DECUS publications.) DECUS needs to accelerate its recent evolutionary
changes, and that means still more volunteer hours to debate the issues and
solve the problems. Yet the proposed changes meet none of these needs.
DECUS does not need to endorse a "rush job" that alters the organizational
structure of the top layers while ignoring the needs of the users, the needs
of the volunteers who deliver DECUS products and services, and the needs of
the industry around us. DECUS does not need to disrupt its organization and
operating procedures _today_ while simultaneously facing the triple threat of
a recession, of reduced Digital participation, and of demands for new and
nontraditional products and services. DECUS does not need to alter the
fundamental balances that have made it work -- the balances between the
volunteers who provide products, services, and information, Digital which
provides financial support and information and receives feedback, and the
members who consume Digital and DECUS products, services, and information.
DECUS does not need to cede additional influence over the Society to Digital
or to become a Digital marketing tool. DECUS does not need to be top-driven.
Yet the proposed changes do all these things.
There are two parts to DECUS: DEC and US, joined together into one body with
mutual respect. Let's keep it that way. When you get your bylaw change
ballot this spring... Just Say NO!
June Baker, Former Board Member,
2nd Recipient of the Goldsmith Award For Excellence
Frank Borger, Chair, Newsletter Committee,
Co-founder, CARTS LUG
Rick Bowen, Vice-Chair, Business Practices UIG
Milt Campbell, Chair, SIG Council Audience Task Force
Former Chair, RT-11 SIG
Dale Coy, DECUServe System Manager
Carole Fleming, Chair, M.C. Budget Working Group
Former Chair, National LUG Council
Former Chair, Santa Barbara LUG
Dave Frydenlund, Sesion Notes Chair
Executive Committee, Communications Unit
Joe H. Gallagher, Newsletter Editor, 4GL SIG
Former Chair, DTR/4GL SIG
Claire Goldsmith, Former Chapter President,
FIrst Recipient, Goldsmith Award For Excellence
Bob Hassinger, Library Representative, OA SIG,
Past Board Member
J.M. Ivler, L&T SIG
Steve Jackson, Chair, DECUS Standards Committee
Dave Johnson, Past Chair, NLC
Co-founder, BAYVAX LUG
Warren Kahle, Former Chair, Houston Super-LUG,
Chair, Security SIG
Jeff Killeen, Chair, DECUServe,
Past Chair, RSTS SIG
Marg Knox, Director-Elect, Board of Directors,
Vice-chair, SIG Council,
Past Chair, VAX SIG,
Chair, Austin LUG
Sandy Krueger, Chair Management Council
Director, Board of Directors
Past Chair, SIG Council,
Past Chair, DBMS SIG
Bart Z. Lederman, Library Committee, 4GL SIG
Robert H. Luten, Chair, VAXELN Ada Working Group (DAARC SIG)
Bill Mayhew, Chair, Business Practices UIG
Steering Committee, Third Party Provider's UIG
Co-Moderator of Conference Structure, DECUServe
Laurie Maytrott, Sothern Regional LUG Coordinator, NLC
Charles Mustain, Chair, SIG Council.
Past Baord Member,
Past Chair, EDUSIG,
Past Chair, RSTS SIG
Joe Pollizzi, Chair, Languages and Tools SIG
Clyde Pool,Chair, Communications Unit
Past Newsletter Editor, VAX Systems SIG
Past Chair, LOTA LUG
Robert B. Robbins, Vice-chair, Management Council
Director, Board of Directors
Former Chair and Founder, National LUG Council
Former Chair, Central Florida VAX LUG
Bob Roddy, Seminars Representativ, THE SIG & DAARC SIG
Ralph Stamerjohn, Director-Elect, Board of Directors
Karen Startzenbach, Vice-chair, NLC,
Past Regional LUG Coord., Southern Region,
Past Chair, Austin LUG
Kathryn 'Kit' Trimm, UIG Coordinator (SIG Council),
Past Chair, OA SIG
Owen Weddell, DECUS member
Jim Welborne, Past Board Member,
Past Chair, Management Council,
Past Vice Chair, SIG COuncil,
Past Chair, COBOL SIG
Joe Whatley, Chair OA SIG