X-Message-Number: 30551 From: Tripper McCarthy <> Subject: Alcor's Resource Management Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2008 02:24:28 +0000 --_cb365840-6d1e-40e0-b946-c963ba1c73e9_ One thing that I have been thinking of recently is the change Alcor staff members adopted a while ago about not telling the members about what they are currently working on. The rationale was that in the past they have announced several projects they were devoting time to, but for some reason these projects never saw the light of day. Now, to the extent that Alcor does communicate about its projects, it is often in general and vague language. Instead of announcing which projects are being started and when completion is expected, claims are often made that "Alcor is working on it" or "Alcor has ideas about it". Because the simple fact of giving thought to some issue can constitute "working on it", this does not tell the membership anything. Their response to this problem, i.e. not telling us what their target goals are, seems rather misguided. Instead of addressing the real problem (why aren't they getting these things done) they instead decided to sweep the problem under the rug by closing off communication. I'm really surprised that nobody has taken them to task on this. To be specific, here are some of the things that were mentioned in the past that have seemed to float off into limbo: 1) What is the status on Alcor's liquid ventilation project? 2) What has happened with the money that had been raised for fracturing research? 3) What are Alcor's changes to its ATP? 4) Where is the new ice bath which has been in development for years? (I remember seeing a prototype way back in 2006 and saw a near ready one last week (Feb 2008). But that begs the question when will this thing ever be done and get into the hands of the people that need it?) I'm sure there are a number of other projects that have also drifted off into the ether that others can comment on. While I know the staff at Alcor are spending all the time they can on these and other issues, it leads one to wonder if Alcor is biting off more than it can chew. If this is the case, the real problem would seem to be one of resource management. Either they do not have enough resources for all the things they want to do, or those resources are not being effectively managed to get those things done. Both of these problems can be solved by having a CEO at Alcor who has experience in staff/resource management. We need someone who can look at what needs to be done, what resources are available to do it, and then effectively allocate those resources to get the jobs completed. Constant monitoring of the staff is needed to assess the progress they are making, and to provide the staff help in the event that unexpected complications arise. Of course not everything on the list of "wants" and "needs" can be done. There is a finite set of resources and an almost never ending stream of new ideas. Priorities have to be made, and some things may need to be shelved for the moment. But these are the kind of decisions that an effective manager has to make all the time. I know that many of the things Alcor has been and is working on are complex. Unexpected road blocks can pop up at any time. But there are so many projects that have been in limbo for so long that it leads one to wonder just how effective the resource management at Alcor is. With effective management it would be possible to state what Alcor is working on, what the expected date of completion is, and actually make those deadlines. Yes sometimes schedules will have to be revised. I work in the software industry and know that stuff happens. But I also know that we have a much better shot of either making our deadlines, or being pretty close to them, with effective project management. It would seem that effective project management was lacking before at Alcor. The question now is has it gotten any better, and if so why? A follow up question to this issue is; whatever happened to the search for a new CEO for Alcor? I know that originally Steve Van Sickle was brought in to steer the helm while a search for a CEO was launched. I never remember anything ever coming of that. Was it decided that Steve was the man for the job and thus no search was warranted? If so, what resource/staff management skills does Steve bring to the job? How effective has he been in keeping projects on track to completion? Because we no longer know specifically what Alcor is working on and when completion should be expected, the membership is pretty much in the dark about this. If there was one thing I think Alcor could do to make a significant impact on its internal performance, hiring a CEO with a track record of successful resource/staff management would be it. Other characteristics while desirable should be secondary. _________________________________________________________________ Connect and share in new ways with Windows Live. http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_012008 --_cb365840-6d1e-40e0-b946-c963ba1c73e9_ Content-Type: text/html; charset="Windows-1252" [ AUTOMATICALLY SKIPPING HTML ENCODING! ] Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=30551