One of the biggest things contributing towards me wanting to step down was being stuck between members and friends as a director.
What however hasn’t been resolved is the ‘sensible’ head problem, a lot of the upcoming conversations will probably focus on this, but the vocal membership has a tendency to want more and more toys and things and adornments for the Makerspace.
I’ve mentioned it over and over and it worries me substantially that no matter how many times I’ve mentioned it people just pretend it wasn’t said, or occasionally argue against it.
The design process back in September set out what we wanted to achieve in Phase 2 and we are not finished with this work but people are looking at doing more and more without considering the practicality of there being any usable space. The welder, lathe, and the film editing machine are current examples, but it’s an ongoing issue that concerns me.
Also what worries me is that we have 2 weekends left until the GLA deadline and we’ve got a lot to finish and no one seems to be turning up, and that worries me a bit.
It would be nice to hear ideas from people about what can be done to push to finish construction and what people think about being sensible with new toys.
“2 weekends left until the GLA deadline” to spend the money right? You make it sound like there was a “space completed” condition on it.
If so whats the condition please?
I’ve been reading your recent posts about standing down as a director and the other governance posts.
As a new member I’ll confess I’ve found it rather hard to know how to interact with the maker space – I don’t know how to get in, I don’t know how to get inducted for various machines, and don’t know about the ‘official plan’.
It was made clear from day 1 that we have to provide evidence work is completed at each claim point, to date that’s been easy but there is an expectation that core construction is complete at the end, i.e. the deliverables.
Unfortunately it’s buried way deep in 18 months of posts, as is the case with most construction coming in later in the build is a big of an uphill battle.
At this point the latest Directors Meeting Notes give a list of the remaining things to be done, frankly the idea we get any done given that it’s mostly the same 2-3 people turning up week after week since Easter.
This is a good point made well in general @welcome should be the first port of call. @SarahJ, maybe we should meet in the not-too-distant-future to discuss exactly what / how / where new members should go for the low and the down of what’s happening right now.
Yes, we could have have been clearer in the notes about this, it struck some members in quite the wrong way.
It was made clear to us by the GLA that simply having paid out the money before the deadline was not good enough: tools have to be on site and building materials used, for us to be able to put in a claim for money. There’s an argument that ‘no one will check’ however we have made a binding agreement with the GLA, and are obliged to be honest about it. To get to that point though shouldn’t be that onerous.
Sorry to hear your having problems engaging with the space.
Just to go over some basics that you may have heard before that might help…
You should have access to the door if you have your direct debit set up. Once we know you better you can ask for shutter access.
The best way to find out if people are there is to follow discourse or make a thread saying when you want to come down. People WILL reply. And it’s not as painful as it may sound at first.
You should probably post as well if you want inductions. Also there are posts going around for certain tools so do search for them (like the laser cutter).
It may be a little frustrating but it’s good to bear in mind that this is run by the members for the members so it does rely on others. But this is reflected in the very awesome price.
Saying that I think over the coming months these things will become a lot clearer. We have been building the space a long time and a lot of time and effort has gone in to that.
Hopefully making will become much more of the focus soon rather than building.
In reflection to the comments in this post I will be putting up some threads tonight for “building the space” this weekend.
A couple of days hard graft should get the place looking good.
Please please come down if you can make it.