Hi everybody,
I’m writing my longest post ever here, but its an important one so please forgive the length. I want to write about what Manny has posted here, and what Manny and I have talked about at some length. Specifically I’m going to talk about management of the site and because it impacts us all I want to keep talking about this until we’re all comfortable about a way to move forward on the site.
Most important of all I want to make sure we all agree on what Manny and I are proposing to the team. So over the next week or so its important that you read, think about what is proposed and that we come to a shared understanding of how we’ll move forward as a team. Comments and questions are welcome but lets make sure to talk as a team on a live meeting soon too.
What I want to discuss is the leadership of the site. As you all know by now Manny has stepped down from the leadership role that we kind of thrust upon him. I’m sure you felt like I did when you read his post, that this was a sad day in the site’s history. After all, over the last 3.5 years we’ve grown as a site in large part due to Manny’s leadership and site expertise. Like me I’m sure you wondered aloud as to what we’ll become given Manny’s decision. What would happen to the site and our growth without him at the helm?
Today I spent most of the afternoon talking to Manny on Skype about what led to his decision and what would need to change in order for him to change his mind. I’m happy to report that Manny and I have come up with what we think will be the best possible solution on site leadership.
But this site belongs to all of us and so Manny and I want to share these ideas with you before we put them into action. We want to make sure that if we need to adjust this that everybody has a chance to weigh in. Afterall we’re at a critical juncture in the site and the decisions we make now will affect the site for years to come.
As you know Manny has been considering stepping down as Site Leader. We’ve asked a lot of Manny and this pressure has been a heavy weight for him to bear for a very long time. I’m proud of how well he’s stood up under that weight. But the time has come for Manny to have some help.
And that’s where I come in with this post. I’ve offered to help Manny in the hopes that he’ll stay in a leadership role on the site. In the hopes that we can continue on as we have… with determination to make this site better than great. To keep us at the top of ThunderCat fandom. To redesign the site, to build a strong response to the upcoming movie and to be the most visited ThunderCats site on the net.
I’ve offered to help Manny by stepping up to share the leadership role with him as co-Site Leader. We’ve talked about sharing the role so that its not a huge weight on any one single person. As a team Manny and I believe its important that we have co-ordination and I think the team would agree that this is better than just working independently.
We haven’t thought through all the details but essentially we would divide the role into two parts. Manny would continue slowly behind the scenes on the ongoing redesign though this will remain fairly inactive for now. His main focus will be building out a new section for the movie. Manny will continue to be our overall “guy in charge” for any mission critical issues on the site.
The second part which I’ll look after is day to day team co-ordination. Things like arranging team meetings, helping organize our thinking and team decision making. If issues are popping up on the day to day work of the site I’ll try to help out. Basically I’ll be the co-ordinator for the team. By taking over this part of the role from Manny he’s able to stay on as co-leader while he continues to work on the parts of the site that he enjoys the most.
For my own part I intend to talk to Manny frequently while co-ordinating team work so that any major work we’re undertaking involves him also. I don’t intend to change anything, I think the site is doing great and that my role will mostly take the form of reminders to everybody about deadlines for when we want to make updates to the site and other administrative follow up stuff.
My motivation for wanting to take this role is because I want to keep Manny as involved as possible and this was the best solution we could think of that kept him involved as site leader. I also tend to have the most available time out of the team members so I can afford to lend a greater hand than before. I know that many of the team members wouldn’t pick me first out of the team to take a leadership role. I’ve posted some pretty outlandish stuff before in the forums about buying the site and so on. Rest assured that I know better now, I know that this is a team run site first and foremost and I respect that greatly. I want to do this work in the best interests of the team and the site and I’m available to talk to you if you have concerns or questions about what Manny and I are proposing here.
We can also discuss this together when we’re able to arrange a team meeting. It doesn’t look like this week works but I’ll try to speak with you each individually to figure out everyone’s availability and we’ll organize something soon.
Thanks for reading through this essay length post, please think about what is posted here and please speak with Manny and I with your reactions.
but I wouldn’t use my heightened involvement with the site to try and elevate the animation art. I am glad that this would be your greatest concern because its already ancient history for me.