Ideas for discussion

Teams Woodworking
1

Hi All,

Apologies that I was not able to attend the meeting(s) last night, I had some work commitments that I could not change.

I understand that there was discussion, and resolution the cause leadership issue last night, which is a good thing. Now that is done, I want to propose some collaborative discussion around a couple of topics that relate to the wood shop. I am aware some of these things have been discussed in the past, but I suggest it might be valuable to get everyone on the same page, and treat this in some respects as “day 1”, in the interest of getting everyone clear about “whats next”. That is not to take away from the valuable planning and ideas of the past, but I’m suggesting a clean slate mentality might help further some positive collaboration, which is what we need.

The point of this post is to promote discussion, so feel free to agree or disagree with me, but overall lets try to move towards the Cause as a whole getting on with the fundamental concept that is: making cool stuff out of wood.

First thing:

One of the contentious discussion points over the last few weeks has been around the use of the table saw. I have no desire for us to dig up arguments about this again, but at a basic level, I propose that we need a firm date, line in the sand, to work toward for inductions and usage of the saw. There are lots of people who have been / are willing to contribute to making this happen, and given that it has been a major point of frustration/contention I’d like to reinforce the previous suggestion we have a goal date to work towards.

Second thing:

Cause meetings are a good thing. Nothing beats face to face discussion and its also good to meet as a group, talk to people in person and discuss issues. I’d like to suggest we do it more often. Simple as that. Thoughts from the group?

Third Thing:
I’d like to propose we apply to the exec for funding to purchase some quality hardwood for the purpose of reselling to members. The amount and type of material we purchase is up for discussion, but I am imagining a situation where

  1. HSBNE buys a quantity of bulk hardwood stock from a supplier
  2. The material is clearly marked and stored and is available to purchase
  3. We bar-code or label the materials in some way
  4. Members can self-check out the purchase of such materials and pay for them (perhaps via PayPal?) 24/7.

Obviously this would need to be clearly designated/stored somewhere away from the free recycled timber. However, one of the biggest hurdles to making stuff in the space is that you need to source your materials and bring them to the space, which can be time consuming and logistically difficult (for example if you dont have a car). This would address this issue in some amount.

This would require some project work, I know @Nog has a wireless barcode reader project on his list of many projects, it would probably require a kiosk terminal for sales as well. I’d keen to hear everyone thoughts on the idea.

I’d be very interested if anyone would like to contribute to this thread their thoughts on the above, or your own ideas as well. It would be great to get some general discussion going and then perhaps we can take the ideas we come up with to the next cause meeting. If we can, over the next two weeks generate some discussion/requests/direction from as many people in the cause as possible, and then agree on the order of priority at the next meeting, I think it would go a long way to getting everyone facing the same direction.

Lets do it.

2

re: your first point, @devians was testing the inductions material last night. the comprehension test should be done by tuesday and inductions will be rolling through from then. just thought I would clear that one up quickly.

4

So given that the document was a group collaboration, perhaps it could be suggested that a final draft of the proposed docs is posted to the group for review. I dont think anyone wants to hold up inductions but there should be general agreement.

6

Hi Dylan,

I’ll go through your three points:

#1 Saw Inductions

I’ve written up a debrief on the induction run through I went through in this thread

Specifically around everyones feedback in this thread, I’m quite happy for the group to go through any approvals on the materials if they so wish, but this document is going to be a living document for a while as we figure out what things do and dont work and whats important to iterate or not. So its going to change substantially in contact with actual students over the coming weeks.

One of the points that was raised at the last cause meeting was a feeling that the materials were being written from scratch, and that there were QUT provided documents we could utilise or adapt. I’ve gone back through slack and pulled the referenced documents and there are no documents in there pertaining to table saws unfortunately. So if anyone has the correct document referenced prior I’d love to see it to adapt it into our existing materials.

As to @DreadPirateRobinson’s concerns around spur of the moment inductions, I think I can clarify my own thoughts there. The space in general is attempting to move away from inductions that are held from memory by the induction teacher, and to more scripts, videos, written materials etc. So spur of the moment in the sense that the teacher is just going through what they remember, absolutely we are trying to avoid that. In terms of timing, I’m hoping to allocate at least one induction session every tuesday or so in the future, depending how we go. However if an induction teacher wants to run more, say a busy night happens and theres time for a second session, its absolutely their call to do that.

In terms of getting more teachers, I’m absolutely keen to work with anyone that wants to help run inductions, and I think the process for that will be to co-run a few inductions and then proceed normally from there.

#2 Cause Meetings

I’m personally interested in maybe moving to a fortnightly meeting if people are interested? We could do weekly but I’m not sure if that will provide much more utility. The cause will obviously over time change it as it fits us.

#3 Material Sales on site

I’ve wanted this for ages and ages and ages. So if you want to run that, let me know how I can support you and I will try my best. Great idea. Perhaps a v1 could be just having it secured somewhere and doing cash sales on tuesdays, and the technology can follow?

7

Thanks, I support a fortnightly meeting 100%. I think its important that everyone contributes their ideas, so if you are lurking away reading this thread - get involved! We want to hear from you, even if this is your first day.

Also, I am happy to take ownership of the Materials for Sale in the woodshop. I’ll post a seperate thread - anyone is super excited about the idea of assisting, let me know. Project meetings will involve donuts.