Fix the Cantr department bureaucracy

[chase02]

Cantr appears to have an extremely limited current volunteer staff, with many potential volunteers struggling to cut through the 'red tape' to sign up and assist.

It appears there are month to multi-year delays to resolve the simplest issues in PD, ProgD, and I would assume a myriad of other departments.

Is a governing structure this complicated (comprising heads of individual teams plus an overall governing team, then overall head (did I miss any?)) REQUIRED for a website this small? How many are on staff? We know there are max 130 concurrent players. I know there hundreds (millions) of websites out there successfully managing userbases this size on a far smaller staff (1-5 people) and without delays of this magnitude.

So, I would respectfully request that Jos consider amalgamating the current teams into one player support team (with one single head that perhaps reports to him) - it appears the current number of volunteer staff is only enough to sustain one small team anyway - and urgently (as first priority for ProgD & any available sysadmins) look at fixing the signup form/email system problems so the staff can be expanded without further delay, with particular emphasis on ProgD (& the sysadmin team?).

After this has been done, the currently outstanding issues/suggestions can be listed, prioritised and delivered within one single, cohesive team. The team should be given authority to make the changes necessary to accommodate the delivery of any accepted suggestion, without concern.

[Doug R.]

Hi Chase. I know you're addressing Jos, but I'll throw in my two cents.

There is not a single person on Cantr staff, including the creator, that Cantr development is their #1 priority. Cantr is more of a hobby than a business. Of all the staff, I'd say that Cantr ranks the highest in priority to me, behind my family but ahead of my real job. I spend hours a day doing staff-related tasks, and to say that it's unhealthy for me is an understatement. I'm obsessed with Cantr, and I find staff work as entertaining as the game itself. No one else even comes close to putting in that much time (including Jos), and that's healthy. No one should be expected to. The vast majority of our staff is in school, so when school is in session, staff activity drops even more. Some of those out of school are dealing with the harsh realities of a global recession (job hunting/retraining/working long days).

Has the bureaucracy stifled Cantr in the past? Absolutely. I was among the most vocal complainers about it, but that's mostly not the case now. If someone can't do their job, odds are I'll pick up the slack. Current delays in the RD and ProgD have nothing to do with red tape and everything to do with staff having insufficient time to dedicate to Cantr. Jos has rubber stamped the vast majority of recommendations that have been brought to his attention. Cantr right now has the most talented programming team that I've ever seen in my 1639 days of playing. Yes, team. This is the first we've had a team, and not one over-burdened programmer trying to do everything. They simply don't have the time right now. Despite that, we've implemented more new features in the last six months than in the last two years.

About staff applications. The application page gives clear submission instructions, and following them will get your application listed for review. Yes, applications get stalled due to insufficient input, and I admit that it is a problem. However, once we get our two GAB vacancies filled, we'll have the most active game administration in the 1639 days that I've been playing.

Is a governing structure this complicated (comprising heads of individual teams plus an overall governing team, then overall head (did I miss any?)) REQUIRED for a website this small?

Required? No. However, when it works, everyone's workload is lessened. Has it ever worked? Not quite, but we've been in a process of continual restructuring for the last year or so. We'll be merging two departments in the coming months, which should streamline things a bit.

If we had paid, full-time staff, Cantr could easily operate with 1 PD member, 1 translator for each language (or we could use a paid translation service), 2 programmers (to handle maintainence, upgrades, and take over the RD's job - and probably rewrite the game from scratch to make is legible and efficient), volunteer forum moderators, and one person to supervise them all, who would also double as the marketer, treasurer, and human resources director. That's at least 32 man hours per day, if you don't count the mods and the translators. Now, consider that the average volunteer staff member has approximately one hour a day that they can dedicate to Cantr, and you can see where the problem lies.

So, I would respectfully request that Jos consider amalgamating the current teams into one player support team (with one single head that perhaps reports to him)

This is the current reality, and it's not working too well. The single head (that would be me playing that role) is far too overworked, to the detriment of my professional life. I need other active admins to share the responsibilities, which as I mentioned above, should be happening very soon.

particular emphasis on ProgD (& the sysadmin team?).

The lack of a sysadmin is glaring problem that has been around since Cantr's inception. I know Jos desperately wants one, but there are very large hurdles to be cleared in filling that position. I'll let Jos address that, if he desires.

After this has been done, the currently outstanding issues/suggestions can be listed, prioritized and delivered within one single, cohesive team. The team should be given authority to make the changes necessary to accommodate the delivery of any accepted suggestion, without concern.

Things are semi organized and prioritized. Jos just implemented a ticket system for handling player support issues and also development issues.

One of the biggest obstacle to efficiency in Cantr, IMO, is the practice of consultation with the players regarding changes (and the atmosphere of entitlement that the players have to being heard). If it came down to the GAB making decisions in closed session, things would get done much more quickly, but then the players would be spitting nickles. We're kind of operating a hybrid of that now, deciding what needs to be done and then requesting implementation feedback.

That's my two cents.

Thanks for caring, Chase.

[*Wiro]

I'm not in the mood to read. All I can say is staff depends too much on one or two persons.

[SekoETC]

I see a problem in that generally if something new is implemented, it should be approved by the chair or at least by other members, and if there is only one active member or people are like "this is not my cup of tea so I'll remain silent", things will never get implemented even if people didn't have any real objections to them. So if someone wants to improve the game, they'd be better off implementing things silently and by the time someone notices, people have already started using the new item and it can't be taken off anymore.

[Doug R.]

So if someone wants to improve the game, they'd be better off implementing things silently and by the time someone notices, people have already started using the new item and it can't be taken off anymore.

Because that would do wonders improving the terrible hodge-podge of stuff that Cantr already is

Ultimately, the only approval needed is the approval of the GAB (as given, ideally, through your department chair, who is a GAB member). If you can't get that, any GAB member will do. It's the GAB's responsibility to make sure that Jos reviews proposals that need to be reviewed. Many minor things never need to cross his inbox.

I've given my approval to nearly all the suggestions that were moved to programming for implementation, so I really hope those things aren't stalled because of some perceived lack of approval.

[theguy]

Prehaps department staff could be given some tools of others? e.g. I browse the form anyway so I could moderate if needed.

[Doug R.]

Prehaps department staff could be given some tools of others? e.g. I browse the form anyway so I could moderate if needed.

Yes, I have several thoughts on that, and we'll be seeing changes in the coming months.

[chase02]

Thanks for your well considered response, Doug.

I think there are a few things in the OP that needed to be discussed openly, particularly any perception/miscommunication with staff regarding authority to make changes.

I figured you were pretty much carrying this show on your own, and I agree it is an unhealthy and unfortunate position to be put in. I really hope the currently planned restructuring will fix that to some degree.

The sysadmin vacancy is a real issue (well.. not until something goes wrong, but you'd hope to be doing some preventative maintenance!), and one that hopefully can be resolved in the future.

Admittedly, I started this thread while quite drunk (Melbourne Cup, heh) and wanted to share my thoughts after spending a year playing Cantr. I didn't realise it was so redundant, but now I know most of this was already starting to happen behind closed doors.

[kronos]

Don't be silly Chase, you don't drink.

[chase02]

Oh yeah, that was milk.

[joo]

But as we both know, it is still possible to get drunk on it.

[Snake_byte]

MILK CHALLENGE!!! Drink one whole gallon of milk in one sitting under an hour without puking lol... Not easy but really really fun. Especially when there's about 10 ppl playing

[Doug R.]

Since this has devolved into silliness, I'm locking this. If Jos or any other admins have anything to add, they can do so.