When I started WhatsUpDocs, I felt that the ideal rhythm for articles to go live would be one MIPG\/MTR\/JAR article each Month, 1st and another smaller article each Month, 15th. I\u2019m still convinced that\u2019s quite what it needs.<\/p>\n
But 6 weeks ago, I failed for the first time to come up with something to add to this blog. After 2 mere months. Impressive, no? I could argue many more or less valid reasons, the main reason being the upcoming GP Paris I\u2019ll be the TO for.<\/p>\n
Well, in all fairness, I can even find other reasons for this. But, well, I say \u201cReasons\u201d\u2026 Shouldn\u2019t I use \u201cexcuses\u201c? Wouldn\u2019t that be more accurate?<\/p>\n
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Blast from the Past<\/b><\/p>\n
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Then a concept I\u2019ve read for the first time a couple years ago came back to my mind:<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re doing it alone, you\u2019re doing it wrong<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This instinctively looks like an arguable stance, doesn\u2019t it? I mean, if I\u2019m the one who had an idea, I\u2019m the one who went through the whole process of creating then carefully crafting it. As a logical conclusion, how could I expect anyone else to make it work as well as I would?<\/p>\n That\u2019s the instinctive reasoning. Unfortunately, that\u2019s the kind of reasoning that leads you to have a great idea and never take the best out of it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Shallow graves<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Way later, I came up realizing why these projects got buried: I did not try to gather a group to make sure someone would take care of keeping these projects alive even if I were to become too busy. And in the end, their range and size became factors of demotivation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Corpse Dance<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n David Zimet (Hi David!) came to me privately as he had been given access to a draft of my Running Large Events article and he felt it should really be published. So he offered to follow up with it. But, well, that was my idea, how could I expect him to treat it as well as I would? So I can\u2019t say I welcomed him in the best possible way (Sorry David :\/)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Think Tank<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I don\u2019t really want to go through the same mistakes again with WhatsUpDocs. I believe this can become a great educational tool. That\u2019s why I designed it but there\u2019s no way I can succeed alone. I\u2019m therefore looking for help:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested, contact me at kevin.desprez@gmail.com<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Back to Basics<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n WhatsUpDocs\u2019s future is important, but publishing something that only aim at sustaining itself would be arguably useful.<\/p>\n However, this concept does have many applications in many core elements of the basics of our hobby, i.e. judging: Teamwork, Mentoring and as a consequence, Leadership.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Champion of the Parish<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n As a GP HJ, I often get to evaluate L2 judges who aim at obtaining the Team Leader Recommendation. One of the most common issues I notice and that can make them fail is their inability to instinctively delegate tasks. They want to do it alone.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Honestly, that\u2019s quite a common behavior. I came to realizing it when I tried to evaluate whether I had been doing it a few years ago, I realized that it still sometimes happen to me, especially when the situation becomes slightly stressful. And I think that anyone who is evaluated to check what can be the final item of their L3 checklist is in a stressful situation.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you\u2019re in that situation, don\u2019t worry, it is not overly concerning. Of course, it may make you fail, but that does not mean it\u2019s a blocking issue. It can become blocking though, but that\u2019d require you never improve on it even after several tries.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Killer instinct<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Actually, it\u2019s fairly instinctive to believe that because you\u2019re given the great power of being a TL, you\u2019re also given the great responsibility of running the tournament yourself, hence showing others their trust was not misplaced.<\/p>\n However, you\u2019re then completely missing a major point: If you\u2019ve been selected to be a GP Day2 Team Leader, it means that we believe you can succeed. What would be the point of putting you in a place where you have no chance to succeed?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you\u2019re to become a L3, we\u2019re not overly interested with what you, as an individual, can do. Actually, we\u2019re interested on what you can make others achieve.<\/p>\n And honestly, having them sit on a chair the whole day is not exactly an achievement (although one may argue your teammates will be ready to go back to work on Monday morning):<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Training grounds<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n By teaching them, trusting them and giving them feedback, they get to learn the theory, to put it into application, to think about how things can be improved. The underlying goal is to eventually know how to do better next time. That\u2019s how you can turn Teamwork into Mentoring: You set yourself as a resource that others can use so as to learn.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n And how do we call someone who others feel like they should use as a trustful resource? A Leader.<\/p>\n But in order to be a leader, you need to inter<\/b>act with others.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One can\u2019t do it alone.I\u2019ve tried to think about some of the projects I\u2019ve had that were most likely worth it but never saw the light:<\/p>\n
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In 2010, a Global project for translating documents was started by Juan Del Compare. Because this project was structured, a team was gathered and Comp_Rules ended up being translated to French by a group led by Daniel Kitachewsky in 2010.<\/p>\n
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\nThat\u2019s a basis, but I\u2019m actually more and more convinced that the JAR is the document that needs the most explanation articles, because it is so short that grabbing the full extent of its underlying philosophy is made even more difficult.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
\nYour first task? Finally reviewing the article about Marked Cards that Claire Dupr\u00e9 submitted a few months ago but I\u2019ve never found time to review appropriately.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/p>\n
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My point is probably explicit enough by that point: It\u2019s through the creation of a collaborative environment that you can create a win-win exchange with your teammates.<\/p>\n
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