After receiving a few questions from the Dark Council, it became apparent that I needed to submit a comprehensive plan of what I would like to do as Grand Master. In an effort to keep everyone informed, I would like to post the letter I sent to the Dark Summit detailing my plans for the future.
Here goes:
Sarin: In Six Pages
Your mission above all as a leader in the Dark Brotherhood is to motivate and inspire goodwill, fun, and companionship. These are the very core assets that keep our organization alive and thriving.
I wrote the quotation above several months ago when I penned the Leadership Fundamentals Shadow Academy course. I have placed it at the top of this document because it will serve as my mission statement if I am confirmed as Grand Master. I do not say the above because it sounds good; I say it because I believe it. We come here to be with our friends and have fun. I do not think we should ever lose sight of that.
I understand that a nice mission statement is far from enough to answer everyone’s questions, so I have prepared the following for the Dark Summit. It is a summary of who I am, what I am about, and what plans I have for the future.
Who I am
Real Life: My name is Matt Crawford and I am a 29-year-old man from western Pennsylvania. I am married with a dog named Lord Tyranus and baby on the way. I am a Captain in the United States Army and I am stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. I am a new member of the Military Intelligence community and I will be going to school at Fort Huachuca. Once I have graduated from school at Huachuca I will be returning to Fort Campbell.
My real life is an important factor in my confirmation as Grand Master because you may have concerns about my availability due to a deployment overseas or my impending Fatherhood. Fortunately and unfortunately both of these concerns are solved by the Military Intelligence Captains Career Course (MICCC) at Huachuca. I will be at Huachuca from May 2007 until January 2008 and I will be going without my family. My wife is a Department of Defense employee at Fort Campbell, Kentucky and her family lives within thirty minutes. Because of this, and because I am returning to Campbell after MICCC, my wife and newborn will remain behind.
So, in plain English, I will have an unbelievable amount of free time for the foreseeable future. If I am deployed in 2008, I will continue to have an unbelievable amount of free time and continue in the same manner as I did when I was deployed in 2003 (I stayed in and thrived in my leadership positions in a past club and had more than enough computer access).
What I am about
I have divided this section into four subsections. The actions I plan to take as a leader, my opinion on the Clans, my opinion on the Dark Councilors and the Auxiliary positions, and my opinion on the members.
Actions as a leader: Anshar has asked me how I will be different from Jac in his reign as Grand Master. You will be hard pressed to have me say Jac did not perform his duties perfectly; however, I will bring up four areas of leadership that I will handle differently.
1. Delegation. Jac had a hard time delegating projects. I do not have this problem. I believe the Dark Council and the Tribunes are subject matter experts in their assigned area. I want these leaders to have initiative and I want them to take on projects of their own. I will use the upcoming RoS as an example. I assigned the MAA, HM, HRLD, SCL, and Combat Master tasks to complete for the RoS. In the case of the RoS, I assigned Dathid the task of designing the ACC competition. Dalthid is the subject matter expert on the ACC and I would be wrong not to use his skills. This also touches on the question about how much I will allow the Dark Council to do on their own. I will delegate more than Jac; however, I will want to be involved in the process and I will want to know what is going on. I trust leaders to handle their business, but they need to keep me informed. Competent leaders will find that I allow them much more freedom than their less competent peers.
2. Firing: Jac gave Leaders 3rd and 4th chances and often commented on how he wished he would have fired people when they deserved it. I believe in holding leaders accountable and I will not hesitate to fire someone who is not performing. When we accept a leadership position, we promise the members of the Dark Brotherhood that we will perform a service for them. If a leader consistently fails at their core duties, I will remove them. I will continue to implement regular feedback to the leaders in the form of the Leadership evaluations. If a leader is not performing well, he will know it, and while I am not going to fire someone at the first sign of hardship, I will not put up with poor performance for as long as Jac did.
3. Awards: I will reward consistent performers. I believe that our outstanding performers should see rewards for their activity. If you do great things, you deserve great awards. Halc, Jac, and I have worked on ensuring that high level awards are more consistent and I plan on working with the MAA and other leaders to ensure that consistent and appropriate awards are given. I have often been called Santa Sarin and I look forward to sneaking awards past Halc…er(!)
4. Member Contact: Jac did a great job at staying in contact with the members. I plan on doing a better job. I write congratulation members to newly promoted members, I write “great job” letters to junior leaders who write reports, and I go out of my way to stay in contact with as many people as possible. Our members are our life blood and as the Grand Master I need them to know that I care about what they are doing.
Opinion on the Clans: I believe in Clan Autonomy. I believe the Clans should operate under their own methods with their own goals. At the same time, I also want the Clans to understand that they do not exist in a vacuum. There are policies and procedures that the Clans must follow in order for the Dark Brotherhood to be successful. I recently served as a Clan Consul and I enjoyed the freedom that I was allowed to have in restructuring Clan Plagueis, but at the same time I understood that CP was just a part of a whole and that the Clans need to work under the umbrella of the Dark Council for the DB to thrive. There is a balancing act between having too much leeway and not enough.
Opinion on the Dark Councilors and the Auxiliary positions (MAA/SCL/HM/HRLD/CON/, Praetors/Tribunes): The Dark Councilors should constantly ask what they can do to make the DB a better place. When starting projects they should set down timelines and they should be held accountable for their work. I point to our current core group as an example of what right looks like when it comes to these positions. The Tribunes need to continue to serve as the subject matter experts in their field and they need to advise the Grand Master on how he can help them achieve success. The Consuls, like the Councilors and the Tribunes are accountable for their activity. They need to conduct projects that improve their Clan and they need to focus on making their aspect a better place than it was prior to their selection as Consul.
Opinion on the Members: I believe in taking care of members. Once again, I want to call on the Leadership Fundamentals course I wrote several months ago. Yeah, it might be cheap, but I wrote it and it spells out exactly how I feel.
Taking care of the Dark Brotherhood membership is the core value of leadership in the Brotherhood. In fact the very success of our Club rests upon it. You could say that Improving the Dark Brotherhood and taking care of members are one in the same. But "taking care of members" is one of those slippery phrases, like the word "honor," that many people talk about but few take the time to explain. So what does taking care of members mean?
Taking care of members means creating a fun environment where they can learn and eventually grow into the future leaders of our Club. It means holding members to a high standard and training them to be the next generation of leaders. You take care of members when you treat them fairly, refuse to cut corners, share their triumphs and failures, and set the example for them to follow. Taking care of members encompasses everything from making sure a member is promoted for their hard work to chatting with them on mIRC. It also means providing support for them when real life becomes more important than the Dark Brotherhood. Supporting a member who has to cut down his Dark Brotherhood because of real life means understanding that their priorities are in the right place and you will not punish them for it.
Taking care of members also means demanding that they act in an appropriate manner. It does not mean coddling them or allowing them to break the rules because they are your friends. In fact you do them and the Dark Brotherhood a disservice by allowing members to break the rules and get away with it. Take care of members by setting guidelines and standards of conduct and you will improve the overall attitude of the Brotherhood.
Members will learn a career worth of lessons if you take the time and treat each of them as important parts in the Dark Brotherhood. We owe all members our time and energy. The best plan a leader can execute is to take care of his members because it also transforms into taking care of the Brotherhood.
Plans
1. Within the first few weeks:
a. Project Identification and Consolidation: The Dark Council, the Tribunes, and the Society Leaders are working on an unbelievable amount of projects. One of my first tasks as Grand Master will be the creation of a project matrix. I need to see what everyone is working on and I need to know what their status is on these projects.
b. MAA/HRLD/SCL/HM Discussion: I believe the Dark Councilors should constantly work to make the Dark Brotherhood a better place. I need to sit down with this group of Councilors and discuss what they believe they can do to make this happen.
c. Consul Discussion: I need to hear from each of the Consuls, preferably on mIRC, to find out what their Clan members want more of. I need to know where the Consuls think we should be going and what we should be doing. The Consuls are the Grand Master’s connection to the Clan and communication is essential.
d. Leadership reviews: Jac and I have already started formulating our thoughts on the job that the current set of leaders have done over the last six months. During the above-described discussions and at other opportunities I will go over my thoughts with each of the leaders so we start my term with a clean slate. Everyone will know where they stand.
2. Within the First Six Months
a. RoS/GJW: I believe a RoS/GJW should maximize participation by offering an engaging storyline with competitions designed to encourage participation at all levels. These competitions must be epic with a threat of loss and a promise of honor. I have spent the last three months talking with members and Dark Brotherhood leaders about the types of things they would like to see in a major competition. I believe we are going in that direction. We are on schedule for a late March or Early April start to the RoS and I am proud to say the Dark Councilors have done an outstanding job completing their assigned tasks. Unlike most Vendetta preparation groups, we are ahead-of-schedule.
b. Fleet Modernization: I am a Star Wars nerd. I believe we are flying around in an 80 year old crap fleet. I think we should upgrade it to a modern +26 ABY fleet. 90% of the people I have talked to agree. This is slated, based on Consul approval, to occur post GJW. We will be using this opportunity to create a robust system of Vendetta awards. No longer will I allow inconsistent and haphazard awards to be given out for large competitions. We are developing a system by which the DB fleets can grow and change for years.
c. Rank Rituals: The infamous project “Hush Hush.” Jac started this with Trev years ago as a backburner project always put to the side for other things. Jac asked Troutrooper to lead this project and he has been making progress on the Rank Rituals. These are a fictional account of the promotion process in the Dark Brotherhood. TT has the journeymen set ready for review. We are looking to have the rest completed shortly. I want to finish this project, finally.
d. Dark Covenant amendments: Kir, Jac and I worked through a slate of Judicial amendments for the Dark Covenant. These should be published immediately following the confirmation of the next Grand Master. Beyond that, I will be conducting a thorough review of the Dark Covenant to ensure that it is up-to-date and properly built. Any needed amendments will be created and put forward.
e. Dark Side Compendium Rewrite: Macron and Company have been working on the Dark Side Compendium and sending in documents on a regular basis. Jac and I have been approving these documents and we are looking to have several more published shortly. I will continue to guide Macron through this process until we have a complete DSC.
f. Codex Rewrite: Jac and Xanos completed 90% of a complete re-write of the Codex over the summer. The completion and release of this has been constantly moved to the backburner for other projects. I will see to it that this important document gets its much-needed facelift.
g. MP Scoring System: Formerly known as the GMRG rewrite. I believe the scoring system for Multiplayer Gaming brings another added incentive to game and it will offer our members new Armor and new lightsabers. This, obviously, is contingent on a lot of coding. I will ensure, though, that the coders have what they need to get this project completed.
h. Force Powers Upgrade: TT, Dalthid, Jac, and I have been working on a Force Powers update for the Dark Brotherhood. The current system is lacking and we are working on a new system that is usable in all facets of the Dark Brotherhood. This is almost to the point where the Dark Summit can review it. Once we have completed this system, we will then begin working with the Consuls on a way to make the Clan Force powers more of a part of the Dark Brotherhood. This is another project I will focus on.
i. Continuation of Fictional RETCON (From WIKI: Retroactive continuity – commonly contracted to the portmanteau word retcon – refers to new information later added to "historical" material or deliberately changing previously established facts in a work of serial fiction. The change itself is referred to as a retcon, and the act of writing and publishing a retcon is called "retconning".): DB Fiction is a mess. We have conflicts on top of conflicts in the DB History and we need to clean it up. Ferran was not Darth Bane’s best friend and we need to make sure no DB documents state this. The Antei System document was a step in the right direction and we will continue to work on clearing up any errors out there. I will ensure that we use our core documents, the Wiki, the DSC and the Codex, to house our competed and accurate fiction.
3. Long Term / General Goals:
a. Focus on external club competitions: I believe we should take a larger part in the Star Wars community and I think an excellent way to do this is to participate more with other clubs. I am a fan of the ORW and I would like to see the DB participate more in competitions against other clubs.
b. Possessions System: I am a firm believer in bringing a possessions system to the Dark Brotherhood. Jac, Muz, and I have all been working on ideas to make this a possibility. I believe this will bring an added enjoyment to the DB and it is something I will focus on.
c. Fictional Continuity: The Brotherhood often will “forget” about previous vendettas and competitions, ignoring the last war when the new one comes. I will work to connect our vendettas, feuds, other competitions and DB fiction into a larger whole. There should be no end to our fiction or any events independent of; merely brief pauses in our action.
d. Website development: I will obviously defer to Jac and Sildrin on these areas, but I intend to have a role in directing the priorities for our website. The coder time is scarce, and I want to make sure they have the resources they need and ensure they are being used wisely.
e. Policy Documentation: Jac has set the trend for this and I would like to continue it. Policies should not be sent out over email lists to be lost or unavailable to those who were not a part of the original email. I will work to document our policies and procedures so that the information will not be lost.
f. Alacrity: I believe these are important documents that detail many aspects of a leadership role. With Jac and Troutrooper’s help, I will continue to push for their development.
g. Rebirth: Many people don’t understand this project or what its intended purpose was. Rebirth itself was always more than just a website. The website was part of it, but “Rebirth” was Jac’s vision for the Brotherhood. He did not accomplish many of the larger goals that required coding, but over the years, the accessible ideas in the project have come to fruition. All I want to mention here is that I believe in the goals set out in Jac’s vision and want to keep those in mind as we move forward:
i. Goal 1: Set ourselves apart from our past
ii. Goal 2: Provide a new level of rewards and recognition
iii. Goal 3: Increase the uniqueness and individuality of every character in the Dark Brotherhood
iv. Goal 4: Provide further options for competitions
v. Goal 5: Enhance the organizational structure
vi. Goal 6: Facilitate true growth
vii. The ultimate goal of Project: Rebirth is to facilitate true growth of the Brotherhood. We must create a system that draws people in and keeps them here, as to secure the stability of the Dark Brotherhood for years to come.
viii. Goal 7: Improve the online experience
ix. Goal 8: Follow the Mission and Vision of the Brotherhood
