My husband, John Plocher, is one of the candidates for the
OpenSolaris Governing
Board. Elections are taking place during this week. If you want to
learn more, go to:
OGB Election Candidates. Candidate biographies, position statements,
and Podcast interviews are linked.
John and I have been discussing OGB issues and politics for a long time.
He considered seriously whether he should accept the nomination to
run for the OGB. I know if John is elected, he will do a fine job.
It took me time to recognize that the OGB discussions I was hearing
about: charter, constitution, and sources of authority, were very
familiar.
St. Andrew’s, our parish church, is in the
Episcopal Diocese of El Camino Real
(ECR). Our Diocese spent years having this same discussion.
As the October 2007 diocesan convention approached, our governance
discussions about ECR’s Constitution and Canons revisions escalated
in intensity and passion. John and I are both ECR convention delegates.
We went to dozens of diocesan meetings and were very involved in trying to
get the best structures well documented. Finally, our newly-elected
Bishop Mary
pointed out that these issues were diverting all of us from the business
at hand. That is, discussing the draft documents at length and working
to get the details perfect was absorbing all of the energy we
should be putting toward the work of the church. She called
discussing the canons the safe option, a comfortable place to spend
energy. (What we at Sun call a “mink hole” – that is, a very soft,
warm and comfortable rat hole, a distracting topic.) Bishop Mary
asked us to pick the harder option, doing the work that was given us
to do.
On our refrigerator at home is a magnet that says
Perfection
is the enemy
of “Good Enough”
A lesson that many organizations need to learn, and the lucky
ones do learn.
KatysBlog 