Willing to work: Web Apps Needed

[Thom]

I'll just throw this out there, since this thread seems to be veering towards this topic...

With a little effort (for particularly huge values of little...) you CAN get a Local/Regional effort approved and coordinated with NHQ.  I'm working on a Regional project now that has just started, but has been coordinated with NHQ so that we aren't reinventing someone else's wheel.  Hopefully this project will bear some very good fruit and virtually everyone in CAP will eventually benefit from it.

I can just about guarantee you that if the Region had gone off, done all the work, finished the project and presented it to NHQ with a bow on it, even IF it wasn't duplicating some other project that NHQ had going that we didn't even know about, it would be rejected summarily.  It's both a case of Not-Invented-Here and a recognition that there are some basic underlying presumptions and requirements which you are ONLY going to know about and understand by bringing in NHQ at the beginning of a project.

So, I didn't mean that to discourage anyone.  In point of fact, I'm a big supporter of 'just do it' keeping in mind that if you want your project/program/whatever to have the maximum benefit for the entire organization, you need to consider the big picture from the very start.

Also, this gets back to a core complaint with CAP these days: Everyone does their own thing, instead of the proper CAP sanctioned and approved thing.

And, before I forget, to the Original Poster: "Welcome to CAP and thanks for your service!"


Thom

[ryan.turner]

I'll just throw this out there, since this thread seems to be veering towards this topic...

With a little effort (for particularly huge values of little...) you CAN get a Local/Regional effort approved and coordinated with NHQ.  I'm working on a Regional project now that has just started, but has been coordinated with NHQ so that we aren't reinventing someone else's wheel.  Hopefully this project will bear some very good fruit and virtually everyone in CAP will eventually benefit from it.

I can just about guarantee you that if the Region had gone off, done all the work, finished the project and presented it to NHQ with a bow on it, even IF it wasn't duplicating some other project that NHQ had going that we didn't even know about, it would be rejected summarily.  It's both a case of Not-Invented-Here and a recognition that there are some basic underlying presumptions and requirements which you are ONLY going to know about and understand by bringing in NHQ at the beginning of a project.

So, I didn't mean that to discourage anyone.  In point of fact, I'm a big supporter of 'just do it' keeping in mind that if you want your project/program/whatever to have the maximum benefit for the entire organization, you need to consider the big picture from the very start.

Also, this gets back to a core complaint with CAP these days: Everyone does their own thing, instead of the proper CAP sanctioned and approved thing.

And, before I forget, to the Original Poster: "Welcome to CAP and thanks for your service!"


Thom

Thanks a lot for the advice. For now I'm just going to make a closed-access tool for my local wing, and build off of it from there; that way, I'll actually have a bit of experience and material to show what I can do, my dedication, and not rush into things too much.

Thanks again. I've gotten a lot of great advice so far, keep it coming!

[Pylon]

Also, this gets back to a core complaint with CAP these days: Everyone does their own thing, instead of the proper CAP sanctioned and approved thing.

Actually, the core of that complaint is NHQ.  Everyone does their own thing, because the CAP NHQ-provided way involves needing 100 weekly staff hours, a giant paper and pencil ledger, and hand arithmetic.   There are probably a hundred ways the local units can improve the CAP squadron experience with locally-developed tools and we see it all the time.

Plus, sorry -- there is no CAP sanctioned and approved way to do a lot of things.  Broadcasting the temperature and WGBT index by SMS to subscribers for CAP activities?  No national guidance whatsoever.  Would it be a useful tool?  You bet. 

How about template media releases and PSAs?   National hasn't provided much in the way of that either.  But if PAO Joe develops some great PSAs and shares them freely with other PAOs around the country, is that wrong because we're not doing it the "CAP NHQ Way" (which is, actually, to do nothing at all)?

How about some graphics support from NHQ's full-time staff graphics artists?  Basic things like web templates, fillable Open House flyers, template Twitter backgrounds, template newspaper ads... extreme basic stuff.  How much of that support do units get?   0%.  Every unit is expected to reinvent the graphics wheel for itself.   See the pattern?

Unfortunately, your argument doesn't hold true when the CAP NHQ Sanctioned way is "Every unit is expected to reinvent every wheel, gear, and cog in this operation, will receive no monetary support, no IT tools to make squadron management better, but will however be saddled with reporting mechanisms and tracking requirements for the benefit of lightening Higher Headquarters' workloads."