Notes¶

Location & Time¶

• March 6 at D’s in Regent Square
• Next meeting: 5:30PM, March 27 at D’s in Regent Square

Next steps¶

Cluster¶

We can group similar questions together to see what overriding themes we have.

Add to the list¶

While we are still gathering our thoughts, feel free to add more potential questions to the list

List of questions¶

(Most from the meeting, some from Chris ahead of time, some from the 2008 survey and some more added from spontaneous thought)

:::Chris and Will’s Edits Begin:::

Big Picture¶

1. Why did you first come to FR? (initial perception)
2. What do you think FR is? (present perception)

1. What would you like to get out of your involvement of FR?
2. What do you get out of FR? (too vague)
3. What do you enjoy and get out of value about FR?
4. What would make FR more rewarding? (capture tangible and intangible aspects)

1. Do you work to achieve the FR mission on a regular basis and take pride when you see the mission being fulfilled? (give mission)
2. Are you proud of what FR is, its mission, and how you contribute?

1. Do you feel ownership in the shop, in FR in general? (moved to members)

1. Do you know what the major goals are of FR? (redundant)
2. Do you know all that FR does with aspects outside of ordinary open shop? (list programs and opportunities)
3. Do you have a good understanding of the full picture of FR?

1. How popular is FR in PGH?
2. What do people see in the FR community?
3. Is FR a community center? Does it live up to the community center ideal?
   1. How can FR grow as a community center?
4. Can younger kids get involved in a more instructive way? Ask them?

Rules/Code of Conduct¶

1. Code of conduct within FR?
2. Are the FR ground rules clear enough?
3. Do ground rules need to be concrete or flexible?
4. Are rules at Free Ride followed or ignored? (New question)
5. Are rules inconsistent? (New question)
6. Do inconsistencies in rules make them hard to follow and seldom communicated? (New question)
   (Code of conduct, communicating rules, enforcement, flexibility)
7. Are FR ground rules neglected because they are not effectively communicated, are not flexible enough, or are not and consistently enforced? (list ground rules)

Mission¶

1. Does FR expose you to new ideas?
2. How has FR changed what you think about bikes/cycling/transportation/anything else?

1. Should FR do community events?
2. What other activities should FR sponsor?

1. What would you like to see happen at FR?

Rewards¶

1. Do you see what your help has on the general good?
2. Is FR rewarding? Why do you care about helping FR?
3. Why do you keep coming back to FR?
   1. What kind of reward would get you to come more?

1. Is staffing rewarding?
2. What kind of reward would get you to come more? (moved to a follow-up)
3. What about the idea of staffing at FR excites you?
   1. If you have staffed, what keeps you coming back?

:::Chris and Will’s Edits End:::
::: Chris, Will and Brian’s Edits Begin:::

1. How satisfying is it to know that you gave help to a specific person?
2. Is customer service something that is rewarding?
3. Do you feel that helping at FR makes a difference for people on a regular basis?

1. Do you just want to learn more about bikes while at FR?
2. Does the novelty of learning bike stuff wear off and then you decide to move on?
3. Can we give special rewards? Special classes or skill building opportunities?
4. Class to go over all the specialty tools?
5. Do you find Free Ride to be a supportive environment in which to continually learn and build skills?

1. Do you need to be a bike geek to enjoy FR? Would there be other reasons to show up even if you are not a bike geek?
2. If you don’t like bikes very much is there anything you can get out of FR?
3. What do you learn at FR that gets you excited? (is it all bikes, or something more?)
4. What brings you to FR beyond Bikes?

1. Are open shop privileges consummate with the work load of volunteering?
2. Should we give volunteers special treatment?
3. Should/do some volunteers get more special privileges than others?
4. Are people aware of all levels of benefits of volunteering at Free Ride, including paid opportunities?
5. Does increasing your involvement increase your ownership in the organization?

Accomplishment¶

1. Do you think that nothing gets done at FR?
2. Do you think that bikes at FR just sit around, or that many get a new home?
3. Are FR accomplishments visible and is FR a positive force?

Structure¶

1. Is there a hierarchy in the power structure at FR, implicit or explicit?
2. Does the power structure at FR pull you down affect you in any way?

1. Do you feel able to control change at FR if you have ideas for improvement? *
   1. Over what part of FR would you like to have control/input? What prevents you?
2. Would you know Who to talk to at FR to make changes or improvements?
3. Is there enough structure in FR to get the go-ahead to take on a project?

1. Should people focus on one area of responsibility or share responsibilities? Should there be a rotation of responsibilities?
2. When you are involved in FR, do you feel attached to a certain thing that if FR stops, you would end your involvement?

Projects & Decisions¶

1. Is it difficult to coordinate on special jobs or projects at FR?

1. Even if you have no say in the matter, Is it important that you know about decisions that are being made?
2. To support a decision at FR do you need: Where do you want to be in the decision making process?
   1. (a) to know all alternatives that were considered & tradeoffs made
   2. (b) trust the decision makers will do a good job
   3. (c ) wait and see how it turns out after some time has passed
   4. (d) be involved in the decision
      1. (d,1) give input, suggestions, concerns
      2. (d,2) be part of the final say
   5. (e) know the decision is fully planned so that all questions are answered
   6. (f) know that it as been reviewed & approved by people that are reliable/have good judgment/take major responsibility

1. Do you understand the current meeting structure?
2. Do organizational issues deter you?

1. Could you/Should you start your own project at FR?
2. Is it easy to get things started?…Meetings, process for getting something done? Easy to get things DONE, too?
3. Should FR have periodic open forums for discussions?…At the end of open shop time, or some other time?
4. Are other members of FR open to discussion to make changes at all levels?

::: Edits by Chris, Will and Brian END :::

Volunteering¶

1. Are there ways to pre-designate volunteer tasks?
2. Do volunteers need more direction, more freedom?
3. Do volunteer tasks need more structure?
4. How can volunteers organize their own volunteer involvement?

1. Are there (enough) useful or valuable jobs for volunteers?
2. Do you feel your volunteer contribution is valuable to FR?
3. Is not enough expected of you?

1. Are jobs for volunteers well communicated?
2. How can ideas/tasks be more effectively communicated? Web? White board? Other?

1. How long can we expect somebody to be involved as a volunteer?
2. Are you interested in being a staffer? How likely would you staff?

1. Are people not staffing enough?

1. Is it easy to become involved?
2. Is it confusing to become involved?

1. Do you feel like you are putting in more than others (relative to what you get back)?

Barriers¶

1. Do you feel qualified for FR volunteering work?
2. As staffer, do you feel thrown in to something you feel you can’t handle? Or do you feel qualified to staff?

1. Does staffing require too many hours to commit to?
2. Alternative staffing days?
3. Problems retaining new or old volunteers?

Communication¶

1. Is there a communication problem? Between committees, volunteers, users, etc?
2. Are there 2 wikis?
3. Can FR do a better job of communicating information that is current to staffers/volunteers?
4. Weekly email updates?

1. Are you in the loop or do you feel out of the loop?
2. Would you like to be more in the loop?
3. Do you feel like an outsider when you are not keeping up with what is going on?

Members¶

1. Do you feel ownership in the shop, in FR in general?

1. Survey demographic, level of involvement at FR of survey participants?
2. Do you feel tension due to differences between the more typical volunteer/staffer?
3. What social types are involved?
4. Is there a certain demographic that is involved in FR?

1. Levels of volunteering?
2. On average are you involved weekly, biweekly, monthly…?
3. What have you done with FR? (use shop, volunteer, shadow, staff, council…)

1. Do you click-in to the FR group?
2. Does being involved at FR require being able to click-in?

1. Do you know much about fellow volunteers, what they do outside of FR?
2. Would seeing the same faces (staffers, other volunteers) make you more likely to come?
3. Does FR give opportunities to get to know each other and the group in general?
4. Do you tell friends about FR and bring them along?

1. Do you know how committed others are at FR? How many people have different levels of commitment?
2. Do you know what others are doing to give back to FR?

1. Is it bad when members of the collective council don’t staff much?
2. Do you know what the collective council is, what it does, if it is successful?
3. Do you have any connection to the collective council?

Frustrations¶

1. Do you feel in control while staffing?

1. What are the most frustrating things about volunteering at Free Ride?
2. What makes you go home angry or frustrated from FR?
3. Have you stopped using FR? Why?

1. What is confusing about FR?
2. Is complexity of FR a problem or just the fact that it isn’t running smoothly?

1. Does dealing w/ special cases (kids, impatience..) add too much stress?

1. What parts/supplies are hard to find?
2. Will a shop map help find parts and tools?
3. Will guides and other documentation help you to volunteer?

1. Should there be more definite value to parts, like suggested donations or categories of values?
2. Are some people getting more from FR than they should?
3. Is the open donation system for parts being abused? Does the open ended approach make FR more stressful? Should there be suggested donations?
4. Is copping nice parts fair? Does unfairness in access to parts frustrate you?
5. What is your fair share? How can you claim good parts?

1. How would your expectations of our open shop program change if staffers were paid?

Team Dynamics¶

1. Do you have questions you want to ask but are afraid they are too dumb?
2. Is it easy to ask questions (regarding organization and opinions) at FR?

1. Do you feel you are supported in your ideas?

1. Do you withhold criticism to not offend others?

1. Is your input sought-out and if so, do you think it is valued?

1. Are you too careful not to offend people?
2. Do others offend you at times?

1. Does your working style clash with others at FR?

1. Do you see promises being made but not kept? If so, do you want to do something about that or just don’t care?
2. Do you get on people’s cases for not carrying through with promises?

Solutions?¶

1. Have you done stuff with other bike co-ops?
2. Can we look to other bike co-ops for guidance and help?

1. Exit interviews for people who step away?

1. What skill-building opportunities can we offer as rewards? Specialty tools?