Dave's Whiteboard

According to today’s Washington Post, some 30 million people have voted early in the 30 states that offer this option.  Maryland doesn’t (though voters today may decide to amend the state constitution and permit early voting next time), meaning that 3 million or so in my state are eligible to vote today, including 540,000 just in my county.

I’ve seen many discussions about problems at the polls, but little about the people who staff polling places.  These folks in Maryland aren’t called precinct workers; they’re election judges — and they’re all volunteers.  Though I didn’t volunteer this year, I’ve worked elections and primaries in years past, twice as chief judge (one of the two people in charge of a voting precinct).

Blogs and opinion columns have run paeans to the process of voting, which in recent elections has meant the process of waiting in line.   I do see value in voters taking time to collectively express their opinions, volunteers guiding the process, no armed guards or oppressive government presence.  I also see obstacles, not the least of which is holding an election on a work day.  Your employer may, as some do, allow two hours off to vote, but if you live in Maryland and work in Virginia, you could spend the entire two hours in transit.

Few of those commentators have worked at a polling place.  Until the politicians who control the process decide to improve it, in my opinion it’s the volunteers who deserve recognition.

Yes, I know that some workers seem slow or even confused by the job they’re supposed to do.  A few years back, the head of the Baltimore County board of elections said that the average age of her election judges was “deceased.” The thing is: they’re the ones who stepped up.

If you’re voting today, the people at your precinct likely did something like the 4,000 election judges in my county have to do:

• Complete a mandatory training class prior to the election (three to five hours).
• On the night before the election, set up the voting place (at least a two-hour task).
• On election day, arrive by 6 a.m. in order to open promptly at 7 a.m.
• After voting ends at 8 p.m. (or later, if extended by court order), complete reports, verify vote totals, secure the voting machines.

Not everyone’s able to put in a 14 – 16 hour shift.  In my last two outings, I didn’t finish my chores until 1:30 a.m., which tended to crimp my sprightliness the day after the election.

You dance with who brung you, though, and you vote with who volunteered. One reason I was asked to be a chief judge is that I could tell a USB cable from an Ethernet cable; with the advent of electronic pollbooks (devices listing every registered voter in the state and the correct precinct for each), judges needed a higher level of comfort than in the past.  And next election, the process will probably change again.

If you’ve got some public spirit, some patience, and a bit of stamina, think about a tour or three as an election judge.  As Bob Dole said of being vice-president, it’s inside work and there’s no heavy lifting.

Photo of election precinct workers in Alaska by yksin.

We took a walk this morning alongside a grim, green sea, with moody clouds and a persistent wind.  Almost any weather is good if it’s where you want to be.

I watched seaspray fly and felt the rasp of dry sand whipped by the wind toward the water.  And I thought of people for whom “knowledge work” meant “you can sit while working.”

So here’s a little mood music from the Maritimes (a few miles northeast of me, but a moveable feast).

Some of Arthur Scammel’s lyrics for The Squid-Jigging Ground:

Oh, this is the place where the fishermen gather,
With oilskins and boots and Cape Anns battened down;
All sizes of figures with squid lines and jiggers,
They congregate here on the squid-jigging ground.

Some are workin’ their jiggers while others are yarnin’,
There’s some standin’ up and there’s more lyin’ down;
While all kinds of fun, jokes and tricks are begun
As they wait for the squid on the squid-jiggin’ ground.

There’s men of all ages and boys in the bargain;
There’s old Billy Cave and there’s young Raymond Brown,
There’s a red rantin’ Tory out here in a dory,
A-runnin’ down Squires on the squid-jiggin’ ground.

There’s men from the Harbour and men from the Tickle,
In all kinds of motorboats, green, grey and brown;
Right yonder is Bobby and with him is Nobby,
He’s chawin’ hard tack on the squid-jiggin’ ground.

God bless my sou’wester, there’s Skipper John Chaffey,
He’s the best hand at squid-jiggin’ here, I’ll be bound.
Hello! What’s the row? Why he’s jiggin’ one now,
The very first squid on the squid-jiggin’ ground.

The man with the whiskers is old Jacob Steele;
He’s gettin well up but he’s still pretty sound.
While Uncle Bob Hawkins wears six pair o’ stockin’s
Whenever he’s out on the squid-jiggin’ ground.

Holy smoke! What a scuffle! All hands are excited.
‘Tis a wonder to me that there’s nobody drowned.
There’s confusion, a bustle, a wonderful hustle,
They’re all jiggin’ squids on the squid-jiggin’ ground.

Says Bobby, “The squids are on top of the water,
I just got me jigger ’bout one fathom down” —
When a squid in the boat squirted right down his throat,
And he’s swearin’ like mad on the squid-jiggin’ ground.

There’s poor Uncle Billy, his whiskers are spattered
With spots of the squid juice that’s flying around;
One poor little b’y got it right in the eye,
But they don’t give a damn on the squid-jiggin’ ground.

Now if ever you feel inclined to go squiddin’,
Leave your white shirts and collars behind in the town.
And if you get cranky without your silk hanky
You’d better steer clear of the squid-jiggin’ ground.

I’m looking for examples of collaboration tools doing actual work in the workplace.

Notice how deftly I avoided saying “web 2.0″ tools?   That’s what a lot of these things are, but I have a suspicion that the examples I’m looking for will be from people who don’t say “web 2.0″ a lot.   Or “blogosphere.”   Like the people in this video from BNet Intercom.

What I hope to find is a collection of mini case studies:

• Here’s a problem we had at Montcrieffe Heraldry and Landscaping.
• Here’s what we tried because we thought it would let us do X, Y, and Z.
• Here’s what happened in reality.
• Here’s where we’re going next.

Why am I looking?   Rather than saying to people “you ought to have a blog” (or a wiki, or a mashup, or whatever), I’d like to show real-word examples in terms of the problems they addressed and the results they delivered.

For example, procurement people at a petrochemical company wanted to track and share what they learned in dealing with suppliers.   You may recall this saying:

Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

The corollary is that the bad judgment doesn’t have to be yours.   So the procurement people used an online tool to report on negotiating strategy, dealings with particular vendors, and other things that procurement people pay attention to.   They restricted access to just their department, but allowed people in that department to revise or add to the information.   So, over time, topics emerged, as did cross-references, as did changes in thinking.

It was a wiki.

The key is that if you’re reading this, you probably know what a wiki is.   You’re likely to have written or edited something on a wiki.   But, when you say “wiki” to many people in the corporate world, they think of Wikipedia, which means they think of:

• Political staffers and folks with agendas trying to change the pages for Barack Obama or John McCain
• Featured articles like these (shown on the main page on the last four Fridays):
  • The anekantavada doctrine of Jainism
  • Film star Jackie Chan
  • The Calgary Flames hockey team
  • Walter de Coventre, a 14th-century Scottish ecclesiastic who spent at least 25 years of his adult lift away from Scotland
• The Buffyverse, an astonishing number of pages related to Buffy, the Vampire Slayer

What are you seeing that’s working?   Let me know, either in a comment, or by email to dferguson at strathlorne youknowwhatgoeshere com.

(I don’t think this post has much to do with performance improvement.
Your opinion may differ.)

I just wandered over the the Washington Post website, where I see the feds are “assisting” with the sale of Lehman Brothers.

I’m no economist, but I’ve begun to thing about legally switching my name to “Too Big to Fail.” Despite the potential for ridicule about my appearance, I think that with this right-naming my financial worries would end.

As is so often the case here at the Whiteboard, my idea isn’t new. Indeed, the Lehman news immediately recalled analysis by the noted economist Tom Paxton. It was lagniappe to find Arlo Guthrie singing the once-again apropos Changing My Name To Chrysler.

From http://xkcd.com/