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KastellynTue 04-Dec-07 01:56 PM
Member since 04th Mar 2003
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#281, "Strategic Plan"
Edited on Tue 04-Dec-07 01:57 PM

          

Huh. We had a marketing board. Who knew? Sorry I haven’t been more involved, but I’ve been busy with my regular job, and starting a new business on the side, so I just recently discovered this treasure trove of ideas.

I’ve read all the threads, and I’d like to address most of the salient points with this one post, then offer to “take the reigns” so to speak, in order to get this marketing show on the road.

The Heroimm Process. I’m actually fine with it the way it is. Despite all of us wanting 100% of our Heroimms to succeed, make 53, and get a religion in the game, that just doesn’t happen, for numerous reasons. But I don’t think the process is faulty in and of itself. What the process is designed to do is expose folks to the fact that being an Imm isn’t just about handing out rewards, running quests, switching into mobs and using all the cool powers. It’s about being a self-starter, being able to motivate yourself to do the less pleasant (but necessary) tasks because you know the more pleasant ones will make it worthwhile, and being able to work within our system (which I’ll get to in the next paragraph). We do have systems in place that help Heroimms succeed, and they do that. But at the end of the day about 75% of the Heroimms who don’t make it to 53 do so because they realize that they just don’t want to. The other 25% don’t make it because sometimes our internal systems break down. I think we’ve come a long way towards reducing the latter number, but I’d still like to see it at 0.

The Staff as Volunteers. When we say “We’re volunteers!” people hear “We don’t get paid for this!” which is not what we’re saying. What we’re saying is that we work within a hierarchy of ability – vice authority – that utilizes a consensus-driven decision making process to achieve goals. What this means is that we don’t have a boss; we have various individuals with different levels of ability but no real authority. If you as an individual want to get something accomplished, you need to promote the idea, get a consensus that the idea is worthwhile to pursue, then convince the individuals who have the ability to work on your task to make it a priority. The higher level you are as an immortal, the easier it is to advance these types of projects, mostly because you have the ability (i.e., immortal powers or skills picked up over the years) to work on it yourself, and the creditability to promote the idea and achieve consensus that it is important.

This is not the most efficient way to run an organization, and was my biggest frustration with the staff when I joined back in 1999. In fact, it is completely opposite from the military structure I’ve operated within my entire adult life: a hierarchy of authority that provides command by negation. In other words, “Here’s your assigned mission, here’s what you’re not allowed to do. Accomplish the mission or you won’t get promoted!”

But just because it isn’t the most efficient way to do things doesn’t mean it isn’t effective. Given the very real constraints that we operate under (not for profit, volunteer hobby), we’ve generated an excellent product. That’s in part because product development is, for most of us, a lot of fun, and is the reason we wanted to join the staff. There’s no reason why we can’t utilize the same system to improve the business side of CF, which is something we need to work on.

Strategic Plan. Here's what I think we need to do to move forward.

1. Create a Vision Statement. All organizations need one; we're no different. Our vision statement should define where we see ourselves in 3 to 5 years.

2. Create a Mission Statement. This is our purpose, why we exist, and where we're going in the next year.

3. Create our Values. This is the ethical framework we're going to use to accomplish our Mission and achieve our Vision.

4. Create a Marketing Plan. This would normally be called a business plan, but, to be honest, marketing is really the only part of the business we need to worry about. This is how we're going to run our business to accomplish our Mission and achieve our Vision.

5. Create a Product Development Plan. This is probably too much like work, but it might be worth a try. Basically, this is how we want to develop our product (i.e., the MUD) to accomplish our Mission and achieve our Vision.

I'll subthread each of the above as we make progress on them, starting with the marketing plan, which I've already got some ideas for.

Kastellyn the Devourer of Magic, Lord of Legends

*** Email me your testimonials or two-line blurbs. Help our marketing efforts! ***

  

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HOT TopicStrategic Plan [View all] , Kastellyn, Tue 04-Dec-07 01:56 PM
Reply Eskelian's strategic plan., Eskelian, 14-Jul-10 08:26 PM, #27
Reply RE: Eskelian's strategic plan., HammerSong, 14-Jul-10 08:55 PM, #29
     Reply Cool., Eskelian, 14-Jul-10 10:28 PM, #30
Reply Dullameh's Strategic Plan (R), Dullameh, 05-Feb-09 04:08 PM, #4
Reply You missed step one., Stunna, 06-Feb-09 10:52 AM, #6
Reply RE: You missed step one., Zulghinlour, 06-Feb-09 02:33 PM, #7
Reply Yup, Stunna, 06-Feb-09 02:59 PM, #8
     Reply RE: Yup, BaronMySoul (Anonymous), 06-Feb-09 03:54 PM, #9
     Reply Hard and Soft Marketing, Stunna, 06-Feb-09 05:33 PM, #10
          Reply RE: Hard and Soft Marketing, TheDude, 06-Feb-09 06:15 PM, #11
               Reply No argument, Stunna, 06-Feb-09 06:44 PM, #12
     Reply What do you need?, Valkenar, 07-Feb-09 01:12 AM, #15
          Reply That's borderline illegal, and I wouldn't do it. n/t, Stunna, 07-Feb-09 11:18 AM, #16
               Reply How is it borderline illegal?, Valkenar, 07-Feb-09 12:55 PM, #17
                    Reply You make a lot of assumptions., Stunna, 07-Feb-09 01:21 PM, #18
                         Reply You're blowing it out of proportion, Valkenar, 07-Feb-09 03:06 PM, #19
                              Reply CF is a real business, Zulghinlour, 07-Feb-09 04:03 PM, #20
                                   Reply RIght, Valkenar, 07-Feb-09 07:43 PM, #21
Reply RE: You missed step one., Adhelard, 06-Feb-09 07:05 PM, #14
Reply RE: You missed step one., GrahamC, 14-Mar-10 08:24 AM, #24
Reply RE: Dullameh's Strategic Plan (R), Hutto, 24-Feb-10 10:49 PM, #22
Reply RE: Dullameh's Strategic Plan (R), Hutto, 27-Feb-10 05:12 AM, #23
     Reply RE: Dullameh's Strategic Plan (R), -flso, 17-Mar-10 07:05 PM, #25
Reply Couldn't agree more with this, ORB, 18-Mar-10 12:44 PM, #26
Reply RE: Dullameh's Strategic Plan (R), Eskelian, 14-Jul-10 08:37 PM, #28
Reply Photography, Ghuljun, 04-Feb-09 02:56 PM, #3
Reply RE: Photography, Dullameh, 05-Feb-09 04:25 PM, #5
     Reply I've long advocated a 2nd purely promotional website. n..., Stunna, 06-Feb-09 06:54 PM, #13
     Reply RE: Photography, Rade, 20-Sep-10 09:50 PM, #31
Reply NAME RECOGNITION! TRADITION! STABILITY!, Moridin, 29-Dec-07 01:26 PM, #1
     Reply RE: NAME RECOGNITION! TRADITION! STABILITY!, Palaxurian, 23-Feb-08 05:45 PM, #2
          Reply I got PwN T-shirt!, SideStrider, 03-Dec-11 04:10 PM, #32
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