Post by Celtics GM (Jose) on Jan 7, 2015 3:36:42 GMT
Hi everyone,
This started HERE but we've brought it to the right place. Please read it before going on.
First of all, and to get this out of the way, NO, this league is not dead. And you are the proof of that.
Secondly, YES, we have major issues going on right now that need a solution.
Thirdly, and as most of you that have contacted us through PM know, we've asked the core nucleus to pass along the message that all was fine, no need to panic and that we were putting a plan in motion to correct things, taking a proactive approach to prevent this from happening again in the future.
We know that the deliverance of this plan has suffered a delay regarding the timing in which we wanted, and stated, that we would do it (end of the year, then last weekend), but as i've told you before sometimes Life just happens and you can't make all things work at the same time. As time goes by you should already know that we never take things lightly and always look deeply into every detail, no matter the size of it.
Back to finding a solution, here are a few stats so everyone can judge the state of the league:
- 15 of the current GMs joined this Dynasty before 30 Oct 2012, the first ever gameday of the NDL
- 20 GMs were online the last 48 hours and in compliance with League Rules
- 4 managers haven't been online since Christmas
- LM's missed 2 processing windows, creating the possibility that matchups could be altered
- Activity Checks and other engagment chores have also been neglected
The first one must mean that we are doing something right. When you setup a new business, with access limited to 30 users, and 50% of your client base is with you from the start we consider it a good sign.
The second stat could be worrisome if not for this specific time of the year. Christmas and New Year's are always chaotic so a little leniency is appliable here. This being the standard is not acceptable.
Going on, currently we have 4 teams gone for more than 15 days. David is a strange absence and this probably lies on us. The other 3 are basically ghostships cruising the league, two from new owners that joined the league briefly but also João who told us we would be going through a rough path during a couple of months but assured he would still be replying to all PM's even if not "active". This is an issue that must be solved and that Tiago and I have run out of ways to do it within our circles. We need some networking to be done to correct this. Don't you guys know anyone?
The last two lines are connected and are, for us, the most serious ones and those that need imediate attention. Unfortunately, we are stretched so much right now that something had to break. For personal reasons, that would take a post much longer than this one to contextualize you, Tiago and I currently lack the necessary time to run things as smoothly as you've witnessed during the last 2,5 years. We need to create redundancies other than the one we've always had between the two of us and here is where you guys can come in and help us. Not only to mantain all that we've had so far but also to join us in elevating the standard set to date.
Below is our idea for the restructuring of the League, divided by focus areas with all chores detailed and with the skill setwe feel is required for the job (and in some spots our personal opinion on who should be doing it). We've created a distinction between critical (bold), important (normal) and nice-to-haves (italic) and provided with a top-down run on things without going into too much operational details.
Contract Committee
No needs here, annual events
Trade Committee
No major needs here, just keeping tighter voting schedule
Maintenance Committee (New Area)
2 LM's, Giga and 2 GM's with Excel skills who consider themselves methodic and have OCD
Updating the Excel Spreadsheet
Updating the ESPN Rosters
These two are linked up. They are scheduled for Mondays and Thursdays before the start of the games. They should be done by one person only or two at the same time with real time connection between the two (chat, chatango, skype, google hangouts, etc). One idea to release the workload that we would like you to consider is to liberate actions for GMs on ESPN and have this Committee control all roster moves done.
Standardizing the Proboards Forum
Done regularly but without time restrictions. Is needed for search and maintenance purposes.
Monitoring Team Forums
Apart from the transactions thread, records wise, we don't see the team forums as a real need, just a nice-to-have where you can have fun if you want to. But we'd rather have you invest your time in other things than googling nice pictures for your roster page.
Rules Committee (New Area)
Adam, Pedro and 3 another GMs preferably from the Trade Committee but not essential.
Validating trades (Cap, Roster)
Done before voting on trading begins, allowing voting to begin. Avoids unnecessay workload for all the league.
Monitoring Free Agency
Heavy workload during specific time of year. Needs synergies with Maintenance Committee due to Excel update.
Bulletproofing the Rules
Going through all League Rules, making sure every detail is there and rewriting the necessary parts for clarification.
NBA Mission
Guaranteeing that we can incorporate as many NBA rules as possible, from FA to CBA, in order to replicate Reality as much as possible within constraints of manpower and logistics.
Activity Committee (New Area)
Joe, the Other José (who sometimes works late nights, apparently preventing things and watching Tits'n'bullets, Banshee as most of you know it, the show with the worst shot accuracy in TV History) and 3 other GMs.
Monthly Checks
On the 1st day of the month a thread is posted with a poll for GMs to vote on. A League Mail and PM is also sent at the same time. Confirmation is needed after voting and tracking of the missing GMs is required.
72H Rules
We feel this is a pressure point for some but we also know that sometimes 3 days is less than a weekend away with the wife or similar life events that take that amount of time but are not "holidays". However we feel that there should always be a 72H rule to reply to PMs and that owners that don't get the replies they should post complaints to this Committee. The Committee analyzes the complaint and decides on measures to be taken case by case.
Building a Waiting List
After addressing the current state of affairs, we should always reach out to create a real waiting list so that in tight spots like these we can address them quickly.
Monitoring Tanking
Owners are the main responsibles for this kind of checking, specially those that are trying to tank "the right way". However, if we have the capacity to do it also, this chore would fall on the Activity Committee's area.
Engagment Committee (New Area)
Every GM that wants to participate and assume a task that provides a better experience for all.
Standings Page
Gathering info from ESPN and taking it to the Forum.
Power Rankings
Tiago and I have already a file setup that generates automatic Power Rankings based on stats (as you've seen before). Someone with Excel skills can do this easily. Writing about it is more painful, but anyone can have a go at it. Just be prepared for there are only negative comments.
Your Ideas
Right now we're to consumed by other things to try and develop new features for you. But feel free to share your ideas, things you've seen in other leagues, anything.
Well, we think that covers up about 90% of things. If we've forgotten something, feel free to point it out. And go, don't be shy. tell us what you think.
Thank you all. Not only for reading all of this
, but also for what you've done with us in the last two and a half years and for all we'll be doing together in the future.
Best regards,
The Commishes
This started HERE but we've brought it to the right place. Please read it before going on.
First of all, and to get this out of the way, NO, this league is not dead. And you are the proof of that.
Secondly, YES, we have major issues going on right now that need a solution.
Thirdly, and as most of you that have contacted us through PM know, we've asked the core nucleus to pass along the message that all was fine, no need to panic and that we were putting a plan in motion to correct things, taking a proactive approach to prevent this from happening again in the future.
We know that the deliverance of this plan has suffered a delay regarding the timing in which we wanted, and stated, that we would do it (end of the year, then last weekend), but as i've told you before sometimes Life just happens and you can't make all things work at the same time. As time goes by you should already know that we never take things lightly and always look deeply into every detail, no matter the size of it.
Back to finding a solution, here are a few stats so everyone can judge the state of the league:
- 15 of the current GMs joined this Dynasty before 30 Oct 2012, the first ever gameday of the NDL
- 20 GMs were online the last 48 hours and in compliance with League Rules
- 4 managers haven't been online since Christmas
- LM's missed 2 processing windows, creating the possibility that matchups could be altered
- Activity Checks and other engagment chores have also been neglected
The first one must mean that we are doing something right. When you setup a new business, with access limited to 30 users, and 50% of your client base is with you from the start we consider it a good sign.
The second stat could be worrisome if not for this specific time of the year. Christmas and New Year's are always chaotic so a little leniency is appliable here. This being the standard is not acceptable.
Going on, currently we have 4 teams gone for more than 15 days. David is a strange absence and this probably lies on us. The other 3 are basically ghostships cruising the league, two from new owners that joined the league briefly but also João who told us we would be going through a rough path during a couple of months but assured he would still be replying to all PM's even if not "active". This is an issue that must be solved and that Tiago and I have run out of ways to do it within our circles. We need some networking to be done to correct this. Don't you guys know anyone?
The last two lines are connected and are, for us, the most serious ones and those that need imediate attention. Unfortunately, we are stretched so much right now that something had to break. For personal reasons, that would take a post much longer than this one to contextualize you, Tiago and I currently lack the necessary time to run things as smoothly as you've witnessed during the last 2,5 years. We need to create redundancies other than the one we've always had between the two of us and here is where you guys can come in and help us. Not only to mantain all that we've had so far but also to join us in elevating the standard set to date.
Below is our idea for the restructuring of the League, divided by focus areas with all chores detailed and with the skill setwe feel is required for the job (and in some spots our personal opinion on who should be doing it). We've created a distinction between critical (bold), important (normal) and nice-to-haves (italic) and provided with a top-down run on things without going into too much operational details.
Contract Committee
No needs here, annual events
Trade Committee
No major needs here, just keeping tighter voting schedule
Maintenance Committee (New Area)
2 LM's, Giga and 2 GM's with Excel skills who consider themselves methodic and have OCD
Updating the Excel Spreadsheet
Updating the ESPN Rosters
These two are linked up. They are scheduled for Mondays and Thursdays before the start of the games. They should be done by one person only or two at the same time with real time connection between the two (chat, chatango, skype, google hangouts, etc). One idea to release the workload that we would like you to consider is to liberate actions for GMs on ESPN and have this Committee control all roster moves done.
Standardizing the Proboards Forum
Done regularly but without time restrictions. Is needed for search and maintenance purposes.
Monitoring Team Forums
Apart from the transactions thread, records wise, we don't see the team forums as a real need, just a nice-to-have where you can have fun if you want to. But we'd rather have you invest your time in other things than googling nice pictures for your roster page.
Rules Committee (New Area)
Adam, Pedro and 3 another GMs preferably from the Trade Committee but not essential.
Validating trades (Cap, Roster)
Done before voting on trading begins, allowing voting to begin. Avoids unnecessay workload for all the league.
Monitoring Free Agency
Heavy workload during specific time of year. Needs synergies with Maintenance Committee due to Excel update.
Bulletproofing the Rules
Going through all League Rules, making sure every detail is there and rewriting the necessary parts for clarification.
NBA Mission
Guaranteeing that we can incorporate as many NBA rules as possible, from FA to CBA, in order to replicate Reality as much as possible within constraints of manpower and logistics.
Activity Committee (New Area)
Joe, the Other José (who sometimes works late nights, apparently preventing things and watching Tits'n'bullets, Banshee as most of you know it, the show with the worst shot accuracy in TV History) and 3 other GMs.
Monthly Checks
On the 1st day of the month a thread is posted with a poll for GMs to vote on. A League Mail and PM is also sent at the same time. Confirmation is needed after voting and tracking of the missing GMs is required.
72H Rules
We feel this is a pressure point for some but we also know that sometimes 3 days is less than a weekend away with the wife or similar life events that take that amount of time but are not "holidays". However we feel that there should always be a 72H rule to reply to PMs and that owners that don't get the replies they should post complaints to this Committee. The Committee analyzes the complaint and decides on measures to be taken case by case.
Building a Waiting List
After addressing the current state of affairs, we should always reach out to create a real waiting list so that in tight spots like these we can address them quickly.
Monitoring Tanking
Owners are the main responsibles for this kind of checking, specially those that are trying to tank "the right way". However, if we have the capacity to do it also, this chore would fall on the Activity Committee's area.
Engagment Committee (New Area)
Every GM that wants to participate and assume a task that provides a better experience for all.
Standings Page
Gathering info from ESPN and taking it to the Forum.
Power Rankings
Tiago and I have already a file setup that generates automatic Power Rankings based on stats (as you've seen before). Someone with Excel skills can do this easily. Writing about it is more painful, but anyone can have a go at it. Just be prepared for there are only negative comments.
Your Ideas
Right now we're to consumed by other things to try and develop new features for you. But feel free to share your ideas, things you've seen in other leagues, anything.
Well, we think that covers up about 90% of things. If we've forgotten something, feel free to point it out. And go, don't be shy. tell us what you think.
Thank you all. Not only for reading all of this
, but also for what you've done with us in the last two and a half years and for all we'll be doing together in the future.Best regards,
The Commishes
