District Operations and the Council Web Page

District Operations

Communication and "fixing the council web page"

We have started to embark on an effort to improve district operations. As part of that effort I have attended the majority of the district committee, Roundtable, commissioners meetings. I have also held several (about 20) individual meetings with Cub Masters and Scout Masters in the past 45 days. Additionally, we sent out a survey about roundtables and received 80 responses. One of the responses from the survey was an e-mail response that simply said "The web page is pathetic." This created a great learning opportunity for the recipient of the e-mail as well as a great learning opportunity for all involved.

About 6 months ago we launched "the new BSAboston.org" At that time we received a ton of feedback that the current site was "terrible, cumbersome and confusing." The negative feedback about the website has been persistent for years. So we asked a ton of questions, recruited a talented group of volunteers to build the site, listened and developed the new site. The negative feedback in the those days was mostly from new members, parents, Cub Scout Leaders and others who didn't understand the "language of the BSA" and frankly, didn't want to understand that language. They didn't care which district they were / are in..... they just wanted to sign up for camp. So now we are excited that we sell out new and innovative camp programs and the new web page - while not perfect has a lot to do with that increase. (Winter Camp, STEM Camp, Rock Climbing weekends, weekend programs at Sayre etc.)

But that emphasis didn't mean we could / should neglect the old site. We kept the old site and in fact still use it as our primary registration tool. The "old site" receives two major criticisms.
PROBLEM ONE - TOO cumbersome and TOO much stuff. (but once I know where to go - it's helpful)
PROBLEM TWO - Inaccurate calendar dates and events that get cancelled.

and now we have the THIRD PROBLEM of folks going to "the new site" when they are looking for information contained on the "old site"

Let's Change the Vocabulary and try to solve PROBLEM THREE first - it's not NEW and OLD - it's outward focused and inward focused. We'll make some updates and adjustments to better link the outward facing site to the internal site. Below is a mock up of some potential changes for the outward facing site. Also, we'd ask our internal customers (long term Scouters) to bookmark the internal site. Please provide feedback regarding the outward facing site through this survey.

Now let's go after PROBLEM ONE - Let's make the internal site less cumbersome. Remember the guy who said the "new site was pathetic." As he helped to provide feedback he pointed out that just going to the calendar required several "clicks" and was difficult to find. The several clicks is caused by the committee trying to be hyper-convenient by providing several views of the same calendar. The intention is wonderful - the result is confusing. The internal site has WAY TOO MUCH redundant information. about three months ago I hid over 100 links - not one complaint, nor any real visual improvement. Trimming that web page feels like a morbidly obese person losing weight. They have to lose 100 pounds before people take notice.

The mock up below shows a draft of a cleaner more direct internal customer web site. Please take a look at the mock up and provide your feedback here.

PROBLEM TWO - cancelled events and an inaccurate calendar. this is actually NOT a web page problem this is a district operations problem.  

District Operations

If you are still reading .... hopefully you remember this blog started out as an update on our district operations initiative. It seems in some instances we struggle with securing a date or developing a program, yet in other cases we do a spectacular job. The Klondike Derbies are a recent example of high quality well attended district activities. And of course Merit Badge University or the Eagle Dinner are two recent examples of quality council program (not to mention winter camp etc). So, clearly "we" can do it.  The best way to solve the calendar problem (and in turn the web page problem) is to ask those folks who step forward and run a successful event, HOW they do it. They obviously have the answers.

The process will compare their successful actions to the actions taken for programs that never quite get off the ground. This is the self reflection process that is required for growth, and constant improvement. This is the "district revitalization process," and to be clear, it's not always comfortable or easy - but it's necessary if we are going to improve. Our roundtables and our district committees are less functional than most of our troops. Our council board has gone through this metamorphosis over the past few years and I'm sure everyone would agree, the outcome is worth the effort. Aspects of our district / council operations are highly functional.

The photos below are from our most recent roundtables.

The graph is just a small percentage of the responses from the roundtable survey.

By reflecting on this feedback, (lack of attendance is also feedback) we can improve the value of our roundtables. Roundtables are just part of the District operations revitalization project. The web pages are another aspect of the district revitalization project. If we all work together, and put the Scouts first we can find all the resources (human, physical, intellectual and financial) to help Scouting thrive in every community. 

See you around the campfire