Hello! Hi! What, what, and what- from Tie.

Hi Folks!

I want to let you know what this is, what's happening, and what we can do right now. Because this is my very first note to you all, expect to hear “more about that later” for pretty much everything I write about today, because there is a TON more for you to know about this whole thing, but it’s really important that I keep things accessible, so we’ll start with the big pictures and I’ll tell you the answer I found to a big question I’ve been asking lately.

What is Gathered Here?

Right now, Gathered Here is a space for me to talk, plan, and test the “there’s gotta be a better option” database project I’ve been working on. It’s where you get to hear about the digging I’ve been doing into all the ways and whys communities (especially UUs) understand and manage information about their members. Soon, Gathered Here will be a Congregation Management System that meets the values, needs, and intentions of progressive faith communities.

What's happening?

This project is something I've been working on alone for quite a long time (at least 14 months, though the idea was born much earlier than that) and like building a boat in the basement, I've been plugging away, hiding all my errors and successes. This week, I was pushed to bring it out in the open. Right now I’m working on 4 main aspects

Collecting information about needs, wants, and dreams for this system: This will always be part of Gathered Here. On day one, I sat down and searched facebook posts for everyone’s victories and frustrations with the currently available system, on day 2,942 I plan to still be thinking about what our needs, wants, and dreams are for holding our community.
Refining the values that brought me to the project: I want to make sure that the reasons I started this work stay clear in my head and that I can make them clear to folks who use the product.
Creating processes for the technical aspects of the project: review schedules, testing expectations, team accountability, all of those things.
Expanding the circle: I’m changing my metaphors! No more boats in basements, now this project is a game on the playground and I need to make sure that everyone can join because it will be way more fun that way.

What's useful right now?

You are part of this project! That’s obvious, right? Why else would you have read this long email?

So, what’s your current task? Help me make this circle bigger. Make sure your congregation’s membership team is on this mailing list, connect me with your friend who loves data and relationship management, share my facebook posts (or this email) with your minister, religious educator, and administrator. Email me at Katie@GatheredHere.co

My next big push in information collecting is going to require as many voices as possible, help me hear everyone.

The Big Question:

Tie, are you really going to create a Congregation Management System?

Yes.

Ok, now I’m off to work! (More about that later.)

-Tie Resendiz de Perez