What is our Why?

[nelsonic]

Watch it: http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action

[izaakrogan]

Better?

[nelsonic]

Am I missing something? Did u add it to the readme? I was talking about what the mission is for the org.

[izaakrogan]

Ah, I changed the readme to include why/what/how.

[nelsonic]

😜

[rub1e]

@nelsonic wish I'd seen this earlier - haven't seen it in years but as I recall that sinek talk is exactly the sort of thing I had in mind when I waffled through our meeting just now!

[nelsonic]

Too many communications channels...? :smile: There's a reason why "_Start With Why_" is the first book I recommend to people on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/nelsonic I feel really strongly that having a "Why" that everyone involved in F&C identifies with is essential.

[rub1e]

couldn't agree more - especially with a business like FAC, with a broad range of backgrounds, experience (life and coding!), aspirations, and attitudes - everything should flow from a mutually-agreed account of why we are all here - our purpose

[izaakrogan]

@nelsonic This is clearer now. Our Why has been changing. Originally, we were all about proving that a great education could and should be provided cheaply. Then, I think our Why was about showing the power of group based educational environments and building a repeatable model for cheap/free eduction. At the moment, we are trying to build a great community. Soon, it will include building amazing products (or delivering exception work). Our why is probably a mix of these things. @rub1e @sofer Thoughts?

[iteles]

When we all got together with FAC4, it was clear from the group discussion that at that time, everyone wanted the school and our commitment to education to remain central to F&C. It's worth figuring out how diluted this now is/should be by the 'building great products' side of things as it seems we may all have different ideas.

[rub1e]

I'd imagine that if you asked 20 FACers this question, you'd get 20 different answers. Obviously everyone will have different personal ambitions (change the world, get a steady job, free yourself from a steady job, build cool stuff etc), but with a bit of work I think we could come up with a set of common principles for FAC over and above its members' goals. For me it probably centres on the transformational power of the education, the business model (sustainable, open-source, transparent, repeatable etc.), and the shared identity that comes from being part of a cooperative - but I really want to know what everyone else thinks.

What about a coop workshop afternoon - say 2pm - 5pm in little breakout groups followed by a pot-luck picnic in the park as a sweetener? Each group could have a guided discussion and then present back to everyone a couple of hours later, with points of significant commonality giving us the basis for answering the WHY question properly.

[izaakrogan]

@rub1e Great idea! Let's raise this on Tuesday and see who's up for it.

[izaakrogan]

Proposal: Our why is to provide the best possible training in web development - for free.

[rub1e]

Fantastic, but would want to go further - just spitballing here but something like: to help make the world a better place by providing the best possible training in web development, for free, to those who share our goals. To promote diversity in the industry by encouraging applications from traditionally under-represented groups.

Being a school is what we do - it's also what GA, MA, and ETC do - but what sets us apart from them is why we do what we do.

[sofer]

"to those who share our goals" is a tricky idea to pin down; "to promote diversity" is in danger of being a platitude.

Also, the fact that we are providing education "for free" sightly misses the point. The idea of paying for education feels to me like a perversion. a civilised society need not turn education into a market transaction. But, anyway, charging for education may only make sense in a world where there are no other choices.

Ivan Illich's Deschooling Society and Tools for conviviality are good starting points.

Perhaps we are aiming for "a society committed to high levels of shared learning and critical personal intercourse" which "enlarges the range of each person’s competence, control, and initiative".

The problem with articulating "what is our why" is that we are in danger of either devaluing what we are doing or sounding a bit ridiculous.

But that's no reason not to keep trying. I just don't think we yet have anywhere near the right words.

[sofer]

@rubie @izaakrogan My favourite expression of what I think we are trying to do is in the FAQ: "We are trying to build a community and we do not think we can do that by charging an entry fee".

[izaakrogan]

@rub1e @sofer I like Rubie's suggestion and I agree with Dan about dropping "to those who share our goals". I'm not sure our why is to build a community - I think we are all about providing education; about challenging the status quo and setting a standard for others to follow.

[sofer]

@rub1e @izaakrogan

"Changing the way we think about education"

[sofer]

How are we changing it?

• it is not a market transaction, but something from which both teachers and students gain;
• teaching is part of the process of learning;
• nobody should teach full-time; everyone should teach some of the time;
• there is no good reason for anyone to pay for education;
• the most important part of learning is creating the right environment;
• the most important part of that environment is your peer group.

[rub1e]

@sofer @izaakrogan

Despite not being a communist, I do think this is fertile territory...

Changing the way we think about education - providing a model for others to follow - proving that the model can be sustainable: these are laudable missions. Creating a community kinda does come into it, but maybe that's more of a how than a why.

The thing that leaves me uneasy is that there is a very good reason for looking at teaching as a market transaction and expecting payment: it costs time and money to provide good education - we need to keep the lights on and the oven hot in the winter.... Is there a sense in which all we're doing is asking for that payment to come from charitable donations and corporate sponsorship rather than individual students and the State? Not necessarily a bad thing, but it's unclear whether this is a sustainable model.

Still, as a rallying cry, I do like changing the way we think about education

Stream of consciousness to be continued in a couple of hours at the biz meeting...

[izaakrogan]

"Founders and Coders is trying to change the way the UK thinks about education."

We have a model which is vastly more effective and far cheaper to deliver than the current standard.

[rub1e]

yeah I think the headline is spot on - it's just the bullets underneath it that I think need tightening

I reckon we're much closer to an answer to this than ever before - then once we've settled this, we can take a look at all of our activities and... processes... and use this lens to evaluate them, to ask how every single thing we do is helping us achieve our mission

[nelsonic]

"Founders and Coders is trying to change the way the UK thinks about education." :grey_question:

@izaakrogan any reason you are limiting yourself to the UK? :wink: @perborgen & @beechware are already taking the Torch to Mount Olympus next week! :earth_africa: both in the in the interest of having fewer words and being more globally-inclusive could we modify the way the UK thinks to the way we think ...?

also, while the word trying does lend itself to our humility the fact is that FAC isn't "just" "trying" FAC is doing it should be reflected in the motto.

so, could: is trying to change be modified to is changing or even just changes

So the proposal is:

"Founders and Coders changes how we think about education." :thought_balloon:

which could be further simplified to:

"Founders and Coders changes how we think about education." :scissors:

or

"_Founders and Coders is re-thinking education_." :globe_with_meridians:

or, is it worth opening this out to "@/all" by mentioning this issue on Gitter (again)? :speech_balloon:

[izaakrogan]

@nelsonic I :heart: "Founders and Coders is re-thinking education"

It also works well with @NataliaLKB's logo!

[sofer]

_"Rethinking education"_

Are we there yet?

[sofer]

Final words from me: _"Rethink education"_

[rub1e]

@sofer the imperative voice, love it - I think it's a fantastic strapline

@nelsonic yes, we should (again). If one of you wouldn't mind doing that - I think I have rather exhausted the usefulness of my voice on the subject by now...

[izaakrogan]

@sofer I really like "Rethink Education" as a strap line.

We also need to extend/qualify this with our why

[claireinez]

I slightly prefer "Rethinking education" to "Rethink education" simply because it shows that we are actually doing that and leading by example (rather than just telling people what to do).

[nelsonic]

@nofootnotes :+1:

[rub1e]

i like the mildly sinister exhortation - ve have vays of making you rethink...

[jackpandas]

Rethink education is a great motto, and also used by lots of people.

"Rethink digital education" appears to be a Googlewhack.

...also with regards to that Tech Will Save Us page, I like to think that FAC is building something far better than the terrible product/service concept of what education should be.

[SimonLab]

It' true that "rethink digital education" will be easier to find on Google but I also think that FAC is not just about digital, I just like "rethink education". The way we are running FAC can be applied to other kind of school and co-op not just not just in IT

[rub1e]

@SimonLab +1

[ronanyeah]

I like "rethink digital education".

edit: To expand, I disagree with Simon and I think that to really demonstrate our value we need a narrow goal that we can achieve to a very high standard ie, creating amazing web developers. A clear specific goal.

Not that eventual expansions like Founders & Artists/Writers/etc wouldn't be pretty awesome...

edit 2: Also, surely a googlewhack is something that can be leveraged for SEO purposes? @joshpitzalis?

[sofer]

One minor problem with "rethink education" is that there are already a few organisations using it, like http://rteducation.com/ and http://rethinkeducation.com and http://rethinkeducation.co.za/

A problem with "digital education". is that most people understand this to mean the delivery of education online, which is not really what we are about. Our strapline could more accurately be, "forget about digital education".

I am shifting back towards "rethinking education", which in google mainly returns a selection of articles from worthy organisations.

[izaakrogan]

Will people find us by our strap line? Does it matter if we are sharing it with unrelated companies? We would have more of an issue if there were similar organisations using it. I'm a big fan of the imperative: Think Different, Just Do It, Have a Break...

Founders & Coders Rethink Education

[rub1e]

@izaakrogan I 100% agree with you on all those points

Which also brings up the issue of what we're talking about here: it's great that we've got a debate going on our strapline but let's not allow the tail to wag the dog - we are a complex organisation and there's no way our WHY is summed up in these two pithy words.

Also, "Rethinking" is a WHAT or a HOW - not a WHY

[rub1e]

PS:

• Vorsprung Durch FAC
• Go to work on a FAC
• I'm FACcing it!
• FAC it your way
• Finger FACking good!
• FAC! Crackle! Pop!
• Maybe she's born with it; maybe it's FAC
• maxFACtor

[heron2014]

For me, 'Rethink education' and 'rethinking education' do not provide Founders and Coders enough justice of what we are actually bringing to the community. When I hear / use the word 'rethink' its usually used in a way where you're not certain of your first initial thought.

Example: 'Are you sure this is correct?' ….. 'hmmm let me rethink this and get back to you'.

It could also be used in a negative contexts.

Example 2: 'You need to rethink your attitude'.

Along with this, as Dan pointed out, the word has been used as a catch line for various companies already...... why do we want to mirror the same message?

We are shepherds.... not sheep!

What Founders and Coders provides is unique, fresh..... inspiring.....

Rethinking is incomplete, its basically insinuating that we are still rethinking about what we stand for. This is not the case. We know who we are, we know what we want to do, and we are working our way towards this.

I don't know how everyone feels, but I know that I was inspired by Founders and Coders, hence my application in the first place.

Personally speaking, I like this....

'Founders and Coders – Inspired education' or 'Founders and Coders – Inspiring Education'

Or even something like – 'Founders and Coders – Effective Education'

[claireinez]

@heron2014 Very good points! You're so right, we are doing so much more than just rethinking education. I really like all your suggestions!

[Neats29]

+1 @heron2014 I agree with Anita, I think 'Founders and Coders – Inspiring Education' puts across a more effective message. or even 'Founders and Coders – Innovative Education'

[nelsonic]

While I agree (with @Neats29 @nofootnotes & @heron2014) that "inspiring" or "innovative" are more inclusive/wide-ranging words than "rethink" or "rethinking" its worth noting that these words are used by everyone: https://www.google.com/search?q=Innovative+Education

Also agree with @rub1e that we appear to have gone totally off topic by focussing on a "Slogan" / "Strap line" when the subject of this thread was "What is our Why?" ... which was intended to start a discussion around _Why_ are we doing Founders & Coders.

This is less about marketing and more about mission. If anyone has not watched the Simon Sinek Ted Talk: http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action Please add to to your watch queue to understand the distinction between words and action.

[rorysedgwick]

I like "Rethinking Education". It may not encompass everything that F&C is about, but as @rubi1e says we are a complex organisation and if we want to keep the strapline concise that may be almost impossible in a couple of words.

@heron2014 I agree that the word "rethink" can have negative connotations but the negativity does not always lie with the "rethinker". If it is the UK education system that needs rethinking and other organisations are doing that for them then those groups should not inherit any of the blame for the current state of affairs; they should be commended for the effort they are putting into making improvements or alternatives.

The implication of incompleteness may also be correct (although maybe not the image we want to project). If free education is what we stand for, then we know who we are and what we want to do, but whether we have a concrete plan on how to roll out the F&C method to a much wider spectrum of people is another story (as far as I know). We have proven that the F&C learning environment has worked amazingly well at the current scale but implying we know exactly how we're going to do it large-scale is another thing.

At the risk of sounding over-dramatic "Founders & Coders: Freeing Education" ?

[sofer]

@rorysedgwick I like the double meaning of "freeing education" and I am loving that this dormant thread has come alive again.

To respond to @nelsonic, my Why? is that I want to have a place of work that I look forward to coming into every day and I want something that I can look back at and say, "I was part of that". In other words, I want to be part of something bigger than myself.

I see the education bit of what we do as a means to an end, and that end is the exercise of my power over my own life. I want to have more choice over what I do, how I do it, and who I do it with. Surrounding myself with people capable of shaping their own destinies who care about what their world looks like, is the most exciting thing I have ever done.

[msmichellegar]

Accessible and high quality education.

[heron2014]

Empower or Empowering Education

[sofer]

Quality and reputation matter, too.

[sofer]

Community and co-operation.

[sofer]

reciprosity is important, too.

[sofer]

Sustainability.