Executive Policy and Structure
In previous campaigns, I have placed significant emphasis on growing the Executive branch and the activity it produces. This is a goal whose success I have no doubts about. We have seen the executive swell in size and vigor, and the basis of activity that any strong government needs is no longer a goal to create but rather a goal to build ever higher. Our executive has been rebuilding itself over the course of the last year from stagnation before and downsizing before that. So far it has been relying on the support structures that existed before and those that were created during the rekindling of activity, but those structures are minimal and are neither a basis for long-term executive stability nor are they suitable for the size of the Executive we have reached.
Over the past few weeks, both through others and through my own experiences, it has become very clear that the core pillar we are in desperate need of is reliable executive policy and guides throughout all levels of the government, to serve as supports and guiderails so the Cabinet can ensure everything is done properly, and to enshrine information in the long term outside of the memory of its participants. Throughout the upcoming term, the most important and prominent aspect I will be holding will be the establishment of a comprehensive executive policy consisting of procedures and guides to all branches of the executive. This executive policy will have sections both for Ministers and all the way down to the lower levels of the executive groups. It will outline the responsibilities and duties of each position and how to properly execute them, a reference and standard to ensure current Cabinets know precisely what is required, and a record to ensure the loss of institutional knowledge cannot cripple the government should the future not be ideal.
This is not a lofty project for the future, but a project that has already begun. An announcement policy has already been in existence for the past week, along with basic procedure on how to process executive applications. My next aims to build policy structures are:
- Finishing the Application Processing Procedures with processing timeframes and details more specific to each of the executive groups
- Policy outlining the responsibilities of each area of the Executive Groups (Culture Groups, Ambassador Corps, and Recruitment Team), and detailed guides on how to fulfill the duties
- Procedures concerning the Auditing and Removal of members from each of the Executive Groups
- Cabinet Guides detailing recurring events, awards, and publications; covering both how to implement them as well as containing announcement templates to ease the burden of running them
- Guidelines for dispatch and forum post design standardization across all ministries and the executive
In addition to guides and policies, I intend to create a variety of tools to assist in the support structures of the Executive. These will range from vehicles for planning and organization to quality of life tools to aid in the creation of materials. Some of these already exist in unfinished or yet-to-be-implemented forms, and others I will need to make as they are yet to be brought beyond being an idea. Some of the tools I aim to create are as follows:
- An application response formatter; to easily spit out detailed application response message (this already partially exists)
- A return of the original function of the Culture Calendar; an internal planning and scheduling calendar for the executive (this will not replace the current public-facing announcement form of the Culture Calendar, but rather serve alongside it for internal planning)
- A dispatch formatter; to easily apply standardized formatting to dispatch announcements and publications
- Additionally I’d like to experiment with using the Forum’s calendar feature
Executive Groups
Restructuring the Culture Groups
The Culture Groups haven’t been edited or changed since their initial debut a few terms ago, and still exist in their original form. In them we’ve seen a number of successes, and we’ve seen a number of failures. When the culture groups were initially created they were constructed around certain projects that we wanted done. We created the Resident Spotlight, Newspaper, Holidays and Events, and Wiki culture groups. Of those four culture groups, only two have become something significant; the Newspaper and the Resident Spotlight groups both actively contribute towards TSSG. The other culture groups have largely not been used partially due to a failure of project scope and involvement, and partially to do with the oversight and leadership directed to those groups. I intend to merge and restructure the culture groups into a format that will more closely align with both what we’ve been seeing and what activity and support I still aim to obtain from them. The culture groups will be merged into two overarching groups of Publications and Events. Publications will serve as a merger between the Newspaper and Resident Spotlight groups as a group dedicated to TSSG and potentially other kinds of publications. The Events group will be the equivalent to the Holidays & Events group, because while that group has not been active, I believe with the proper leadership and structure it can still achieve what I originally hoped it would carry out. It will additionally require consideration into how to alter events for it, to better make use of its members.
Ambassador General & Culture Secretaries
As a way to relieve administrative burden as well as to provide more additional direction to the Executive groups when their respective Minister is busy, I will be creating three mid-level executive positions: two Culture Secretaries and an Ambassador General.
Each of the Culture Secretaries will be specifically in charge of one of the two Culture Groups, and will be able to provide more detailed guidance to their groups. They will aid in both the Administrative side of processing applications, as well as the active contribution towards and management of the projects being conducted.
The Ambassador General will be an administrative position for the Ambassador Corps, assigning, shuffling, and removing ambassadors as needed; directing announcements as needed by the MoFA and PM, managing Ambassador applications, and ensuring Ambassadors are fulfilling their duties. The Ambassador General is not designed to be a point of contact for FA, but just a role which can help carry the domestic burden with the MoFA. This position is one I find the most necessary as the Ambassador Corps has the worst application times due to the deliberation put into its management combined with the effort taken up by foreign affairs itself.
Executive Group Forum Areas
Currently with the culture groups we are in a slightly awkward position where we don’t require discord in order to join, but we also don’t have any structures outside of Discord for the culture groups. I’ve always intended for there to be some kind of forumside presence so that way those without discord would be able to participate, but I unfortunately didn’t put in the effort to think through and plan how to implement those areas previously, and thus they never were created, something I intend to change.
Furthermore, across all the executive groups, I’ve seen general issues due to the sole reliance on discord for organization, direction, and communication. It’s become apparent that the forums are something we need for the organization and planning we’re doing. In the ambassador core we’ve seen announcement directives get buried and require pinging ambassadors to go back and post it. In the culture groups I’ve been using threads to separate out specific conversations so that way they don’t get buried as other conversations have. Utilizing a forum area is something we need, and something to resolve a lot of these issues. I will create Executive group subcategories and appropriate forum groups to actually fulfill the ability for those without discord to participate in the culture groups, and to better facilitate the kind of conversations we’re having.
The Wizard
Application Processing
When it comes to the processing of applications, we currently have a system that contains elements that are both highly effective and areas that are lacking. Currently how it works is, I as Prime Minister properly tag applications as pending the instant I see them, and then I rely on my Minister to process their respective applications, pinging them every so often and processing applications occasionally as needed. This system is very dependent on the attention of Ministers (Prime Minister included) to the applications. Some Ministers have been diligent in their processing, while others have been too busy with other parts of their Ministry to adequately process them. The tagging of new applications is the foundation of the system, which I have been very active in the maintenance of, is largely dependent on me at the moment, and should I depart without others taking up the duty of tagging applications then applications would be vastly more liable to fall through the cracks and be lost.
To improve the current situation regarding application processing, there are a number of ways to mitigate inefficiencies of the system. Primarily I intend to extend application processing to Junior Minister positions, so that they are able to take a chunk of work off the plate of their Minister. Additionally, I intend to set out timelines and build a culture of diligent processing for applications, spreading the non-ministry specific workload across the whole Cabinet. Tools and guides will be an important aid for processing, and I already have the initial core of an application processing guide written out and a partially completed tool for easily formatting responses. I will create a system to remind me, and my Ministers to process applications, and I personally aim to be prompt in the processing of applications my Cabinet cannot get to in time.
Additions to the Wizard
The wizard has been very effective in bringing people into the executive groups, but as it has grown it has only increased the barrier to entry of legislatorship. With the centralization of applications, the fact legislator applications are tucked away in another topic makes it far more unlikely for a newer person to apply. The requirement to post a link to your citizenship application is another massive barrier to newer members. In fact, if you scroll through the legislator application topic, the number of legislators new to TSP is shockingly sparse. Legislatorship is one major potential source of activity for a newer member to engage in, but it’s hidden behind barriers of knowledge newer members will not have. I intend to work with the Chair, and amend laws if necessary, to bring legislator applications into the wizard. Legislatorship also needs to be a position pushed with heavier emphasis onto citizen applicants. I believe someone applying for citizenship should be prompted when doing so to apply for legislatorship on top of that, something with more chances to end up opting in than the SPSF and executive groups have. The Assembly is one of the most important cores of our region, and we need to make it easier to join it.
Further, I intend to add OWL Advisor applications to the wizard. The lower levels of the Office of World Assembly Legislation has become essentially an executive group in its own right, and with the structures that are forming and that exist around OWL, it offers a glowing environment to be able to boost our WA culture. I will work with my Director of OWL to do minor restructuring and renaming of the lower levels of OWL to make it more equipped to take on members looking to work on WA proposals, and adding OWL to the wizard will serve to open that doorway to those who might not have involved themselves otherwise.
Hunting Down of Old Links
The two links of the Wizard have caused quite a bit of pain when it comes to executive applications. Currently, that problem has been mitigated by having the old one redirect to the new one. It’s not a perfect solution, but it makes the old links much less pressing of a problem. This will still cause issues whenever we need to change the wizard, but manageable in the short term. We still do need to reconsolidate the wizard links, so as not to pass on an excruciating problem to whoever runs the executive months or years down the line. I intend to create, manage, and promote a reporting thread of old links, and to ensure it does not get buried. The longer it stays up, and for as long as it remains in the public consciousness, it will be an effective tool in solving this problem.
Additionally, this has the potential for an event or contest surrounding fixing the two-link problem, to leverage our community with a competition to see who can locate the most old links.
Culture
Culture is the area where we are in most desperate need of structures to support our activity; where we need policy and guides to ensure members are not left in the dark and that we can complete projects with as much effectiveness and vibrance as possible. Going beyond the structures and policy of the executive, I hold a number of additional initiatives for the Ministry.
Pollmaster and Poll Events - Lessening the Gap between the RMB and Forum
One of my hopes with Pollmaster and Poll events is that we can restructure them to drive familiarity with the forums through their basic usage. I intend to shift the primary venue of holding submissions and campaigns, as well as declarations and sign ups, from dispatches to the forums. This serves two general purposes, the first being to utilize the advantages of the forum. In contests or elections where there are a variety of dispatches, by shifting them all to one forum topic eases the burden of needing to open too many links. It also grants much easier recordkeeping in the event anyone wants to go back to see a previous event. The second purpose is as I described earlier: to drive familiarity with the forums. By requiring those who engage primarily on-site to use the forums, but without making them do so in any complicated or detailed way we can overcome resistance to the unfamiliar while also building confidence in our members’ ability to navigate our forums.
TSSG - Scheduling, Deadlines, Function
The south seas gazette, While at its core, a productive driver of activity, has suffered from significant structural and planning difficulties this term. As part of the executive policies and structures that I intend to put in place as the core pillar of the upcoming term, I will be instating and reinstating various schedules and deadlines around TSSG. I intend to implement the structure necessary to get it out much more on time and to also give a much clearer view of when something absolutely requires the Prime Minister and Cabinet to step in to help finish things.
Game Nights / Southern Reef Games - Return of VC nights
With this coming August, my IRL schedule is going to see a big shift, and I am looking forward to having a much more consistent schedule, allowing me to take over and bring a return of VC game nights. This term and last term I passed them off to my Ministers, who have implemented them as the Southern Reef Games. Southern Reef Games have not existed in a structure around VCs, simply being games taking place at specific times. I will still be relying on my Ministers for games, but I will be conducting many of the VCs themselves.
Integration
The Ministry of Integration has really taken off during my term, and we’ve seen the expansion of recruitment, and have started its momentum. We have an awards system to recognize hard-working members and to identify and present them with the recognition and reward they deserve. We’ve made significant steps towards where we want the Wizard to be. My foremost goal of integration is to continue the positive momentum my Administration has begun, but beyond that there are vastly more ways in which we can throw even more momentum behind our integration efforts.
WFE - A better array of what we offer
Our World Factbook Entry is woefully outdated and needs a major overhaul. It lacks anything directing members to Citizenship, Legislatorship, or the Executive groups, and desperately needs improvement as a point of entry for involvement and integration. I intend to completely rework the WFE, simplifying and shortening things, cutting out unnecessary bits, and making space for the links that need to go in there.
Additionally I intend to remove 87.7 on the NS Dial from the WFE as it takes up quite a lot of space without significant importance. The reclaimed space will either go to a question of the day, daily discussion topic, or serve as a location for announcements.
Awards - Badges, vanity roles, and cards
With the Ministry of Integration’s Coconut Awards, I intend to boost the visibility and allure of them through badges not dissimilar to SPSF ribbons as well as vanity roles. We already give out some cards for them, which I fully plan on continuing to do. Badges and vanity roles will make the Awards and their winners far more visible and will serve as a greater incentive to excel in the awards.
Spirals - Decorations for Everyone
There are a lot of different Spiral Icons we use across TSP, and a number of them don’t get a ton of use. We already use the TSP blue & orange versions for leadership positions such as the Cabinet Ministers, but the lighter blue versions are perfect for the executive groups to wear with style. I intend to spread their use, expanding the use of the spirals as role icons on discord and using them as flairs for the forum groups.
Foreign Affairs
I am quite proud of the achievements we have made in foreign affairs this term, even throughout the various events that have shifted the foundations of gameplay. At the end of June, and beginning of July, we were able to work with our allies to help secure them positions in the World Assembly Secretariat elections. We have furthered relations with our friends and opened avenues with regions we’ve not had significant relations with before. This term we’ve worked to build a brand-new treaty with our allies in Starlight. We’ve also opened up embassies with the Outback, a fellow GCR. We’ve created a lot of momentum regarding relationships and goodwill, momentum that I look forward to continuing over the course of this next term.
Defense
Within the SPSF, we need to build two things: our cultural base and our military strength. Our Military strength is the core of what the SPSF can accomplish, the number of updaters we can pull for an operation and the skill levels of our members. The cultural base of the SPSF is part of that underlying driver of our military, a core component to why people show up update after update. I intend to grow these two aims through wargames, training, and consistent activity.
Wargames
I intend to build a culture where when raiders do not take action, we are still able to do something. I wish to develop a more driven and diligent military culture which can push against inactivity, both within and beyond the SPSF, where when an update would be a Nothing Ever Happens update we would instead see an update where people are seizing the opportunity to train and compete amongst themselves in spontaneous wargames and practice to push their skills ever higher. I want to drive wargames both planned and unplanned, both within the SPSF and together with our allies. Wargames build not just skills when bereft of an operation, they also build camaraderie and cooperation as well, and they are a tool to further defender culture.
Training
I intend to build infrastructure to ease the training of new recruits. To teach someone the intricacies of r/d mechanics is time consuming and a torrent of information being thrown at the trainee. I intend to produce training guides to help Cadets reach Ensign, to further build Ensign’s knowledge base and familiarity of mechanics, and to serve as a reference when someone does not remember every piece of information that was poured onto them when they joined the SPSF. Guides do not serve as an alternative to training, but a support for it, both before, during, and after.
Conflict of Interest
Citizen and Legislator of TSP
Captain of the SPSF and Junior Command in Libcord
Former Minister of Culture, Minister of Ropeplay, and Minister of Defense in TSP
Current and Former Prime Minister of TSP
Citizen and Former Delegate of Wintreath
Junior Command of CORAL (N-Day Alliance)