One Small Fix
By Matt Waurio
PATC is big. More than 7,000 members, hundreds of volunteers, dozens of committees and crews, and so many trails and cabins that, to my knowledge, nobody has seen every mile and cabin. With all that size and complexity, it's easy for something to become just a little bit harder than it needs to be.
I bet you’ve got one of those issues—the taxing, draining, onerous type. Maybe an event is difficult to find, a webpage has outdated information, or you’ve answered the same question three times because the information isn’t written down anywhere. None of these problems are necessarily a crisis, but together, they make a process more painful than it should be.
You can help fix one.
If you notice something is confusing, outdated, broken, or unnecessarily complicated, don’t just work around it next time. Let someone know. Raise the issue again. If it requires funding, now is also a good time to bring it up as we approach the end of the year and plan future budgets.
Better yet, if it’s something you can fix yourself—fix it. Document a process, introduce two people who should’ve met months ago, draft up a new trail sign that points in the correct direction, tell Communications they’re bad at their jobs (well...maybe be nice about it).
PATC's history is of members who see something that needs doing and step up to do it. 100 years of that’s made for some creaky processes. Let’s do what we do and make something easier for the next person.
If you’re unsure who to contact about your idea, email me at: mwaurio@patc.net.