I would propose we push back in a constructive way.
Logic: if the average household spends 800 EUR x month that it does not live in the Reef (rent + energy costs, let’s say), each month of delay costs 800 x 32 = 25,600 EUR. Delays are to be avoided at any reasonable cost. Four months extra are over 1% of the budget already.
So, I would ask them: delaying the project for us is difficult and expensive. What would need to happen for this second delay to be reversed?
I would also highlight that, in the future, we would like to have a say on the plannings, if only because taking a delay means calling a crisis meeting (technically it would be a level 5 decision) and taking a lot of stress. I would not like to receive any more messages saying “sorry, you are late again, here’s a new planning”. The messages I want to receive are of the type “heads up, if you do not do X by date Y, we are going to have to delay”.
An aside: S&F themselves do not like to wait. When I pointed out the latest Triodos delay, they said that waiting for ONE month would “put them in an embarrassing situation”. So I am sure they will be sympathetic to our misery.
For the future, most of the work is going to be at the intersection between building and finance. I would do something like this, but it does not belong in this thread.
- Teams Finance and Building are dissolved. Everyone in them joins a a “talent pool” for helping circles.
- Each midsize to big task is taken on by a helping circle drawing on the talent pool.
- Coordination of these helping circles happens in the board of Coral Reef, with fairly frequent meetings. The interface with the architects is managed in the board (this also solves the problems of TeamFin having to write proposals based on interpretation of what S&F have said to others () – see).
- The Reef ASBL runs recruitment (for a few more months), inclusion, community, external and support. General coordination meetings are much less frequent.
- Plenaries are still needed for group decisions.