Moving Along

Hal Miller is president of the SAGE STG Executive Committee.


I have been on one SAGE board or another for nearly eight years, almost six as president (in two countries). I have worked on many projects, with many people, in many directions, and had a marvelous time. I have tried to provide some vision and direction, some organization and energy, and lots of encouragement to others. My term on the board ends at the conclusion of the calendar year 2000. While Barb Dijker and I were writing the current governing documents for SAGE, the only point about which we disagreed had to do with officer terms. I insisted on a clause that called for the reappointment of officers at the midpoint of the two-year board terms.

At this time, at that midpoint, I am stepping aside and making room for someone else to begin providing the vision and direction. It is a most difficult decision, made for unrelated personal reasons, but I think the right one for many reasons.

The time is right. Based on term limits I fall off the board soon anyway, so this gives a new president the opportunity to get things in gear and hit the next term at full speed. It takes a long time in a volunteer organization to make one's vision clear and to overcome inertia to get that vision implemented. The new president will have a vibrant organization, growing like crazy, making progress in many areas during that warm-up period, and will be able to guide things in new directions even before current projects finish.

I've been sitting here rereading a paper I wrote (for myself) about five years ago about what I thought SAGE should be. Much of what it says is either done or in progress. Much is still to be tackled. I have to continually remind myself that this is a volunteer organization, and even my time is limited by the facts that I need to earn a living, be with my family, and so on. Things move slowly, regardless of best intentions.

The biggest item still on my list of "things to do," in terms of importance, is "education." I intend to dedicate most of my SAGE time to this for the next year or so. Hopefully, you'll begin seeing more pieces of the program rolling out soon. Other items include involvement in technical standardization, "lobbying" (in the sense of providing information to legislatures over bills like the Communications Decency Act with regard to its impact on us), and expanding our publications lines. We will clearly be expanding our membership, probably significantly, and need to deal now with scale-up preparations. We will continue to expand member services. We will continue to expand internationally.

When I started working with SAGE, my purpose was simple. I needed a lot of help as a sysadmin (and still do). I guessed that a lot of other people needed similar things, and none of us would find our needs fulfilled anywhere else. SAGE has been, and continues to be, the source of help I've needed, although I find my needs changing as time passes. It is now time for other folks to step up and ensure that the organization can provide for others' needs too, especially where they may differ from mine. Time for me to "retire" back to the "real" job and family and let the new blood take over. I'll be around, you can count on it. SAGE has become family too.

Thanks for the ride. It's been an "E" ticket (this for those of you in my age bracket who remember Disneyland as it once was . . .). Keep in touch.