Headmaster Report #5
One (more) down, one to go!
I keep mentioning the upcoming Leadership Management course in my reports. It still isn't ready. We're working hard to bring it up to snuff, and the seventh-most-prestigious member of the Brotherhood (if you care about that sort of thing) has volunteered his time and oldness to the cause! I hope to be able to announce its launch in my next report.
All is not lost, however. I am pleased to present, for Howie's consumption, yet another new leadership course: Leadership Competitions! The MAA staff has crafted this handy guide for understanding competitions in the Brotherhood, including the different types of competitions and how approvals work. Evant, the P:MAA, will be serving as Docent for the new course. Please go inundate him with exams to grade.
Also also also! The first three people to score 100% on Leadership Competitions will earn third level crescents! Go do that!
Degrees of Leadership
I've teased changes to the Leadership Maven and Savant for a while now, but I kept holding back the details pending the release of the Management course. I'm tired of that. So, here you go: the tentative changes to those degrees. The changes will not go live until the Leadership Management course is released, so for now just sit back, relax, and enjoy.
Maven:
- Leadership Reports
- Leadership Rewards
- Leadership Competitions
- Serve in a leadership position. Leadership in multiple, non-consecutive positions may count, but only if you held the non-consecutive positions for at least 75% of the required time.
- Consul or Proconsul: 3 months (75% = 2.25 months)
- Questor or Aedile: 4 months (75% = 3 months)
- Battle Team Leader: 5 months (75% = 3.75 months)
Savant:
- Dark Maven: Leadership
- Leadership Management
- IRC 301: Operator Studies
- Chamber of Justice I
- Serve in a leadership position. Leadership in multiple, non-consecutive positions may count, but only if you held the non-consecutive positions for at least 75% of the required time.
- Consul or Proconsul: 6 months (75% = 4.5 months)
- Quaestor or Aedile: 8 months (75% = 6 months)
- Battle Team Leader: 10 months (75% = 7.5 months)
As you can see, the new leadership courses will supplant the old. What are the big non-course changes? BTLs will be eligible for these degrees for the first time. Moreover, non-consecutive leadership positions will count towards the time-in-service requirements -- but only if you held two or more non-consecutive positions for at least 75% of the time required for each of the positions.
An example: AED Billy spent four months as a BTL, then went rogue for a while because of real life time constraints. He returned, snagged an AED spot, and has served two and half months in that job so far. Assuming he meets the course requirements for the Maven, is he eligible for the degree? No. Although he served as a BTL for more than 75% of the five month requirement for BTL, he has not yet served as AED long enough. Once he has served as AED for three months, he will have met the 75% time requirement for both BTL and AED. Those two non-consecutive leadership positions, combined, will get him beyond the four month time-in-service requirement for his current job and automagically grant him the Maven.
Some people may be concerned that Rollmasters do not appear on this list. Unfortunately, the RM role differs too widely from unit to unit to really nail down its leadership duties. This isn't a slight against RMs -- Dark Council and Staff positions are similarly excluded because they are not, strictly speaking, leadership positions (except GM and DGM, of course).
I'll recap all of this when these changes go live following the release of Leadership Management. It's also possible that I may alter the new requirements upon further reflection. More to come.
One final change: the Dark Sage - Law degree will now also count Appeals Panel service towards the degree requirements. Serving half a term as a Hand or a full Appeals term (both 6 months) will meet the requirement.
Test of What?
As of today, I am implementing a somewhat-requested-change: you may now complete the Test of Wisdom by submitting a competition entry, as long as it meets the other requirements of the course (and can withstand the fury of Anshar).
The Audit!
As noted last report, we have shifted our auditing attention to the Department of Writing Studies. We have been focused on the leadership courses and preparing for the final round of Fading Light (there is an SA exam!), for the past month, but Meleu has made a strong first pass through the Writing courses. This will be the top priority following Fading Light and the release of Leadership Management.
Top Exam Takers!
Since my last report, the top five exam takers at the SA are:
| Name | # of Exams |
|---|---|
| OE Gryffon De'Urtha Cantor | 21 |
| GRD Serenla | 20 |
| DIS Flint* | 19 |
| DIS Enric Galazin | 18 |
| JH Aiorus Van Trayus | 14 |
*The third-highest exam taker this month is a rogue light sider. HOU hype?
Great work, everyone!
Conclusion
As always, I'd like to close this report by asking for your help. The SA is a massive wall of text that covers ever-shifting topics and is prone to typos and run-on sentences. If you spot substantive or grammatical problems, please let me, Ood, and the course PROF know so that we can fix them ASAP. As we work through the Departments during the audit, we're also going to be asking for help reading and editing -- if you have any particular expertise, let us know when we announce the next Department being audited. There are shiny things available. :P
Bubba
Sith Warlord Dacien Victae di Plagia
Headmaster of the Dark Jedi Brotherhood
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You will bow to the holder of the glorious seventh greatest of epeens!
Also... Gryff taking most courses is funny :D
For those wondering why we don't make the distinction between Indy house QUA's and subunit QUA's: CON/PCON are responsible for a Clan, with multiple Houses under their leadership. Indy house leaders have a house-structure to run.
Sorry if this upsets some, but it's a choice we had to make and we did.
You're letting only the seventh-most help you? Pfft. Not even Top 5! What do they know?! :P
Ood. You're wrong about that. The highest law of the Dark Brotherhood says you cannot make a distinction between Independent Unit leaders, and that's the way it goes.
An IU Leader is an IU Leader. Let's just leave it at that.
Am I to understand there will be a section of the new leadership course dedicated to how to properly handle a large epeen?
You can't handle it, you can only hope to contain it.
What about battle team sergeant? That should be included in btl leadership too. They have an important role also
No, they don't. That is, at best, a learning position and is not a true leadership position
Shut up, Halc! BTS is awesome and should be getting salary :P
Actual comment this time: the Test of Wisdom notes say there is a minimum of 1 and 1/4 pages in length and no maximum for the story you submit, but the exam page itself says 3-5 pages. Which one should we be listening to?
Also, since I'm commenting on it anyways, might I suggest changing from a page count to a much more accurate word count? Since Sarin's time as Voice, we've made a general switch from page count requirements to word count (and we base CIs and stuff on word counts, too). Just a thought.
As far as I know, the Test of Wisdom says that the initial draft shall have 1 and 1/4 pages in lenght. 3-5 pages regards the final version of the story. Actually, there are no maximum length restraints. The lenght suggested in the course is rather a hint in regards of a reasonable minimum length.
Word count sounds like a good idea, but I'm not the one to make the decision in this case. :)
Xantros is correct. I like the idea of moving to a word count, and will discuss that with Anshar.
Ehehehe. HOU Hype.
I love seeing that in the most random of places.
Can someone translate the 75% thing for me? It's not making any sense to me at all.
Sure Kenath:
Example from Maven:
Basically it means if you serve as: (P)CON for 3 months OR QUA/AED for 4 months OR BTL for 5 months - you get the degree right? Now what does the 75% do? It counts towards multiple and/or non-consecutive times.
Lets say:
Basically, if you serve 75% of the required time in a post, you save it up. You need to serve 75% of the required time twice for it to merit the degree. This also means that if you serve as PCON for 2.25 months, then quit and later become PCON again, you'll have to serve another 2.25 months in order to get the degree, instead of just the .75 months you still need to get to 3 months.
Does that answer your question?
Ood is correct. :P