F*ne lree

[JohnyMac]

I have sent out invitations for our phone tree. If you did not receive a invite and wish to participate pls PM me with your cell number. Thursday I will PM the info to you.

[JohnyMac]

The tree was just sent via Sp PM's. If you have signed up and did not get an email from me or you have questions pls email me.

[special-k]

I had to google "phone tree."

[JohnyMac]

Huh? Sorry you lost me Special K

[special-k]

Huh? Sorry you lost me Special K

Well, it's pretty simple.  I didn't know what a "phone tree" was 'til I looked it up.  *duhr d-duhhrr*

[JohnyMac]

Would you like to be part of the tree?

[JohnyMac]

Well folks I sent out a test msg for the tree at 1425 today. If you haven't received the msg yet pls PM me. I want to find out where the blockage is.

Thanks,
Johnymac

[Kentactic]

PM sent

[hjmoosejaw]

Hey guys, it looks like I was the one that dropped the ball. Long story short, I thought the test was Tues. Forgot about it temporarily. Along with having a landline, and my daughter being gone with her cell phone half the time, I PM'd JM and told him I may need to step out until I break down and get my own cell phone. So far, I've managed to not have one, but it looks like I may need to give in. I will probably get a track phone. Then I can get on the tree again. I'm usually a lot more dependable, and don't want to be dragging the system down. So, I regret dropping the ball and wasting peoples time. I'll work on the cell phone.   

[thatGuy]

No worries HJ,

I was waiting for your call buddy... so I could drop the ball!

[hjmoosejaw]

Yeah, I was looking  forward to yakkin with you and the little lady! Maybe here in the near future.

[thatGuy]

Anytime buddy, anytime.

[hjmoosejaw]

Thanks!

[Kentactic]

So did we abandon this test or is there another kink in the chain, ive still yet to recieve any message. Thanks for stepping out for now HJ. Its important that anyone involved in this be able to pass the message at any time on any day in a reasonable amount of time because the purpose of this tree is to pass on messages of events we dont know when will happen. I think the next test should be unscheduled to better test reliability. My fears that the single chain is unreliable might be realized. Out of XX people odds are some ones drunk, some ones phone fell in the toilet and another guy forgot to pay his bill lol.

[hjmoosejaw]

So did we abandon this test or is there another kink in the chain, ive still yet to recieve any message. Thanks for stepping out for now HJ. Its important that anyone involved in this be able to pass the message at any time on any day in a reasonable amount of time because the purpose of this tree is to pass on messages of events we dont know when will happen. I think the next test should be unscheduled to better test reliability. My fears that the single chain is unreliable might be realized. Out of XX people odds are some ones drunk, some ones phone fell in the toilet and another guy forgot to pay his bill lol.

That's true Ken, maybe everybody should have a secondary phone/person, (someone they trust a lot) to receive and convey messages. My problem is that I have a land line that is supposed to have long distance, along with the tv and computer, all in one package. We've called to tell them that the long distance aspect of it isn't working, they say, well it should be. Anyway, it isn't, and we've used my daughter's cell when we want to call long distance. With her being on call as an EMT, and taking off with her friends all the time, we don't always touch base. I will be getting my own track phone so it won't happen again.

[JohnyMac]

Thank you hj for holding your hand up however you were not the blockage in the pipe line.  I have pulled out my toilet plunger and hopefully the pipe is now clear.

Once we get this down...We will have unannounced test text/voice messages sent. We just need to do it this way in the beginning to figure out the bugs. Need to crawl before we can walk...run.

In theory, you should see yesterdays msg today.

Now just a quick commercial for all:

If you can not play, for what ever reason, please let me know and i will pull you from the tree. At anytime in the future I can plug you back in.

Thanks folks.
 

[thatGirl]

Just a thought, you probably want to abandon this attempt and try it again to get a sense of how long it takes start to finish.  As Kenny mentioned, a single linear chain might be problematic, perhaps add some branches or side chains. 

I'm depending on TG as the point of contact for us, but I sent JM my number as well.  Would it help to include spouses as back-up in case most #1 husband is shoulder deep in the toilet trying to retrieve his pone (great examples Kenny!)?   

[JohnyMac]

I love the side chain idea and will execute it IF we can get at least one msg to go around the circle.  [img]http://www.arrse.co.uk/at

Basically, there will be one circle with one head of each side chain or circle. Another way to go is for me to send a msg to lets say four people. Then each one of those people who receive the msg from me will be responsible for their own circle.

Just thinking out loud. :-)

Many moons ago I worked for the Gap. We didn't have internet back in those days as Gore hadn't invented it as yet. There were five districts within the NW region. The regional office called the "phone tree lead" for each district. The district lead then started the phone tree for that district. Once the call tree was complete the district phone lead called back to the regional office.

We had a phone tree log that we recorded all phone calls in along with time, date and who took the msg and who they passed it onto.

We will work the bugs out.  [URL=http://www.smileyvault.co
 

[Kentactic]

I think having 4 seperate chains will be better because it will reduce the amount of people who dont get the message but inevitably some will still not get messages because of a single break. If every petson had two incomings and two outgoings overlapping it will reduce the chance of failure by 10 fold. All you would do is recieve the same message twice from two different people and then send it out to two different people. The downside is you double the # of contacts you have to be found. But according to my Fed buddy our efforts to not have everyone risked is for nothing as they can punch in your number and view every number you have contacted then they look at every number that person contacted etc. they bassically disect the tree pretty quickly. Once a single message makes it around our tree were all as good as listed on everyones phone.

[hjmoosejaw]

Good idea on the message going out to 4 or five people first. When I was on the aircraft carrier, I was a corpsman. We used to have "man overboard " drills. Sometimes the Captain would pull a random guy from 5,000 on board, and hide him in his office. They would call out the drill. Then 5,000 men would have 15 minutes to muster and report to different individuals, those individuals would account for all the men on their list and report to one central place. If all went well, we would know who was missing and go to work, pulling their medical records and getting an idea of their general health before they would even be out of the water. (if they were actually in the water and found) Not a small task sometimes. We worked around the clock in shifts. So at any given time, guys might have to jump out of their bunks, get out of the shower, off of the toilet or whatever, and have to possibly go from one end of the carrier to the other, and up or down different levels. All while 5,000 other guys are trying to do the same thing

[gapatriot]

I never got the list may have been me  [img]http://www.arrse.co.uk/at

[JohnyMac]

GAP I sent you a PM....You Never responded.

[Outonowhere]

I got the text and sent it out to my contacts, who apparently have landlines.  You all know who you are so PM me on here and let me know how that went.  Apparently my service includes a text to landline service... lol

[JohnyMac]

I am really bummed with my communication skills and will take full responsibility for the breakdown.

I sent out a PM to the most active members asking if they wanted to be part of the tree - About 75% responded. I also sent out a "ALL Interested email called F*ne Iree."

Then I sent out umpteen emails via SP, PM to each branch (You) of the tree, spelling out how it works. Her is an example of the email I sent:

As promised, here is the phone tree. I will only list the name and cell phone number of the person who will contact you and the name and phone number of the person who you pass on the message to.

[Example:]
?Name & # > you > Name & #...

Monday (1/21/2013)I am going to send out a test text msg to make sure the tree is working. Once a month, typically Monday or Tuesday of the first week of the new month; a test will go out. Sometimes it will be a text msg test and sometimes it will be a voice msg test.

At any time a member of this tree can start a msg (Voice or text) if they have learned something of great importance such as: The internet grid is down for my area or, I am an ETM and we were just told by command to expect casualties as the police are going to go house to house to confiscate weapons.

If you have any questions or suggestions please PM me using SP.

I am obviously a bloody failure in communication skills as I think this is pretty simple. "X" person will contact you and then you contact Y, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

O-Kay, O-kay. The past is the past...Lets start again. If you would like to be part of the "phone tree" please PM me. I will rework it. A test will be coming out Thursday of this week to the folks who want to participate.

I will then send you via SP, PM your part of the tree. YOU WILL NOT see the whole tree! OpSec!

Thank you.
JohnyMac

[Outonowhere]

I sent you a PM JM.

The issue here is not OPSEC its PER(sonal)SEC and you will have to have some degree of compromise in a phone tree for it to be effective.  Instead of playing telephone with one person at a time spreading the message it need to be VIRAL.  That way word gets out fast and efficiently.  Several members have my number already (some have my old number btw) and I would be passing word to them too if it was a serious deal.

Remember that Paul Revere didn't go quietly door to door!