ECF Strategic Planning Officer

[Sean Hewitt]

http://www.englishchess.org.uk/?p=19375

I am delighted to announce that Stephen Jones has been appointed as Strategic Planning Officer (SPO).
Stephen comes from a commercial background, with 20 years’ experience in media, aviation and DOT.com sectors. He has held various Director level roles, each of which has included strategic planning duties, and is qualified in accounting, marketing and project management.
Stephen is the founder of ChessCreator.com, a fledgling chess website, and is an active member of the online chess community. He has written chess articles, created chess software, and promoted online chess events.
In his role as SPO, his principal responsibilities are to produce the annual Business Plan, Long Term Strategic Plan, and Achievement Report. He can be contacted via [email protected]

Please join me in welcoming Stephen to the ECF team.

[Roger de Coverly]

A recent ECF appointment draws attention to this website.

Amongst the facilities is a utility where you key in some moves and are told the name and ECO classification of the opening. I cannot say that I recommend it, as it fails to implement the necessary feature that ChessBase and others managed twenty five years ago. That would be transpositions of course, so that both the sequence 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 and 1. Nf3 c5 2. e4 are identified as Sicilians.

[Roger de Coverly]

S Jones is a very common name. Do we know if any of the many S Jones on the ECF grading site are him? The ECF's primary mandate is over the board chess, rather than the on-line form.

[Mick Norris]

I thought the relevant point was his ability to do the job in question

http://www.chesscreator.com/stephen

Peter Lalic obviously knows him

http://www.chesscreator.com/contributors

[Sean Hewitt]

I thought the relevant point was his ability to do the job in question

Agreed, though one naturally questions why someone who doesn't play the game OTB (and I'm not saying that is the case here as I don't know Stephen Jones) volunteers to work for the ECF. Sometimes there are very good, even compelling, reasons but there are enough recent examples to advise caution in my opinion.

As an aside, I've always thought the role of Strategic Planning Officer odd. Isn't strategic planning the prima facie role of the CEO?

[Roger de Coverly]

I thought the relevant point was his ability to do the job in question

I'm not really sure I know what the job is. In the days of the DCMS grant, it was to produce a paper pile to impress the DCMS and be ignored by everyone else. Meanwhile the ECF got on with relevant things like the British Championships, national team, grading, counties championship which were usually mentioned only in passing in the BP.

The web page says

If you’ve followed this website and the associated social media pages, you’ll be aware that I’ve written various articles on the connection between strategic business planning and chess.

Without having read the articles, I would be a sceptic about the connection, unless strategic business planning means taking chances as they arise. In yesterday's Anand-Gelfand game, white came up with the idea of playing a Samisch structure with the g1 Knight on c3, so that's strategic. On move 7, it's highly unlikely that winning with 17 Qf2 was part of the planning, so Anand spotted a tactical sequence which changed the assessment. The commentators thought the Black was OK to better after .. Qf6, mostly on strategic/positional grounds.

[John Upham]

Stephen's punishment for his heinous crime is to be forced to watch this video for a week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECTvLq1DvWU followed by a live TV debate with you know who on the exciting topic of ECF Membership.

The lyric "He came into my life one Sunday morning" will haunt me for some time I fear.

[Roger de Coverly]

I would have thought the topics of

(1) how to pay for the ECF
(2) what the ECF spends or should spend money on
(3) the effect the ECF has on growth or decline of over the board play

are all part of strategic planning.

I think chesscreator.com is a would-be commercial site as, for example, it seems to be wanting 99 cents for three games in pdf format.
http://www.chesscreator.com/products/ko ... tournament
I've no idea what games these are, but TWIC offers several thousand games a week at no cost.

[Paul Cooksey]

Stephen is on this forum: http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4226

I hope he will share with us what he thinks the major challenges and opportunities will be in his new role.

[Carl Hibbard]

Stephen is on this forum: http://www.ecforum.org.uk/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=4226

I hope he will share with us what he thinks the major challenges and opportunities will be in his new role.

I would hope for not another Director of Marketing candidate

[David Gilbert]

Sounds very sensible to appoint a strategic planning officer with experience and expertise in strategic planning. The ECF as any other organization requires a robust long-term strategic plan that sets direction and an annual planning framework that sets clear short-term goals and improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the resources at the ECFs disposal. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating. But for now, welcome Stephen Jones.

[Andrew Farthing]

Stephen Jones is a chess enthusiast who has excellent credentials to undertake the strategic planning role.

To pick up one of Sean's points, the Chief Executive is ultimately responsible for strategy and planning, of course, but it is very helpful to have someone working with me who can take on the task of preparing the various reports, coordinating with the other directors and coming up with fresh ideas. It helps to spread my workload, for which I am extremely grateful, and provides me with a sounding board.

Stephen has useful experience and expertise in management accounts / financial reporting and WordPress (the system used for the ECF website) and the wish to be helpful to the ECF in both of these areas. All told, I'm delighted to have him on board.

[StephenJones]

Dear All,

I appreciate the warm welcome.

The responsibilities of the Strategic Planning Officer are to produce the annual Business Plan, Long Term Strategic Plan, and Achievement Report. Of course, as Andrew Farthing has articulated, the content of these will be produced in conjunction with the CEO.

ChessCreator.com itself is an informal collective of volunteers that, together, has created various chess products and utilities. As a fledgling website, most things are in beta, free and in a constant state of flux. Organisations require income to sustain their operations, irrespective of whether their goals are not-for-profit or commercial, etc. – so, of course, there are (and will be) paid products, advertising etc.

I volunteered for this ECF role because I’ve strategic planning experience in FTSE100 companies – and a passion for chess. I don’t see playing strength, OTB or otherwise, as being of relevance to this role. If this ever becomes an issue then, no doubt, one of my ECF colleagues would provide guidance. The initial challenge for me is to assimilate vast quantities of information, so I can begin the producing the aforementioned reports (I suspect this will keep me occupied!).

Best wishes,

Stephen Jones.

[John Upham]

I for one welcome any additions to the ECF team who have strong commercial experience in both chess and non-chess spheres. For me this is just the kind of experience English chess can and should benefit from.

We have endured many posts from those who only want to snipe, be negative, be destructive, disagree for the sake of it or simply act in a pathetic troll-like manner.

Questioning someone's ability to contribute based on their ECF grading, height, colour of hair (I am a ginger and proud of it) is beyond belief.

Let us make Stephen welcome and work together.

Phil Ehr is already making a huge contribution in case anyone hadn't noticed.

I would welcome greater visibility from Tim Woolgar!

[Roger de Coverly]

Questioning someone's ability to contribute based on their ECF grading is beyond belief.

The ECF is not some random commercial company, but the governing body of over the board chess in England. Some experience of over the board chess, which can be evidenced by having an ECF grade, is surely an advantage for a role which potentially seeks to change what the ECF does and how it does it.

You only have to look at the nonsense every so often coming from FIDE, to realise the problems of putting non-players in charge.