Traveler III
Are you guys familiar with the "parliament method" of organisation? It's a method of spreading the load of a trip planning and management..
So, in the UK parliament, there is a "secretary" for each of the key roles Defence Secretary, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and so on. Each is expected to become a "subject matter expert" (SME) and they then report back to the cabinet.
So let us imagine we are a group on an expedition we would (probably) have someone assigned to each of the roles:
Leader
Navigator
Chef/Cook
Medical
Mechanic
Security
So that is quite clear right?
We can take it further, and this is where it becomes more relevant and we can see how the SME's cross over with information and "report" to each other...
So let's pretend we are going to four different cities on our expedition:
London, Paris, Berlin and Geneva
We all know the currency in England is the £ pound right? The British drive on the left yes? Etc etc etc..
Of course, anyone going on this trip would know this level of information, but our SME assigned to London would be expected to find out:
The number for the emergency services
Currency exchange rate and the best place to get it
Best place to buy food and how much is? What is cheap and what is expensive locally
How to get hospital care and what is needed
Potential issues at the borders, viass, etc
The current political cliamte and overall risk to life
The SME then makes this information available to the mission SME's, for example, when the chef/cook is planning stock reorder, he/she knows to buy wine in france before crossing the border into England.
Obviously these are silly examples, but the whole thing becomes a little more important if you are crossing continents to the Great Wall of China or touring Africa from top to bottom.
The UK Special forces plan in this way also.
The information can be collated into aide-memoires carried in the vehicles or by all members of the expedition depending on risk ratio and operational factors of course.
From a mild adventure point of view, it is a great way of including youngsters and beginners in the planning phase of an expedition.
Anyway...
I have planned adventures this way and still refer to previous journey aide-memoires even when travelling to safe countries - like a trip to Croatia that begins tomorrow. My aide memoire reminded me that english tea is hard to come by in Croatia ;)
So, in the UK parliament, there is a "secretary" for each of the key roles Defence Secretary, Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and so on. Each is expected to become a "subject matter expert" (SME) and they then report back to the cabinet.
So let us imagine we are a group on an expedition we would (probably) have someone assigned to each of the roles:
Leader
Navigator
Chef/Cook
Medical
Mechanic
Security
So that is quite clear right?
We can take it further, and this is where it becomes more relevant and we can see how the SME's cross over with information and "report" to each other...
So let's pretend we are going to four different cities on our expedition:
London, Paris, Berlin and Geneva
We all know the currency in England is the £ pound right? The British drive on the left yes? Etc etc etc..
Of course, anyone going on this trip would know this level of information, but our SME assigned to London would be expected to find out:
The number for the emergency services
Currency exchange rate and the best place to get it
Best place to buy food and how much is? What is cheap and what is expensive locally
How to get hospital care and what is needed
Potential issues at the borders, viass, etc
The current political cliamte and overall risk to life
The SME then makes this information available to the mission SME's, for example, when the chef/cook is planning stock reorder, he/she knows to buy wine in france before crossing the border into England.
Obviously these are silly examples, but the whole thing becomes a little more important if you are crossing continents to the Great Wall of China or touring Africa from top to bottom.
The UK Special forces plan in this way also.
The information can be collated into aide-memoires carried in the vehicles or by all members of the expedition depending on risk ratio and operational factors of course.
From a mild adventure point of view, it is a great way of including youngsters and beginners in the planning phase of an expedition.
Anyway...
I have planned adventures this way and still refer to previous journey aide-memoires even when travelling to safe countries - like a trip to Croatia that begins tomorrow. My aide memoire reminded me that english tea is hard to come by in Croatia ;)
