Re: 11 Questions to answer

[Havoc Pennington <hp redhat com>]

Hi,

One of the reasons I didn't want to run for the board this year is
that I don't think it's the best plan for the board to be made up of
the same list of famous hackers it's typically had on it.

The board isn't a technical job, though it helps to have some people
on there who understand technical direction and GNOME history. True to
the foundation charter, the board doesn't write docs, develop UI
guidelines, choose which software to add or remove, set release
schedules, or anything else. We have dedicated, autonomous teams for
all that. Which is good.

By not running, I wanted to open up more time for me to write code and
other fun stuff, but also I thought it'd be nice to open up a board
slot for someone with new energy or expertise instead of having the
same board this year that we had last year.


So, one point of this mail, Leslie is a good example of someone who
isn't a famous programmer but has been contributing to GNOME behind
the scenes and has a lot to offer the board. She's led the GNOME
marketing project for some time, and also handles press for the Free
Standards Group (creators of the LSB). She's independent of any of the
companies involved with GNOME, too.


More generally, my view is that the board should be (and is) about
external and organizational issues, because the "create cool software"
part of GNOME functions just fine on its own most of the time.

Board-type issues include: financial/legal administration, raising
funds for hacker meetings such as the Boston summit or GUADEC,
organizing GNOME's presence at shows, communicating with the press,
communicating with potential GNOME users who may not read Slashdot on
a daily basis, deciding on issues such as copyright and patents,
negotiating agreements that help GNOME (such as Jim's work on fonts),
this sort of thing.

I'd encourage everyone when voting to remember what the job involves,
and choose candidates with good people skills, a range of expertise,
and a range of affiliations and backgrounds.

This isn't a GNOME hall of fame - it's a job where candidates need
particular skills, and willingness to invest time participating in
meetings and taking on some of the tasks that need doing.

Havoc