Re: 11 Questions to answer

[Glynn Foster <glynn foster sun com>]

Hey there,

> 1) Why are you running for Board of Directors?

There's one thing about this project that has completely captivated me -
the people. I couldn't do what I'm doing for Sun if it weren't for the
motivated and enthusiastic people out there that I am lucky enough to be
working with each day. 

It's the personalities in the GNOME project that make my working life so
much better than I could ever have hoped for. I see the Board's role, in
that respect, to be very important in that it represents the people of
the project. I would like to give back what I have enjoyed over the past
2 years - making sure that GNOME remains a whacky and enjoyable project
to work on.

> 2) Do you have leadership and committee experience? If so, please explain.

I've was on the membership committee for a while and managed to get
roped into being on the release team at the Boston summit. I'm also
rather reluctantly chairing the GUADEC planning committee - although
don't tell Tim, I've assured him I'm not ;)

> 3) How familiar are you with the day-to-day happenings of GNOME?  How much
> do you follow and participate in the main GNOME mailing lists?

I had my yearly review a while back and while complaining about the huge
masses of mail I was reading each morning, in an attempt to cover over
the rather sad amount of hacking I've achieved recently, I got the
comment 'but that's your job - that's what we pay you for'.

I generally try to avoid replying to mails with inane comments - letting
the discussion happen between the people who know what they're talking
about is heaps better I find. I'll squeal if I need to ;)

> 4) One of the primary tasks of the Board of Directors is to act as a
> liaison between the GNOME Foundation and other organizations and companies
> to find out how the two groups can work together to their mutual benefit.
> Do you feel you would be good at understanding other people and companies
> and finding ways that GNOME can collaborate with other companies and
> organizations to benefit both groups and their users?

Absolutely. I remember when Sun first got involved in GNOME - I had just
joined Sun at the time. It took a while for Sun to get involved in the
project to other people's expectations. It came somewhat natural to me
to liaise between these initially rather seperate groups until both
adapted. I'd like to think I have what it takes to bring this to the
Board level too ;)

> 5) One of the responsibilities and powers of the Board of Directors is to
> identify organizational weaknesses and needs of GNOME and to create
> committees, appoint coordinators of these committees, and act as liaisons
> with them.  What do you believe are the current weak points of GNOME as an
> organization, and if you were able to, how would you change the GNOME
> organization?

It's hard coming from a corporate background, where resources are pretty
much instantaneous in coming when you need them and I'm contantly
muttering 'but why can't we Just Do It [tm]' when I start to think about
the problems in GNOME.

I think the sys admin problem has to get addressed this year - it always
seems to cause a bottleneck and headache for a great deal of people, not
wanting to offend the current sys admins who do great work. I'd feel
rather awkward and silly trying to suggest a plan right now, but it's
definitely something that needs a lot of careful thought over the next
while.

Communication also seems to be a heavily used buzz word right now - it's
not something that the Board can do a huge amount to help with. I think
Luis' organizational chart will be a big step in that direction,
hopefully giving each person a more defined identity/role and a better
idea of what others in the project do.

> 6) The board meets for one hour every two weeks to discuss a handful of
> issues.  Thus, it is very important that the board can very quickly and
> concisely discuss each topic and come to consensus on each item for
> discussion. Are you good at working with others, who sometimes have very
> differing opinions than you do, to reach consensus and agree on actions?

Yes...and well, if they don't, I'll just buy them some beers, get them
sloshed and we'll soon have consensus ;)

> 7) Often Directors have to draft policies, form committees, find
> weaknesses or approaching problems of GNOME and work on solutions, and act
> as liaison with various groups (both within and outside GNOME) and
> companies.  Please name three or more areas which you feel are important
> for the Board to address over the next year and which you would enjoy
> contributing some of your time to help get things started and possibly act
> as a liaison between the Board and any other committees, groups, or
> companies if relevant.

GNOME Website - Making sure that Jeff and Steve are constantly
encouraged in getting this project off the ground into something live.
Also making sure that they know that the Board is there to help them if
they need it.

GUADEC - Making sure this year is bigger and better and drunker than
ever. Oh, and making sure we get lots of useful discussion, lots of
hacking, yadda yadda..um...obviously.

GNOME Infrastructure - I'm going to steal one of Jeff's answers here
[open source answers, right?]

Documentation - Hard to say if this can be addressed at Board level, but
we desperately need it. Maybe we can do something like Luis' Bug Days
for API docs?

> 8) Do you consider yourself diplomatic?  Would you make a good
> representative for the GNOME Foundation to the Membership, media, public,
> and organizations and corporations the GNOME Foundation works with?

Yes, and I've been humiliated at Jeff's GNOME Summit talk in Boston to
prove it.

> 9) Will you represent the interests of GNOME and the GNOME Foundation over
> all other personal or corporate interests you may represent?

Hrm, I guess that means I shouldn't encourage drinking sessions at
GUADEC.

> 10) Will you be willing and have the available time to take on and
> complete various tasks that the Board needs accomplished?

Oh, go on then ;)

> 11) One of the ingredient for success in Free Software project such as GNOME
> is committed and dedicated memberships. How would you propose to promote new 
> membership, and encourage commitment of existing membership to make the GNOME 
> desktop the desktop of choice? [ Hints: the number of Foundation members have 
> reduced from 460 in 2001 to approximately 300 in 2002 ]

Yeah, I have to admit that I'm pretty much against the current
membership guidelines that were introduced a couple of weeks ago. I like
the idea of being a project with opening arms. On the other hand, I like
the idea of an active membership who can easily identify the issues at
hand and who are responsible for deciding the direction of GNOME.

I think we're going in the right direction as regards trying to update
the website, finish off the API docs, creating a sense of unity with the
org chart....We've obviously done something right in the past that so
many people/companies are opening their eyes and putting confidence in
GNOME....

I think it's only a matter of time before more people take notice.

We need a plan, a direction, unity, one voice.

We need for it still to be fun.

By that stage, we should be ready for them.


				See ya,
					Glynn :)