Re: Questions for the candidates - let's start the discussion(s)

[Máirín Duffy <duffy redhat com>]

Hi, here are my responses to this set of questions:

[1] Why should one become a member of the GNOME Foundation?

I don't know that 'becoming a Foundation member' is as important a goal 
as 'making positive contributions to GNOME' and 'becoming a productive 
member of the GNOME community.' Folks who have achieved the latter two 
goals absolutely should become Foundation members, but I'm not sure if 
this question deals with (1) those folks specifically becoming members, 
or (2) just anyone in general, including folks new to GNOME.

In the former case, I think it's quite simple - regular contributors to 
GNOME deserve recognition for their hard work. This benefits the GNOME 
community: we can share how many contributors strong we are. It benefits 
the foundation members as well; it gives them a voice (via the annual 
vote) to shape GNOME's future in ways outside of their direct 
contributions to GNOME.

In the latter case, I think it's more important to focus on getting 
regular contributors than getting Foundation members specifically.

[2] What do you think is the most important item on the Board's agenda 
right now ? What will you do more or better than the previous boards ?

I'm not on the Board right now, but after talking with a few current and 
former Board members, it seems the most important item on the Board's 
agenda right now is hiring an business manager who can ensure our funds 
and funding opportunities are handled appropriately and we can reap the 
most benefit from them. I think this one step is necessary to secure the 
resources needed to achieve any of a number of goals we could choose to 
focus on for the next year and beyond.

I'm hoping that this coming year's Board will be known for being good 
communicators, both within the GNOME community as well as with the folks 
outside the community we interface with. This is something I would like 
to focus on.

[3] How do you manage your time and that of others ? Are you good at 
working with others including those who might have a differing opinion 
than yours and try to reach consensus and agree on actions ?

Honestly, I manage my time via a running queue on a small notepad. Based 
on priority I let some tasks bubble up to the top of the queue, but in 
general I try to run through the queue in order, working through each 
item until it's done, crossing it out and moving on to the next one. 
Whenever I am waiting on a task for someone else to complete in order to 
complete one of my tasks, I make a note. As I continue to block on their 
input I will move on to other things in the list, reminding the folks 
I'm blocking on of what I need periodically. :)

I think I'm pretty good at working with others even when we have 
differing opinions on how to do things. As an interaction designer, I'm 
used to mocking up 'best-case scenario' UI designs with the 
understanding that technically, some of the things I'd like implemented 
are quite difficult and/or not possible in the time frame allotted for 
the feature. I always treat my UI mocks as a 'draft' to visualize some 
ideas and start 'negotiations' with developers ( :) ). I also understand 
from running usability tests on my designs that my assumptions on how to 
present a feature to a user are not always correct, especially on the 
first couple iterations of a design.

I think my approach as an interaction designer is probably a good 
example of how I would deal with conflict resolution if elected to the 
Board: working to understand the pros/cons and factors contributing to 
the decision, willingness to compromise, and not being afraid to do a 
bit of legwork to research/test potential solutions before making a 
final decision.

[4] How are you going to manage your current contributions to GNOME once 
you become a Board Member ?

I hope to make a good chunk of my contributions, the GNOME Brand Book, a 
part of my work on the Board. Most of my current work I do on my 2-hour 
roundtrip daily commute on the train. I have a solid chunk of time to 
devote on a consistent basis - a nice built in time-management system. :)

[5] What do you think is the most important market for GNOME over the 
coming year and what do you feel you can do to help GNOME achieve better 
presence ?

I have always thought that children and students (especially computer 
science students) are the most important markets for FOSS in general. To 
help GNOME achieve better presence, I'd like to continue the branding 
work I've done, continue helping out with the wgo effort, and eventually 
help brainstorm and implement some cool marketing projects to increase 
GNOME's visibility. For example, Firefox has a 'cool marketing project' 
approach with its 30-second video ad contest and NY Times ad fundraising 
- these efforts seem to have been successful and I think many would 
agree Firefox has achieved a strong brand. I think GNOME would succeed 
in gaining visibility with this approach as well.

The work that Opened Hand and Nokia, among others, have done to bring 
GNOME to embedded devices is also key to bringing about awareness of 
GNOME. OLPC is also an important project for GNOME, especially since it 
is aimed towards such an important audience. These are good 
opportunities for us to reach a wider audience.

I also think projects like the Google Summer of Code and Women's Summer 
Outreach Program have been successful at getting technical college 
students from around the world interested and involved in GNOME. I think 
we should continue to sponsor activities like this.

[6] What are your plans to encourage and mentor contributions to GNOME 
from Latin America, Africa and Asia ? How would you increase community 
participation ?

I honestly do not have specific plans to this end. I am used to working 
with FOSS contributors from many different countries. I think Sara's 
ideas of working with our translators and focusing on schools and 
universities to increase participation in these areas are quite good.

[7] What areas do you see lacking currently in a complete Free Software 
Desktop ? What would your role be (should you be elected) in addressing 
the issues?

What comes to mind first for me - and it will probably sound silly: 
Often when I try to convince people to move to GNOME, the thing they 
always tell me (yes, I know a lot of geeky people) is that they can't 
migrate completely over to Linux/Unix because of gaming. They can't play 
the games they want to play, they can't get good video card drivers, 
etc. If it's not games, then it's one special piece of software they 
can't live without that they can't run.

I don't really have any specific plans to address this issue. I also 
don't know a whole lot about PC gaming anymore (I gave up a while ago 
and I only play console games now.) But offhand I would say some steps 
to take to approach the issues these would-be GNOME converts brought up:

1) Start some kind of ISV information page. Link to GNOME developer 
information (designing the pages with ISVs in mind), maybe provide some 
contacts / mailing-lists ISVs can contact for help, maybe provide case 
studies.

2) Start some kind of gaming in GNOME campaign. Inform folks of their 
options. If there are popular PC games out there that do run on 
Linux/Unix (ones written for Linux/Unix & ones that work via emulation), 
maintain a list of them. Maybe mention the winehq db of games that run 
in WINE and have links to instructions on setting it up. Maybe talk 
about Xen and VMware and how to set those up for gaming (if it's 
possible.) Maybe have or link to a list of video cards that work best 
for gamers to look at purchasing.

3) Maybe some kind of campaign where we point out LiveCDs and 
dual-booting as options to trying GNOME.

4) I don't really know anything about our contacts with video card 
manufacturers if they exist, but maybe it would be a good idea to try to 
build up good relationships with some.

Just some brainstorming.

[8] What are your planned activities to promote use of GNOME in small 
and medium business environments which potentially deliver many users to 
GNOME ?

Build up awareness of GNOME via the brand and website! Informational 
pages on wgo targeting these folks might be a good idea but I don't have 
any specific plans for that.

[9] What sources of funds do you as a Board Member (should you be 
elected) try to establish ? What areas do you think require most fund-love?

I honestly don't know much about the GNOME Foundation's funds right now 
and how best to apply them.

[10] Please rank your interests:

My interests are in the same order you listed in the question, highest 
to lowest rank.

(1)  GNOME evangelizing to government, enterprise, small business and
individual
(2) GNOME marketing and merchandising of branded items (nationally and 
internationally) (note I'm not interpreting 'items' as just t-shirts and 
coffee cups. If that were the case I'd bump this lower down the list.)
(3) GNOME legal issues like Copyright and Patents
(4) GNOME finances and fund raising
(5) Alliance with other organisations

[11] How much 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 consider planet.gnome.org to be my primary source of news on 
day-to-day happenings in GNOME and I tend to check it several times a 
day. I also use my blog, which is on pgo, pretty regularly to keep folks 
updated on my work.

I'm on the mailing lists for the projects I'm involved most in - 
gnome-web-list and marketing-list right now - and I also subscribe to 
wiki pages in our wiki that are relevant to the projects I'm currently 
working on.

[12] Can you elaborate about your plans to provide the Board with a 
focus that steers development choices and works with allied 
organisations in order to define and adapt (and or adopt) standards ?

I'm interpreting this question as how I would approach with the 
strategic decisions the Board must make on a regular basis. Since I 
would be a newbie to the Board, I would consult with more experienced 
Board members and former Board members in any strategic decision-making 
if I felt I did not have the necessary background/history to form 
informed opinions on. While I would like to avoid making unwise 
strategic decisions, I do also understand that in many case a decision 
has to be made and the issue cannot simply be dropped. I hope to lend my 
prioritizing skills to the Board to help identify and drive to 
completion those decisions that cannot be delayed.

~m