Re: A question to candidates

["Og Maciel" <ogmaciel gnome org>]

> What do you see as the best way to spend this money? In terms of hiring,
> do you prefer hiring a sysadmin, or an executive director? What other
> priorities do you have for expenditure this year, outside of our usual
> cost centers (GUADEC + salaries + travel sponsorship)?

As many of the other candidates, I also believe that we should spend
money by promoting smaller events, specially the type of meetings that
would bring a group of people who share the same interests and can
tackle a determined task. The first of such meetings should be a board
of directors meeting, so that we can nail thing down, bond and do some
team building. Also, I believe that some of the money could and should
be spent with a strong marketing campaign to help promote and attract
new users, volunteers, and partners.

As far as hiring, it is fairly hard to answer it without having a
little bit of background of the roles and tasks to be performed, as
well as the issues that led to the decision of hiring theses
positions. Sure I can infer some of the needs and tasks to be
performed by the titles, but as I have learned long ago, titles don't
always mean anything.

> A second question to all candidates: what do you see as the weak points
> of the current board, and how do you propose addressing those weak points?

It seems to me that that current board had the best intentions and
were prepared to accommodate and support user led events with
financial support. However, one thing that came to my attention was
that the information about this "fund" wasn't made as public and
transparent as it should have. Also, it is my oppinion that like good
investors, the board should be always in the look out for
opportunities to  promote the Foundation and augment out user  base.
Remember, our users are our best asset! There are some great markets
to explore in South America, South and East Asia, to name a few. And
if we cannot financially (or for whatever reason) make it to such
places, we should seek out and tap on our contacts, helping them
establish a plan of action to hold events. We should be the ones
seeking for these opportunities and not assume that everyone knows
about this possible financial resource and wait for them to come to
us.

Also, I feel that a little bit of public recognition to our past and
current collaborators could do everyone a great deal of good! Sure,
everyone who has ever helped in any way, shape or form has done it
without the expectations of fame and success. But if I can point out
the latest post by Olav[1] titled "Stats" as an example, it  is a
great example of some public recognition to those who spend a great
deal of time down in the trenches. Take Daniel Nylander for instance.
This guy has been atop the commit list, bug triage and translations
for pretty much as far as I can remember. And he is only ONE of MANY
doing some great work for GNOME. You know those mugs I just recently
heard of that have been used as gifts to our partners? How about some
type of recognition plaque for those who are doing some outstanding
work for us? Or for those who are showing potential as a means to fuel
their drive?

Remember, our users (and obviously our collaborators and developers
ARE our users too) are our biggest and most important asset!


[1]  http://blogs.gnome.org/ovitters/2007/11/21/stats/

Cheers,
-- 
Og B. Maciel

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ogmaciel gnome org
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