Re: What do you think of the foundation?

[Vincent Untz <vuntz gnome org>]

Le dimanche 31 mai 2009, à 09:42 +0200, Dave Neary a écrit :
> So, I've detailed my vision, with two major changes:
> - include foundation members in the daily running of the foundation by  
> having the majority of board business happen in the open on  
> foundation-list, including having the working version of the accounts in  
> a publicly accessible place, posting draft minutes straight after  
> meetings, rather than going through the 2/3 day review period we've had  
> in the past, posting agendas for meetings to foundation-list, and using  
> foundation-list as the main board mailing list, only going to board-list  
> for board-confidential issues.

I could simply say "yes". And that's a good goal I generally agree with.
The truth is that it's always a bit more complex than that: for example,
one major issue with working this way is that it highly increases the
chances of making public something that shouldn't be public.

(btw, I would think it's not just the responsability of the board to
help make this happen: everybody can start discussing the topics here)

FWIW, we tried to post agendas on foundation-list at some point (in
2006, according to a google search), and it didn't last. I can only
find examples for April 2006 in the archives. It's quite some years ago,
so I don't remember what happened, but I would guess it's the fact that
agendas often gets created with a mail thread, with no "final" version
of the agenda.

> - the foundation, through the board, should be empowered and committed  
> to maintaining a friendly and productive working environment

Sure. And the board is delegating this task to various people already.
I've seen various cases in bugzilla where bugmasters stepped in to
explain to someone that he was really going too far. For Planet GNOME,
the editors are playing this role (although it hasn't been needed). On
mailing lists, listadmins and "old" contributors are doing this. Etc.

This would cover most cases. There are cases which won't fit anywhere
else, and for those, the board can directly be contacted. But I'll
always think that trying to first solve the issue in an unofficial way
(ie, not "the board decides that...") is better.

Vincent

-- 
Les gens heureux ne sont pas pressés.