Re: A few questions for the candidates

[Paul Cutler <pcutler gnome org>]

On Tue, 2010-06-01 at 23:30 +0200, Vincent Untz wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I originally wanted to have some questions included in the list of
> questions sent by the membership committee, but I feel like waiting for
> Friday while the voting period is already opened is waiting a long time
> and I'm not being patient here :-)
> 
> I apologize because some of those questions are most likely a bit easier
> to answer for people who are already on the board...
> 
> 1) I've read with interest the mails from the candidates announcing
>    they're running, and most (if not all -- I didn't double-check)
>    include some motivations with examples of what they'd be interested
>    in working on.
>    Why are those tasks/ideas things you cannot work on while not being
>    on the board?
> 

That's a great question and I don't necessarily know the answer. I think
being on the board encourages you to take a broader view and more
actively track the different projects differently than if you're not,
which helps in working on tasks.

> 2) What are your non-usual (ie, not code, not translations, not
>    documentation, etc.) contributions as a GNOME Foundation member?
>    (organizing events, pushing people to do things, finding sponsors,
>    etc. are all possible answers)

I worked with Stormy to organize the last two Marketing hackfests,
including finding sponsors for the November hackfest.  With the
exception of the documentation team, most of my contributions are
non-code related, including marketing, the Sysadmin team, and the web
team.  One of the things I'm most proud of is helping resurrect the
GNOME Journal last year after it hadn't had any issues published for a
year.

> 
> 3) What is your opinion on the co-location of Akademy and GUADEC in
>    2011? And if you think it was not the best choice, will you still be
>    able to help it happen?

Last year was my first time attending GUADEC which was co-hosted.  I
think encouraging cooperation between the two projects is a good thing,
though the schedules need to be coordinated better.

> 
> 4) How much free time per week do you think you will be able to allocate
>    for the board? (I'm very well aware that this could be 0 for some
>    weeks, and 100% of your time for other weeks; I'm just asking in
>    general)

I am able to help 8-12 hours a week.

> 
> 5) Are you okay giving up some of your current GNOME
>    responsabilities/activities to join the board? (give up a maintainer
>    hat, or hack less, or participate less in a specific team) Or do you
>    think it won't be necessary and why?
>    (I know it's a bit related to the previous question :-))

Absolutely.  I think I may have mentioned it in my candidacy too - I'm
looking forward to GNOME hiring a sysadmin so I can give up the
coordinator role on that team.  ;)

> 
> 6) Will you be interested in being treasurer, president or secretary if
>    elected? If yes, which role and why?

I am interested in being president.  I got to fill in for Vincent a few
weeks ago and it was kind of fun.  But in all seriousness, I enjoy the
organizational and follow-up skills needed in a role like that, which is
a role I've played on the sysadmin and web teams.

> 
> 7) What do you think of the current GNOME Foundation budget? Had you
>    read it at least once before reading this mail?
>    (it's okay if you didn't look at it before, btw)

I read the budget in more detail when I joined the board a couple months
ago and it was more complex than I expected.  I am optimistic about the
budget going forward, especially after J5's email a year ago.  I think
the current work that was done in doubling AdBoard fees, the discussion
taking place now about creating smaller levels for other companies to
join and sponsor GNOME and expanding the Friends of GNOME program to
help with incoming revenue will continue to be important.

> 
> 8) What do you think our next fundraising campaign should be about?
>    (I'd love to not read 11 times the same answer, thanks :-))

I'm not sure what the campaign should be about, but I would like to see
the fundraising campaign focus on the number of people donating instead
of raising a specific dollar amount.  I think it encourages
participating and community building and helps with the mindset of "My
$5 can't help get to $50,000!)"  Everyone's contribution counts and it's
a different way of measuring.

> 
> 9) Will you be at GUADEC this year? (there's a board meeting and an
>    advisory board meeting there)

Wouldn't miss it!

> 
> 10) Make or break question: what's your favorite french expression?

I thought I'd cheat and ask my boss (who is French), but apparently I
should have, as I don't have a favorite one (yet).

> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Vincent
> 

Thank you,

Paul