Re: Questions for candidates - board processes & significance

[Pockey Lam <pockeylam gnome org>]

On 05/30/2011 10:11 PM, Dave Neary wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I was away last week travelling, so I'm coming late to the election
> campaign. I have almost decided who I would like to vote for, but
> there are still a few things which are important to me when
> considering a prospective board member.
>
> 1. If elected, will you seek a named position
> (chairman/treasurer/secretary) on the board? If so, why?

It's the first year I run for the board, so I will not seek a named 
position until I am more familiar with the board and how it works.

> 2. Board meetings are minuted, and these minutes are published
> regularly. However, the board also increasingly makes decisions on
> board-list with the Apache +1/0/-1 convention. Would you support the
> minuting of these votes, including recording any -1 votes?

+1
I believe transparency is very important and I do believe we should be 
accountable for the decisions we take on behalf of the community and 
that those should be documented.

> 3. I think financial transparency is important. If you plan on
> applying for the treasurer position, what changes (if any) would you
> propose for the budgeting process? How often would you publish
> financial reports for the foundation? Are you happy with the level of
> transparency in the board's finances now?

No I don't plan to apply for the treasurer position.

> 4. Our relationship with a number of groups has suffered this year -
> and one of the lesser known ones (but one I'm involvedd in) is the
> Libre Graphics Meeting organisers (a group of people representing a
> couple of dozen "free art" projects). Are you aware that the LGM
> organisers withdrew all the funds that the GNOME Foundation was
> managing for them this year, because they have been unhappy with the
> responsiveness and quality of communication with the foundation over
> the past 2 - 3 years? Do you have any thoughts on why this particular
> relationship degraded? And will you commit to handling or delegating
> answers to all time-critical queries which come to the board during
> your term?

I was only aware of the GIMP issue last summer and then I didn't hear 
about it anymore, So I thought it was fixed.

I do understand that it's important to give a response as if not, it 
obviously has consequences in the long term. I have no problem to commit 
to handle replies in a timely manner.

> 5. In general, as a board member communication is vital to keep people
> outside the board informed whenever there is a delay or when extra
> input is needed on something they're working on. For incumbents, are
> you happy with the level of communication & reactivity in the current
> board? For new candidates, what would you like to do to ensure that
> the communication & reactivity of the board improves in the coming term?

I believe board directors are representatives of the foundation members, 
they have the right to know what the board knows except when it comes to 
protecting someone else privacy. On top of publishing minutes, a monthly 
foundation meeting inviting all the foundation members to clarify points 
that are not clear. I commit to join the foundation meeting as much as I 
can to help on this.

Transparency and availability with foundation members and organzations 
interacting with the foundation should also improve our relationships in 
general and make people feel that we are a board easy to communicate with.


> 6. Board members are ambassadors for the foundation. I think it's
> important that board members be social, and be nice. Are you nice?

It should be someone else to judge if I am nice or not. Since we met 
already I believe you got the answer :)

> Cheers,
> Dave.