Re: Questions for candidates - board processes & significance

[Brian Cameron <brian cameron oracle com>]

Dave:

> 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?

I have served as secretary for the past two years.  I am undecided about
what position I might seek in the next term, but I do think I will seek
some position again.

> 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?

Yes I would.  This seems a reasonable request to me, and I approve of
being more transparent.  That said, I think it is very rare when a vote
is controversial.

> 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?

I am not planning to run for treasurer.  I would like to see The GNOME
Foundation become more transparent and to release information more
regularly.  In the past year, we really struggled to get the Annual
Report completed and it was quite late.

The GNOME Foundation really needs more interested volunteers to help
with things like this, especially if there is interest in improving
things in these areas.

> 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?

The LGM's needs were beyond the capacity of our abilities and staffing.
Considering the frequency that they needed access to their funds, it
makes more sense for them to manage their own funds.  While the
situation was frustrating, I think it is a sign that LGM is very robust
that they outgrew the services GNOME could provide them.

> And will you commit to handling or delegating answers to all
> time-critical queries which come to the board during your term?

We really try our best.  Things sometimes do become problems when a
request or query is made and there is no clear person to delegate to.
Improving the structure of the GNOME community is often a part of the
solution.  For example, the board is currently working to create an
Event Planning committee to help deal with the most common sorts of
queries the board tends to currently deal with.

> 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?

As secretary, I have worked hard to keep communication channels open and
to keep people informed.  Is there more we could do?  Of course.  I
would like to continue to help build teams of volunteers.  I think that
GNOME tends to work best, as a community, when we encourage people to
get more actively involved in helping to ensure that things are working
well, communication is effective, etc.

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

I think I am nicer, but uglier, than the average American.

Brian