Re: Board of Directors Election 2014 - Candidacy - J ean-François Fortin Tam

[Ekaterina Gerasimova <kittykat3756 gmail com>]

Hi Jeff,

On 15 May 2014 20:42, Jeff Fortin <nekohayo gmail com> wrote:
> Name: Jean-François Fortin Tam
> Email: nekohayo at gmail
> Affiliation: none (freelance)
> Web/bio/blog/etc.: http://jeff.ecchi.ca
>
> Hi everybody,
>
> I would like to offer my candidacy to serve on the Foundation Board.

Thanks for throwing your hat in the ring!

As can be seen from the board meeting agenda for 2014-05-06 and will
be visible from the agenda for 2014-05-20, there is an item called
"PiTiVi funds statement". GNOME handles money for PiTiVi and this item
is related to a finer point of the interpretation of the contract
between PiTiVi and GNOME which was signed by you and two others on
behalf of PiTiVi. As a board member, you would always be expected to
take an active role in defending GNOME's interests. How would you be
handling this issue if you were currently on the board given that you
have a conflict of interest?

> I have been involved in various areas of GNOME since 2004 or so, including
> testing, triaging, marketing, mentoring, coding, public speaking and
> advocacy, UI/UX design, etc. I also graduated from business & management
> school, so I would like to put that background to good use. I'm keeping this
> description short & simple (as I suspect many of you will know me); you can
> learn more about me at http://jeff.ecchi.ca
>
>
> In GNOME's context, my areas of interest include (but are not limited to):
>
> The "big picture": becoming a sustainable ecosystem for attracting
> developers and partners. For example, sustainable bug tracking[0][1] and the
> revival of a QA team; steering our focus from the initial "disruptive
> innovation" phase of GNOME 3.x towards also re-emphasizing the perhaps more
> "boring" but essential bits (a renewed effort/focus around performance and
> robustness); etc.

As the board is rarely involved in the development and technical
aspects of the Foundation, how would being a board member help you
achieve this?

> Organizational processes and tools. From my experience and what I have seen
> in previous threads (or meeting minutes) here, there probably is room for
> improvement in the way we handle partnerships, financial operations and
> policies, etc. I'm not saying I magically have all the answers, but this is
> something I would like to get more familiar with, evaluate and help
> streamline if possible.

As the current treasurer, I have had to do something to this effect
during my year on the board. I would like to know how you would aim to
get to know the process without disrupting the workflow of our
employees, especially given that our administrative assistant's
workload is currently very high.

> Financial security: fundraising, diversification and protection against
> downturns. This is not only the recent events regarding the state of the
> Foundation's finances, but also about the "big picture". I'd like to help
> ensure the sustainability of GNOME as an organization.
> Nurturing our brand.
> Major technological shifts (such as Wayland, GTK4, systemd, you name it).
>
>
> I hope to continue serving GNOME to the best of my abilities.
> The board is one area where I hope to make a difference.
>
> Thank you for your consideration,
> Jean-François "Jeff" Fortin Tam
>
> ----
> [0]:
> http://jeff.ecchi.ca/blog/2012/10/08/reducing-our-core-apps-software-inventory/
> [1]: see also my GUADEC 2013 talk
>
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