Re: More questions for Board candidates

[josh joshtriplett org]

On Thu, May 21, 2015 at 05:25:51PM -0400, Karen Sandler wrote:
> I have a few questions for the candidates too. I agree with what has
> been said by Jeff and Josh that it's important that people on the
> board have a diverse skillset, so I wouldn't expect all board
> members to answer yes on these, but I think it's good to know if at
> least a few people on the board have some background in these
> areas...
>
> Have you ever done any fundraising?

Yes, in various aspects, including conference sponsorship and
donations to organizations.

> Are you comfortable asking sponsors for money?

Yes.  The worst you can hear is "no".

(Well, if you're too annoying with an existing sponsor you can lose
them, but reasonable and infrequent requests don't normally constitute
"too annoying".)

> Have you ever been in a manager role?

I've never been a people-manager, but I've been in technical leadership
roles and provided direction and support to large groups of people.

More generally, I've been in roles where I need to think about people,
business, and products, in addition to technology.  (I currently have
such a role.)

> Do you have any experience talking to reporters?

Some.  As part of addressing the Groupon issue, I helped work with the
press to publicize GNOME's fundraising and legal campaign.  I've also
done small-scale press interviews/articles/etc, though only on the scale
of LWN rather than CNN. :)

> Have you ever talked to a group of people about why software freedom
> is important?

Yes.  I've given presentations and speeches (both formal and informal),
as well as various writings and emails, on topics including software
patents, licensing, DRM, the DMCA, FOSS, and many other similar issues.
I also generally make a point of saying "Free Software", or at the very
least "FOSS", rather than just "Open Source".

- Josh Triplett