<div dir="ltr">I think Maxi beat us all to answering and has spoken very well.<div><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On 16 October 2017 at 03:11, Cameron Shorter <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:cameron.shorter@gmail.com" target="_blank">cameron.shorter@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<p>OSGeo Board Candidates,</p>
<p>I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on these ideas. Most
pertinently:</p>
<p>1. How do you feel about empowering OSGeo committees, avoiding
over-riding committee decisions in all but exceptional
circumstances. (Board members can join committees)?</p></div></blockquote><div>Your question is a bit leading - in assuming an answer about over-riding.</div><div><br></div><div>I think we have a mechanism in place to empower committees:</div><div><br></div><div>- negotiating a mandate with the committee, which can be revised as required (we saw the conference committee take on an additional responsibility this year)</div><div>- providing a budget for activities, although this plays a smaller role</div><div><br></div><div>By negotiating a mandate the board is empowering a committee, that negotiation may or may not include the ability to over-ride a committee decision. The incubation committee for example has a direct note about independence. This is also why I am interested in seeing committee and project officers covered by our insurance - each committee is provided considerable responsibility and should be backed accordingly.</div><div><br></div><div>The key glitch, that I have talked through with several committee chairs, is the realization how much responsibility their committee has - and that the group do not have to wait on the board for approval. They have a mandate, and are left with the the much tougher task of gathering together and motivating our volunteers and contributors.</div><div><br></div><div>I do not want to over emphasis the role of a budget - we have direct evidence that we are a volunteer driven organization in that our committees lack active volunteers to spend the money they outline each year. </div><div><br></div><div>Board members, the individuals, can of course join committees. Keep in mind they would then be operating as committee members (tracking the purpose of that committee) and not be given any additional responsibility.</div><div><br></div><div>I also really like the idea of short term initiatives that are formed to tackle a idea, and dissolve when the their goal is accomplished. I think this is a great thing for the board, or any committee, to do. I would love to see more focused "initiatives" gathering together interested parties from across our organization.</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<p>2. How do you feel about minimising the perception of board
positions being considered as a "Honey Pot". Do this by avoiding
having board members be expected to attend events which require
travel expenses, and hence avoid having board members being
reimbursed from OSGeo.</p></div></blockquote><div>This is tricky, I certaintly understand how this impression could be formed. Once again this is a leading question where you have provided your own preferred answer.</div><div><br></div><div>For some of our relationships OSGeo is expected to act in a professional manner and send delegates to events, or provide someone "official" to attend and speak on behalf of our organization. When we had a paid representative this was easy, we booked a plane ticket.</div><div><br></div><div>For a while we moved to exhausting our president (often the same person who chaired the board meetings) flying them around to perform this function.</div><div><br></div><div>We are currently trying out having vice-presidents in each region, it has certainly reduced travel costs and allowed us to treat Venka with more care.</div><div><br></div><div>I know cameron that you have tried to create an "advocate" system where each region would have a number of people recognized as being able to speak on behalf of our organization. For my personal take I think <b>any osgeo charter member</b> can be asked by a committee or board to speak and act in an official capacity.</div><div><br></div><div>I like the idea of <b>any member operating in official capacity</b> being able to be reimbursed for expenses. I do not mind if if that is at the bequest of a committee or the board (hey the board is a committee too!). As long as the committee is operating with in its mandate, and has secured budget or sponsorship to act, please use what limited funds we have to be more effective.</div><div><br></div><div>Let me try with a foss4g example, OSGeo project chairs have a responsibility to attend the AGM and report (providing transparency in how the project is doing, if there needs are being met, and how they spent their budget if they requested one). In 2017 some projects met this responsibility by sending a project team member who was already attending the event. In 2018 I would like projects to consider budgeting for their chair to attend the event, as part of the cost of being part of our organization.</div><div><br></div><div>So I see your request to reduce board travel, and I answer with a request to distribute travel better across our organization. <br></div><div><br></div><div>With respect to board travel, this configuration of the board was much more effective in face to face meetings (and in hangouts) than in our traditional IRC meeting format. As such it was the right decision to have several face to face meetings - I am pretty sure the key benefit was being unplugged from their day to day work responsibilities to have a chance to focus on our organization. We can see a number of requests for a secretary to make this format more effective. I instead recommend the board members adopted a consistent chair and secretary between meetings; and nail down action items coming out of any decision.</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
<p>3. Do you think you can help empower people who think they can
positively update OSGeo's vision?<br></p></div></blockquote><div>This is tricky as you are asking about me personally, rather than the board. The best thing I can do personally is extend people my trust and enthusiasm. </div><div><br></div><div><br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><div><div class="h5"><br>
<div class="m_-8473245588192083414moz-cite-prefix">On 16/10/17 9:36 am, Cameron Shorter
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<p><b style="font-weight:normal" id="m_-8473245588192083414docs-internal-guid-545b4353-222d-064b-acb8-19d0053c9e8c">
</b></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><b style="font-weight:normal" id="m_-8473245588192083414docs-internal-guid-545b4353-222d-064b-acb8-19d0053c9e8c"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The 2017 OSGeo Board elections are about to start. Some of us who have been involved with OSGeo over the years have collated thoughts about the effectiveness of different strategies. Hopefully these thoughts will be useful for future boards, and charter members who are about to select board members.</span></b></p>
<b style="font-weight:normal" id="m_-8473245588192083414docs-internal-guid-545b4353-222d-064b-acb8-19d0053c9e8c">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The Yin and Yang of OSGeo</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">As with life, there are a number of Yin vs Yang questions we are continually trying to balance. Discussions around acting as a high or low capital organisation; organising top down vs bottom up; populating a board with old wisdom or fresh blood; personal vs altruistic motivation; protecting privacy vs public transparency. Let’s discuss some of them here.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Time vs Money</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">OSGeo is an Open Source organisation using a primary currency of volunteer time. We mostly self-manage our time via principles of Do-ocracy and Merit-ocracy. This is bottom up.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">However, OSGeo also manages some money. Our board divvies up a budget which is allocated down to committees and projects. This is top-down command-and-control management. This cross-over between volunteer and market economics is a constant point of tension. (For more on the cross-over of economies, see Paul Ramsey’s FOSS4G 2017 Keynote, </span><a href="http://blog.cleverelephant.ca/2017/08/foss4g-keynote.html" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://blog.cleverelephant.ca/<wbr>2017/08/foss4g-keynote.html</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">)</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">High or low capital organisation?</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Our 2013 OSGeo Board tackled this question:</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><a href="https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Board_:_Board_Priorities_2013#OSGeo_as_a_low_capital.2C_volunteer_focused_organisation" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/<wbr>OSGeo_Board_:_Board_<wbr>Priorities_2013#OSGeo_as_a_<wbr>low_capital.2C_volunteer_<wbr>focused_organisation</span></a></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;margin-left:36pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Should OSGeo act as a high capital or low capital organisation? I.e., should OSGeo dedicate energy to collecting sponsorship and then passing out these funds to worthy OSGeo causes.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;margin-left:36pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">While initially it seems attractive to have OSGeo woo sponsors, because we would all love to have more money to throw at worthy OSGeo goals, the reality is that chasing money is hard work. And someone who can chase OSGeo sponsorship is likely conflicted with chasing sponsorship for their particular workplace. So in practice, to be effective in chasing sponsorship, OSGeo will probably need to hire someone specifically for the role. OSGeo would then need to raise at least enough to cover wages, and then quite a bit more if the sponsorship path is to create extra value.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;margin-left:36pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">This high capital path is how the Apache foundation is set up, and how LocationTech propose to organise themselves. It is the path that OSGeo started following when founded under the umbrella of Autodesk.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt;margin-left:36pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:italic;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">However, as OSGeo has grown, OSGeo has slowly evolved toward a low capital volunteer focused organisation. Our overheads are very low, which means we waste very little of our volunteer labour and capital on the time consuming task of chasing and managing money. Consequently, any money we do receive (from conference windfalls or sponsorship) goes a long way - as it doesn't get eaten up by high overheads.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Size and Titles</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Within small communities influence is based around meritocracy and do-ocracy. Good ideas bubble to the top and those who do the work decide what work gets done. Leaders who try to pull rank in order to gain influence quickly lose volunteers. Within these small communities, a person’s title hold little tradable value.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">However, our OSGeo community has grown very large, upward of tens of thousands of people. At this size, we often can’t use our personal relationships to assess reputation and trust. Instead we need to rely on other cues, such as titles and allocated positions of power.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Consider also that OSGeo projects have become widely adopted. As such, knowledge and influence within an OSGeo community has become a valuable commodity. It helps land a job; secure a speaking slot at a conference; or get an academic paper published.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">This introduces a commercial dynamic into our volunteer power structures:</span></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">A title is sometimes awarded to a dedicated volunteer, hoping that it can be traded for value within the commercial economy. (In practice, deriving value from a title is much harder than it sounds).</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">There are both altruistic and personal reasons for someone to obtain a title. A title can be used to improve the effectiveness of the volunteer; or to improve the volunteers financial opportunities.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">This can prompt questions of a volunteer’s motivations.</span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In response to this, over the years we have seen a gradual change to position of roles within the OSGeo community.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Top-down vs bottom-up</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">OSGeo board candidates have been asked for their “vision”, and “what they would like to change or introduce”. </span><a href="https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Election_2017_Candidate_Manifestos" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/<wbr>Election_2017_Candidate_<wbr>Manifestos</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> These are valid questions if OSGeo were run as a command-and-control top-down hierarchy; if board made decisions were delegated to OSGeo committees to implement. But OSGeo is bottom-up. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Boards which attempt to centralise control and delegate tasks cause resentment and disengagement amongst volunteers. Likewise, communities who try to delegate tasks to their leaders merely burn out their leaders. Both are ignoring the principles of Do-ocracy and Merit-ocracy. So ironically, boards which do less are often helping more.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Darwinian evolution means that only awesome ideas and inspiring leaders attract volunteer attention - and that is a good thing.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Recognising ineffective control attempts</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">How do you recognise ineffective command-and-control techniques within a volunteer community? Look for statements such as:</span></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“The XXX committee needs to do YYY…”</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“Why isn’t anyone helping us do …?”</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">“The XXX community hasn’t completed YYY requirements - we need to tell them to implement ZZZ”</span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">If all the ideas from an organisation come from management, then management isn’t listening to their team.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Power to the people</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In most cases the board should keep out of the way of OSGeo communities. Only in exceptional circumstances should a board override volunteer initiatives.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Decisions and power within OSGeo should be moved back into OSGeo committees, chapters and projects. This empowers our community, and motivates volunteers wishing to scratch an itch.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">We do want our board members to be enlightened, motivated and engaged within OSGeo. This active engagement should be done within OSGeo communities: partaking, facilitating or mentoring as required. A recent example of this was Jody Garnett’s active involvement with OSGeo rebranding - where he worked with others within the OSGeo marketing committee.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Democratising key decisions</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">While we have a charter membership of nearly 400 who are tasked with ‘protecting’ the principles of the foundation and voting for new charter members and the board. Beyond this, charter members have had little way of engaging with the board to influence the direction of OSGeo.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">How can we balance the signal-to-noise ratio such that we can achieve effective membership engagement with the board without overwhelming ourselves with chatter? Currently we have no formal or prescribed processes for such consultation.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Reimbursement</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">OSGeo Board members are not paid for their services. However, they are regularly invited to partake in activities such as presenting at conferences or participating in meetings with other organisations. These are typically beneficial to both OSGeo and the leader’s reputation or personal interest. To avoid OSGeo Board membership being seen as a “Honey Pot”, and for the Board to maintain trust and integrity, OSGeo board members should refuse payment from OSGeo for partaking in such activities. (There is nothing wrong with accepting payment from another organisation, such as the conference organisers.)</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">In response to the question of conferences, OSGeo has previously created OSGeo Advocates - an extensive list of local volunteers from around the world willing to talk about OSGeo. </span><a href="https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Advocate" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/<wbr>OSGeo_Advocate</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Old vs new</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Should we populate our board with old wisdom or encourage fresh blood and new ideas? We ideally want a bit of both, bring wisdom from the past, but also spreading the opportunity of leadership across our membership. We should avoid leadership becoming an exclusive “boys club” without active community involvement, and possibly should consider maximum terms for board members.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">If our leadership follow a “hands off oversight role”, then past leaders can still play influential roles within OSGeo’s subcommittees.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Vision for OSGeo 2.0</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Prior OSGeo thought leaders have suggested it’s time to grow from OSGeo 1.0 to OSGeo 2.0. Update our vision and mission. A few of those ideas have fed into OSGeo’s website revamp currently underway. This has been a good start, but there is still room to acknowledge that much has changed since OSGeo was born a decade ago, and there are plenty of opportunities to positively redefine ourselves. </span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">A test of OSGeo’s effectiveness is to see how well community ideas are embraced and taken through to implementation. This is a challenge that I hope will attract new energy and new ideas from a new OSGeo generation.</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Here are a few well considered ideas that have been presented to date that we can start from:</span></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Michael Gerlek July 2015, “We won. It's time for OSGeo 2.0”, </span><a href="https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2015-July/014521.html" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://lists.osgeo.org/<wbr>pipermail/discuss/2015-July/<wbr>014521.html</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Darrell Fuhriman: September 2015, “OSGeo is becoming irrelevant. Here's why. Let's fix it.” </span><a href="https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2015-September/032616.html" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://lists.osgeo.org/<wbr>pipermail/discuss/2015-<wbr>September/032616.html</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Marc Vloemans, March 2014, OSGeo Marketing Analysis, </span><a href="https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Talk:Marketing_Committee" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/<wbr>Talk:Marketing_Committee</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">OSGeo Board of 2013, “OSGeo Board Priorities”, </span><a href="http://cameronshorter.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/osgeo-board-priorities.html" style="text-decoration:none" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">http://cameronshorter.<wbr>blogspot.com.au/2013/03/osgeo-<wbr>board-priorities.html</span></a><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap"> </span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">(There are a few more which I haven’t located - please do suggest them).</span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Recommendations</span></p>
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">So where does this leave us. </span></p>
<ul style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt">
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Let’s recognise that OSGeo is an Open Source community, and we organise ourselves best with bottom-up Meritocracy and Do-ocracy.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Wherever possible, decisions should be made at the committee, chapter or project level, with the board merely providing hands-off oversight. This empowers and enables our sub-communities.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Let’s identify strategic topics where the OSGeo board would benefit from consultation with charter membership and work out how this could be accomplished efficiently and effectively.</span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">Let’s embrace and encourage new blood into our leadership ranks, while retaining access to our wise old white beards. </span></p>
</li>
<li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type:disc;font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline">
<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:10pt"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;background-color:transparent;font-weight:400;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap">The one top-down task for the board is based around allocation of OSGeo’s (minimal) budget.</span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><span class="m_-8473245588192083414moz-txt-tag">-- <br>
</span>Cameron Shorter <br>
Open Technologies Consultant <br>
Geospatial & Software Architect <br>
Information Demystifier <br>
<br>
M <a href="tel:+61%20419%20142%20254" value="+61419142254" target="_blank">+61 (0) 419 142 254</a> <br>
<a class="m_-8473245588192083414moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://shorter.net" target="_blank">http://shorter.net</a></p>
</b> </blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="m_-8473245588192083414moz-signature" cols="72">--
Cameron Shorter
Open Technologies Consultant
Geospatial & Software Architect
Information Demystifier
M <a href="tel:+61%20419%20142%20254" value="+61419142254" target="_blank">+61 (0) 419 142 254</a>
<a class="m_-8473245588192083414moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://shorter.net" target="_blank">http://shorter.net</a></pre>
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