[Board] A possible view of the world

[Frank Warmerdam]

On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 12:31 PM, Michael P. Gerlek <mpg at flaxen.com> wrote:
> Right now, the board and OSGeo is -- in principle -- concerned with trying to do a zillion possible things, from conferences to codesprints to development to outreach to curricula.  We are trying to be all things for all communities, and as a result (I claim) we're not effective.

Michael,

I don't really see what you are proposing as that distinct from how
things operate now.  You suggest having "chapters" for things that
would include education, outreach, conferences.  For the most part we
have that now, particularly if you consider an OSGeo committee as
similar to a chapter - that is an interest group aiming at focus on
some particular area.

> At some level you're right, this might be the default OSGeo mode right now.  But it certainly is not what I wanted/expected 5 years ago, nor is it clear from current discussions that people expect it to be like this.

Ah, this is a different matter of course.  Certainly there are those
who frequently say "OSGeo should do..." and they are often
disappointed when they don't see these things happen.  They assume
that the organization and the board are asleep at the wheel.  To some
extent they are right, but to me the essence of the matter is that we
are still fundamentally a volunteer organization and for the most part
things happen when volunteers want to do them.

As a board we have traditionally had modest amounts of money and
modest amounts of staff time we could apply to priorities.  Now we
don't even have staff time unless we are willing to pay for it for
special priorities (as might be the case for FOSS4G support).  And our
money is sufficiently limited that we can't move mountains with it
though hopefully carefully targetted we can facilitate a few things
that otherwise wouldn't happen.

> So instead, what if we make it crystal clear that the communities need to self-organize and self-fund themselves.  Those that do so, great!  Those that don't, well then their work won't happen.  OSGeo I11N is here to provide some administrative and logistic support and get things going, but owning the outcome of each community's goals is no longer OSGeo's responsibility.

I am all for pushing this point.  While it was very painful to let Tyler
go as ED, one thing I hope to come from it is that community members
can more clearly see that things only really happen when volunteers
step forward to do them.  There is no OSGeo staff that will just make
things happen.

Hopefully OSGeo can provide some infrastructural, financial,
and reputational support to volunteer efforts but fundamentally
we are still a volunteer organization.  With regard to local
chapters it is increasingly clear that local chapters are one
context that people like to work in on voluntary efforts and
so I'm pleased to have many things addressed by local chapters.

I would still like to return to a situation where we have staff
and financial resources that we can apply strategically to get
critical things done but even then that is just a small fraction of
what we are doing as a community.

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Software Developer