[Board] The two (or more) sides of OSGeo

[Michael P. Gerlek]

The feedback I got last week about OSGeo and FOSS4G was really split -- half
the people told me that we need to focus more on our core software projects,
and the other half told me we need to do more for new users, outreach, etc.
Arnulf did a good post on this, so no need for me to say more here:

 
http://arnulf.us/sevendipity/archives/43-OSGeo-The-Jack-of-all-Trades.html

This means, unfortunately, that we need to cover all angles.  At the board
meeting yesterday, I mused that there are really three different things we
need to work on:

  0. operations (bookkeeping, sys admin, ...)
  1. [tactical] projects (SW development, etc)
  2. [strategic] education/outreach

I suggested (perhaps naively and cavalierly) that the first area can be
handled by contracting out much of it.  The second seems to be okay
happening from the bottom up, as we have a rich source of volunteers,
project committees, local chapters, etc.  The third requires case studies,
white papers, etc, seems more top-down and not as amenable to volunteer work
as the second.

Much to think about...

-mpg