[Board] Suggested text for "Suggestions for Board Membership"
Cameron Shorter
cameron.shorter at gmail.com
Thu Aug 14 15:36:31 PDT 2014
I'm copying this email thread (started on OSGeo-Board) to OSGeo-Discuss
list, as people considering joining the OSGeo-Board will likely be
interested to read and potentially contribute to the discussion.
Jeff,
As per your suggestion, I've copied the proposed text to a wiki page here:
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_of_Directors#Suggested_involvement_from_board_members
It is still in draft format.
Venka, Nick,
We discussed your suggestions (along with others) in the board meeting
today, and I've adjusted the text to emphasis that these board role
descriptions are suggestions are guidelines only, not rules, and can be
updated by future boards. Jeff noted that people have been asking him
for advise on what is involved in being a board member, and hopefully
this text should help answer this question. I agree that the next board
should consider these roles and adjust if needed.
Frank, I've adjusted text to take on some of your suggestions.
Further suggestions and comments are welcomed. Latest text here contains:
Suggested involvement from board members
(This section is still in draft format.)
What is expected of a board member? Legal details are listed in section
3 of ourbylaws
<http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/incorporation/bylaws.html>.
This section provides addition practical guidelines to help set
expectations between the community and board members about the level of
effort involved in the volunteer board member role. It aims to advise on
likely time commitments, as well as clarify the limits of what we should
expected. Note that these are suggestions rather than rules:
* The board's primary responsibility is to efficiently and effectively
make strategic decisions regarding related to the running of OSGeo.
In many (most?) cases, this will involve validating decisions
already made by OSGeo's subcommittees. (bylaws
<http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/incorporation/bylaws.html>section
3.1).
* Board members should expect to spend 2 to 8 hours per month on board
activities.
* Board members should sometimes contribute a little more, maybe
negotiating with the community or external organisation, collating
or developing ideas and writing them up, doing some extra research
to back a decision, or helping with administrative work like taking
minutes.
* Board members should attempt to attend all board meetings, which
happen at a frequency of ~ once per month, which take ~ one hour.
(Selection of meeting timeslots are to be negotiated to try and suit
all members.) If unable to attend, the board member should attempt
to provide opinions on issues before hand, and vote on motions
afterwards.
* Board members should monitor and contribute toward discussions on
the board email list, and aim to vote on motions within 2 working days.
* Board members are not paid for their service (bylaws
<http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/incorporation/bylaws.html>section
3.4), but should not be out of pocket if working for the board. For
instance, a board member should be refunded travel expenses if
requested to travel on behalf of the board.
* Ideally some board members should be prepared to speak on behalf of
OSGeo at events.
On 14/08/2014 2:05 am, Daniel Kastl wrote:
> Hi Jeff,
>
> Right, so if this is what the majority expects, let's write it down.
> I fear that there are many people who probably expect much more (you
> don't know any? ;-) ... maybe even candidates, who would like to
> become a board member think it's a lot more work and therefore refuse
> to become a candidate.
>
> Better to have this clarified and visible somewhere, no?
> If it's just these two lines, it's even not worth to discuss long
> about it ;-)
>
> Daniel
>
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 5:55 PM, Jeff McKenna
> <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com <mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>>
> wrote:
>
> For the record, I am involved in a lot of offline talks lately
> inviting others to join the Board, and when I am asked about
> commitment I simply answer with two things:
>
> - attend the Board meeting on IRC, once a month, usually around
> the second Thursday of the month, for one hour
>
> - be open and share your thoughts on foundation discussions on the
> [Board] mailing list
>
> Beyond that, as we are all volunteers, I don't think we can ask
> for more.
>
> -jeff
>
>
>
>
> On 2014-08-13 12:30 PM, Daniel Kastl wrote:
>
> I agree with Michael, that it's a good idea to write down the
> expectations, and I don't think the timing is a big issue.
> Because it's not a bad but a good thing for board members to
> know what
> the community expects from them.
>
> If OSGeo goes well, then it's very easy for the board to
> justify that
> they did a good job. But if troubles occur or there is a lot
> of work but
> not much visibility, then it's easy to blame the board. Having
> some
> expectations defined before is for each board members safety
> and to have
> some rough guideline.
>
> Daniel
>
>
> On Wed, Aug 13, 2014 at 5:14 PM, Jeff McKenna
> <jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com
> <mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>
> <mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com
> <mailto:jmckenna at gatewaygeomatics.com>>>
>
> wrote:
>
> I must admit, when I first glanced at this initial message
> early in
> the morning my thoughts in my head were 'this is the wrong
> time, in
> the middle of the Board election, to start defining
> roles'. The
> time for this should have been before asking nominees.
>
> Regarding clarifications about the expectations of being a
> Board
> member, could those vocal in this thread (Cameron, Frank,
> Daniel,
> mpg) mind drafting a new page on these expectations, and
> the new
> Board in September can review it and edit accordingly?
>
> However my experience tells me that we must be very
> careful with
> expectations, within a volunteer organization.
>
> -jeff
>
>
>
>
>
> On 2014-08-13 11:48 AM, Michael P. Gerlek wrote:
>
> +1 to Cameron here from me too. He's trying to clarify the
> expectations of a board member, not setting any rules
> - these
> are good things to be thinking about as we all think
> about the
> next round of Board Members.
>
> .mpg
>
> On Aug 13, 2014, at 7:07 AM, Daniel Morissette
> <dmorissette at mapgears.com
> <mailto:dmorissette at mapgears.com>
> <mailto:dmorissette at mapgears.com
> <mailto:dmorissette at mapgears.com>>>
>
> wrote:
>
> I don't think Cameron is inventing or changing any
> rules, he
> is just proposing to collectively document what is
> and has
> always been expected from a board member for the
> posterity.
>
> FWIW I am also in favor of documenting our
> processes and
> expectations (in general) as much as possible to
> help future
> boards in their work, and I find that Cameron has
> exceptional patience to help with that
> documentation process
> (he managed to walk the membership to a consensus
> on the new
> charter member election process, something nobody
> managed to
> achieve before), so instead of shooting down his
> initiatives, I think that more charter members
> should help
> by contributing to them.
>
> All that being said, I do not have the time and
> energy to
> argue this point any more, so this will be my one
> and only
> email on this topic.
>
> Daniel
>
>
> On 14-08-13 8:54 AM, nicolas bozon wrote:
> Cameron,
> I agree that rules and documents must/should
> not change
> during
> elections, because this is confusing.
> I also think that all past, present and future
> board
> members must/should
> already know what they should do, and what is
> working or
> what is not.
> Let us the Board change the many needed rules
> after
> elections, so it can
> also benefit from upcoming new director's
> visions, and
> hopefully from
> Charter Member's and Committee's input too.
>
> Best,
>
> Nick
>
>
> 2014-08-13 14:29 GMT+02:00 Venkatesh Raghavan
> <raghavan at media.osaka-cu.ac.jp
> <mailto:raghavan at media.osaka-cu.ac.jp>
> <mailto:raghavan at media.osaka-cu.ac.jp
> <mailto:raghavan at media.osaka-cu.ac.jp>>
> <mailto:raghavan at media.osaka-__cu.ac.jp
> <mailto:raghavan at media.osaka-__cu.ac.jp>
>
> <mailto:raghavan at media.osaka-cu.ac.jp
> <mailto:raghavan at media.osaka-cu.ac.jp>>>>:
>
> Board elections have already started and
> I have
> made my first
> nomination.
> Please don't try to invent new rules
> after the
> process has begun.
> Whatever
> changes needs to be made can be discussed
> and made
> by the upcoming
> new board.
>
> Venka
>
>
> On 2014/08/13 20:36, Cameron Shorter
> wrote:
> As we move into a board election, I
> think it
> would be beneficial
> to document what we consider should
> be expected
> of board members.
> I think that it would be helpful for
> potential
> board members when
> considering joining the board, and also
> something that board
> members can point toward if community
> members
> complain about lack
> of action from the board.
> Maybe think of it as a moral contract.
>
> If others think it is a good idea, I
> suggest we
> add to this page:
> http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/__Board_of_Directors
>
>
> <http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_of_Directors>
>
> Are there other points which should
> go on this
> list?
>
> What is expected of a board member?
> Boring
> legal details are
> listed in section 3 of ourbylaws
>
>
> <http://www.osgeo.org/content/__foundation/incorporation/__bylaws.html
>
> <http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/incorporation/bylaws.html>>
>
> <http://www.osgeo.org/content/__foundation/incorporation/__bylaws.html
>
>
>
> <http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/incorporation/bylaws.html>>,
> but I think it would be helpful for us to
> extend this to practical
> guidelines. Something like:
>
> * The board's primary responsibility
> is to
> efficiently and
> effectively make decisions regarding
> the day to
> day running of
> OSGeo (bylaws
>
>
> <http://www.osgeo.org/content/__foundation/incorporation/__bylaws.html
>
> <http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/incorporation/bylaws.html>>
>
> <http://www.osgeo.org/content/__foundation/incorporation/__bylaws.html
>
>
>
> <http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/incorporation/bylaws.html>>
> section 3.1).
>
> * Board members should expect to
> spend 1 to 3
> hours per week on
> board activities.
>
> * Board members should sometimes
> contribute a
> little more, maybe
> negotiating with the community or
> external
> organisation, collating
> or developing ideas and writing them
> up, doing
> some extra research
> to back a decision, or helping with
> administrative work like
> taking minutes.
>
> * Board members should attempt to
> attend all
> board meetings, which
> happen at a frequency of ~ once per
> month,
> which take ~ one hour.
> (Selection of meeting timeslots are to be
> negotiated to try and
> suit all members.) If unable to
> attend, the
> board member should
> attempt to provide opinions on issues
> before
> hand, and vote on
> motions afterwards.
>
> * Board members should monitor and
> contribute
> toward discussions
> on the board email list, and aim to
> vote on
> motions within 2
> working days.
>
> * Board members are not paid for
> their service
> (bylaws
>
>
> <http://www.osgeo.org/content/__foundation/incorporation/__bylaws.html
>
> <http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/incorporation/bylaws.html>>
>
> <http://www.osgeo.org/content/__foundation/incorporation/__bylaws.html
>
>
>
> <http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/incorporation/bylaws.html>>
> section 3.4), but should not be out
> of pocket
> if working for the
> board. For instance, a board member
> should be
> refunded travel
> expenses if requested to travel on
> behalf of
> the board.
>
> * Ideally some board members should
> be prepared
> to speak on behalf
> of OSGeo at events.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Board mailing list
> Board at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Board at lists.osgeo.org>
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
>
>
>
>
> --
> Georepublic UG & Georepublic Japan
> eMail: daniel.kastl at georepublic.de <mailto:daniel.kastl at georepublic.de>
> Web: http://georepublic.info
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Board mailing list
> Board at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/board
--
Cameron Shorter,
Software and Data Solutions Manager
LISAsoft
Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
P +61 2 9009 5000, W www.lisasoft.com, F +61 2 9009 5099
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