[FOSS4G-Oceania] Governance

[John Bryant]

Hi committee, time for the most exciting topic of all - governance!

Over the last several months, and especially last week, there were a number
of conversations among committee members about 'what next', and many of
these have touched on the topic of how we organise this committee in the
future.

I expect there will be quite a few ideas around this, and a range of
opinions, so I'd like to kick off a discussion so that we can choose our
path and move forward.

We've had a productive year of working together, culminating in a
successful event. We managed to do this quite informally, using consensus
building to foster a shared sense of ownership of the conference. I'm
extremely happy with how this group has worked together.

I feel we are at an inflection point though, and I don't think we can
assume that what worked this year will automatically continue to work. Now
that we have people's attention with a successful event and an energised &
engaged community, I feel it would be wise to come to more robust terms on
how we manage this.

Because we need to kick off a new conference planning cycle in the new
year, we also need to determine how to bring in new people (importantly,
including some New Zealanders), how to appoint a new chair, etc etc.

At a bare minimum, I believe our next iteration of governance should
include an updated Terms of Reference, outlining processes for managing
committee membership, processes for appointing leadership and executive,
rules/norms for decision making, and expectations around levels of
participation.

But there are good arguments to be made for creating a legally-recognised
entity:

   - it would enable us to manage our own funds when the time is right
   (whether we choose to do this immediately or not)
   - it would enable us to enter into agreements as a body (Alex and I had
   to personally sign our partnership agreement with SSSI, as individuals)
   - it normally comes with a well-developed set of rules for governance
   that we can adjust to our liking
   - I believe that committee members would be somewhat protected from
   personal liability
   - it would provide a strong signal to the community that there is a
   persistent body in place to steward the conference and other initiatives,
   and ideally lay out a strong foundation for the long term

I have definitely heard people warn against the administrative overhead of
setting up a formal entity, but having done this in the past (in Canada
mind you), and reading through the docs, I don't see this as especially
onerous. But there is more work to do on understanding the details.

In any case, we need to figure out how to move on to the next phase. In
terms of timing, I think *we should try and come to agreement on a clear
path forward within about 2 weeks (14th Dec)*, so that we can begin the new
year with purpose and direction.

Daniel and I had a good chat about this stuff this morning, and have
started a draft document
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KkUl-qwb2pE5OomHy-0RwKSsXJDOkFx0dpW6Dhfv624/edit>
we can use (in addition to this email thread) to focus our efforts.

*Your thoughts/questions/ideas/concerns please!*

Cheers
John
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