[Incubator] FW: Suggested tweaks to incubator docs [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

[Peter Baumann]

Hi all,

as rasdaman gets addressed specifically, and as OSGeo Charter Member, let me 
weigh in:

On 01/07/2014 12:21 AM, Bruce Bannerman wrote:
> Cameron,
>
> I'm not wedded to the specific wording that I added.
>
> I do however feel strongly about the concept.
>
> My concern stems from my experiences in mentoring the Rasdaman project over 
> several years.
>
> Late in the Incubation process, the project has declared itself to follow a 
> 'Benevolent Dictatorship' model, with control of the project exercised by a 
> small group from essentially one organisation. I currently cannot see how 
> community members can be elected on merit into decision making / management 
> roles within the community. I did raise this with InCom around five months ago 
> [1].
>
> While this issue has still to play itself out within the Rasdaman Community, 
> there are lessons to be learnt for future projects that go through the 
> Incubation process.

indeed, this was delayed for the reason communicated: the roll-out of v9.0 which 
is a huge step forward = a huge pile of work. Essentially, the international 
team has established a next-level cloud-parallel analytics engine.
Meantime, however, a governance description exists - see 
http://rasdaman.org/wiki/Governance - which we hadn't announced yet due to the 
recent holidays. So pending the very welcome comments by our mentor, Bruce, we 
do have a statement available now. Thanks again for all your precious time invested!

>
> I'd like to see the issue of 'openness', particularly in project governance 
> brought out into the open and ***addressed*** early in the incubation process.
>
>
>
> I do understand that it helps for a project to have active support from at 
> least one organisation (commercial, government, NGO, research etc) for long 
> term viability. However it is not desirable for a single organisation to 
> control the directions of the project for the long term.

IMHO for an organization like OSGeo it is extremely important, for its public 
perception, to remain technical and open to different models.

>
> I also acknowledge that in the short term that the support of a single 
> organisation may be critical for the project to gain sufficient momentum to 
> become self-sustaining.

Hm, on what empirical facts is this viewpoint based?
Counter example: Linux. One person in the beginning, community later.

>
> If we can bring this issue out into the open early, then we can work through 
> it with the project proposers and decide jointly on how to address it.

Very much in line with this - your mentoring, Bruce, has brought us forward in 
our project structuring by many miles. However, hardcoding a specific doctrine 
should be avoided.

my 2 cents,
Peter


>
> This way we can potentially avoid wasting the project community's and mentor's 
> time.
>
>
> Bruce
>
> [1] http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/incubator/2013-July/002219.html
>
>
>
>
>
> From: Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com 
> <mailto:cameron.shorter at gmail.com>>
>
>     Date: Tuesday, 7 January 2014 7:42 am
>     To: Bruce Bannerman <B.Bannerman at bom.gov.au
>     <mailto:B.Bannerman at bom.gov.au>>, Jody Garnett <jody.garnett at gmail.com
>     <mailto:jody.garnett at gmail.com>>
>     Cc: Incubator <Incubator at lists.osgeo.org <mailto:Incubator at lists.osgeo.org>>
>     Subject: Re: [Incubator] Suggested tweaks to incubator docs [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]
>
>     On 06/01/14 10:06, Bruce Bannerman wrote:
>>     Cameron,
>>
>>     I made a couple of minor tweaks
>     Thanks.
>>     and added the following question to the draft Incubator Application
>>     Questionnaire:
>>
>>     "Please describe any factors that would stop '''any''' suitable member of
>>     your community from taking a committer, management or decision making
>>     role within your project community."
>
>     Hi Bruce, I'm not comfortable with the above sentence as it stands. In
>     particular, rather than asking for a specific FACT which can be backed by
>     a metric, it is asking for an OPINION requesting arguments against the
>     project. (A supporter of a project is probably not the likely person to
>     provide that OPINION.)
>
>     I think it would help if you expanded on the reason(s) you think this
>     question should be added to incubator docs.
>
>
>     -- 
>     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  <tel:%2B61%202%209009%205000>,  Wwww.lisasoft.com  <http://www.lisasoft.com>,  F+61 2 9009 5099  <tel:%2B61%202%209009%205099>
>
>
>
>
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> Incubator at lists.osgeo.org
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-- 
Dr. Peter Baumann
  - Professor of Computer Science, Jacobs University Bremen
    www.faculty.jacobs-university.de/pbaumann
    mail: p.baumann at jacobs-university.de
    tel: +49-421-200-3178, fax: +49-421-200-493178
  - Executive Director, rasdaman GmbH Bremen (HRB 26793)
    www.rasdaman.com, mail: baumann at rasdaman.com
    tel: 0800-rasdaman, fax: 0800-rasdafax, mobile: +49-173-5837882
"Si forte in alienas manus oberraverit hec peregrina epistola incertis ventis dimissa, sed Deo commendata, precamur ut ei reddatur cui soli destinata, nec preripiat quisquam non sibi parata." (mail disclaimer, AD 1083)


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