[OSGeo Oceania] A discussion on openness

Sun Dec 6 16:17:17 PST 2020

Thanks for your thoughtful response Phil. I share much of your positivity
and appreciation for all the board has achieved.

I agree that managing the myriad of communication channels is difficult and
time consuming. I have a love/hate relationship with the mailing lists, but
they seem to be the most open, universal mechanism to
disseminate information and have discussions. *Prediction*: *The year is
3020 and we're still sending emails to mailing lists.*

My own conclusion with communication is that people should communicate
wherever they like, but you have one central, open place for
official/important communication and that would be the mailing list. Part
of the conversation here seems to be: what is official and important? Did
we make things as open as we should have?

These things are hard in a volunteer community, so this is not a criticism
of anyone, but a reflection on the ways we can continually improve.

On Mon, 7 Dec 2020 at 10:18, Phil Wyatt <phil at wyatt-family.com> wrote:

> Hi Folks
>
>
>
> *TLDR:*
>
> COVID-19! I am happy. The board are doing their difficult job in these
> initial stages. Communication in this day and age is bloody hard! Things
> will settle down.
>
>
>
> *My experience*
>
> I have been a low key bystander during the formation of OSGEO Oceania. I
> am retired and have lots of time on my hands to check multiple
> communication channels. I am an initial member having attended the
> Melbourne conference and supported the idea of an organisation that
> supports our region in Open Source software and OpenStreetMap.
>
>
>
> The role of the board is set out in a fairly legal and technical way and I
> commend all those that have stood up to take on the roles, especially in
> the formation stages of the organisation.
>
>
>
>
> https://aicd.companydirectors.com.au/resources/director-tools/practical-tools-for-directors/governance-relations/role-of-the-board
>
>
>
> It’s not easy, there will be a learning a curve for many and there will be
> frustrations, arguments and concerns as the organisation develops. *The
> overarching thing for me is that the board does not do anything that would
> be harmful to the community.* To date, I have not seen anything that I
> believe has harmed the community. In the year of COVID I am just thankful
> that you have all survived in your work lives (hopefully!) as well as
> helping set up a vibrant regional organisation. Thank you.
>
>
>
> There are likely processes that need to be ironed out, procedures that
> need formalising and standards set for appropriate timelines for actions
> but these things will get sorted as the pressure eases from the initial
> formation stage. Lets be honest, 2020 has been a year like no other and we
> have managed to survive! Thanks again to you all for your hard work.
>
>
>
> *Openness and communication*
>
> Do I, as a member, need to know every aspect of the board deliberations of
> all processes? No, I don’t, but I should have a role in helping formulate
> and at least seeing final drafts before a board sign-off. This has occurred
> with documents like the terms of reference. Would it be good to have the
> minutes of meetings in one place, yes absolutely. What’s the best place for
> those….well, I personally hate wiki’s but they seem to be the norm for open
> organisations. I can learn to live with that but I wish they had more
> structure and an easy way to navigate around!
>
>
>
> I follow many communication channels for various reasons…Slack, Discord,
> Mailing lists, Email, Telegram, Zoom, Big Blue Button, Youtube streams….the
> list is endless these days and adoption varies widely across the Oceania
> region. This will be a challenge in the short and long term for the
> organisation. Regions may have their own preferences for local
> communication so subject to information being available to the wider region
> it may well be that regions collectively put their thoughts back to the
> board by one appropriate formal channel. Maybe the mailing list is the
> ‘formal’ channel?
>
>
>
> *Conclusion*
>
> Don’t be too hard on yourselves – you are all volunteers. Yes, we all need
> to get some structure back into our lives and OSGEO Oceania is no
> different. Work on getting timely and regular processes in place and solid
> regular communication to a formal channel (or two) but personally, I don’t
> need all the minute details – *I trust the board to do no harm*!
>
>
>
>
>
> Cheers – Phil (aka tastrax)
>
>
>
> *From:* Oceania <oceania-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> *On Behalf Of *Edoardo
> Neerhut
> *Sent:* Sunday, 6 December 2020 10:32 PM
> *To:* oceania at lists.osgeo.org
> *Subject:* [OSGeo Oceania] A discussion on openness
>
>
>
> Hi everyone,
>
>
>
> *TLDR: *
>
> *To the current/former directors: How would you describe the
> organisation's experience with openness and transparency?*
>
> *To the whole community: How do you feel? What should the board and the
> community do more or less of?*
>
>
>
> *The context*
>
> There have been a number of comments made recently about transparency and
> openness and I wanted to tease them out a bit as the end of year
> approaches. In particular, Adam and John expressed their concerns here
> <https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/oceania-board/2020-November/000112.html>
> and here
> <https://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/oceania/2020-November/002439.html>
> respectively, with both resigning as directors as a consequence.
>
>
>
> This is clearly an issue for further discussion. The OSGeo Oceania
> director elections end in a few hours and regardless of the results, I am
> very keen to hear what practical steps we should take to address these
> concerns. Adam/John: if you have time to elaborate that would be much
> appreciated as well.
>
>
>
> *My experience*
>
> I think most would agree transparency and openness should be
> fundamental aspects to our community. What's harder is living up to them. I
> am guilty of sending a quick Slack message or email to people for the sake
> of expediency, but failing on transparency as a consequence.
>
>
>
> I have worked with many on the current board and feel they are all
> wonderful, talented people, operating with the best interests of OSGeo
> Oceania at heart. I'm optimistic about where we're at and we can go and I
> want to thank all on the board and the wider community for getting us here.
> Hundreds of people from across the region have been able to learn, share,
> and connect with geospatial ideas and tools through these efforts. I
> honestly don't believe there is a people issue here, but a fog over the
> decision making process which we need to tease out.
>
>
>
> My read from where I stand is that there is a constant battle between
> expediency and openness. I am still trying to understand the relationship
> between these two things at a practical level.
>
>
>
> *Practically speaking, what should we do?*
>
> I am going to assume we agree that openness is fundamental to the health
> of the organisation. If I have falsely assumed this, please correct me.
>
>
>
> On the areas we are failing, why do we think this is the case? I believe
> everyone is operating in good faith.
>
>    - Take the example of meeting minutes. They went up eventually, so do
>    we need to make sure we share responsibility more so that this happens
>    immediately after? Could members of the community join board meetings in
>    this role?
>    - On board decisions, why were some decisions timely? Can we minimise
>    that in future? Were some board members slow to make a decision? What is
>    the expectation here from board members?
>    - The concept of membership is still vague and I bear more
>    responsibility for this failure than anyone. At the same time, this is
>    something that we as a community should decide collectively. I should have
>    done more to initiatie that conversation openly.
>
> These are just three examples. I'm sure there are many more.
>
>
>
> *So finally, what are the low hanging fruits? Where should the community
> focus our efforts going forward? Why are we failing in these areas? How
> should we address them?*
>
>
>
> We've come a long way thanks to all of you and I'm very optimistic about
> the road ahead. How do we traverse it?
>
>
>
> Looking forward to hearing everyone's thoughts.
>
>
>
> Ed
>
>
>
>
>
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