[OSGeo Oceania] A discussion on openness

Sun Dec 6 19:39:14 PST 2020

Thanks Edoardo, for raising this important discussion so darn eloquently.

I think everyone would agree that transparency is a balancing act, finding
the happy medium between too much and not enough information.

When OSGeo Oceania was created in December 2018, we worked on finding a
good balance, and agreed:

   - to discuss and decide on a public list, except where privacy was
   deemed appropriate (ie. public by default)
   - casual/operational discussions could occur in "informal" channels eg.
   Slack, with a preference for public channels
   - meeting notes and a record of decisions would be published

To me, this still seems like a reasonable balance. The hardest one to
achieve seems to be the first one (public by default), and I admit that
while I was on the board, I didn't always live up to this. On at least one
occasion I can recall, I kicked off a significant discussion in private,
for reasons of expediency, that perhaps warranted a broader audience.
Specifically: later in 2019, after developing the membership policy took
much more time and effort than expected, we needed to update our
constitution to enable a membership intake and elections before the end of
the year. The 9 directors were the only formal "members" at that point, so
it was technically legitimate to review and update the constitution without
taking it to the broader community, but it certainly would have been
preferable to build a broader consensus. In the end, expediency won, and I
hope that on review of the changes, most would agree that it was the right
choice.

On the "we are all volunteers, and this is hard" line of reasoning: it
comes up often, and it's certainly true and fair. But I think it's too
often held up as an excuse for not following through. Holding board
discussions in public doesn't necessarily add to the volunteer workload; I
think it actually reduces it by allowing people with specific knowledge to
contribute at the right time, and allow others to follow along, spreading
the workload across a larger volunteer base. It also may help in keeping
people accountable for their words & actions. In the case of publishing
meeting notes and decisions - if these are kept properly, then publishing
them is a relatively tiny task that takes just a few minutes a month for
one person.

As Phil says, it's about trust. We need to be able to trust the board to do
no harm. But there is a difference between trust and faith. I believe trust
is earned, through living up to your promises and acting ethically at all
times (whether in the public eye or not). For me, it has been a difficult
year as I've grappled with issues of trust as they relate to OSGeo Oceania.
In the last few months, I've tried hard to stay positive and constructive,
but tenacious on the issue of transparency, because I feel that the
organisation has been relying on faith, and needs to rebuild trust. OSGeo
Oceania has made some improvements, which shows how important it is for the
community to pay attention and ask questions.

I'm not 100% sure whether living up to the agreed standards of transparency
would have helped us avoid the situation that caused me to resign. It might
have happened anyway. But it might have helped.

Thanks
John

On Mon, 7 Dec 2020 at 11:29, Edoardo Neerhut <eneerhut at gmail.com> wrote:

> Thanks Alex.
>
> I certainly don't intend for any of this to be personal. The board and
> wider community have impressed me time and time again.
>
> There are plenty of legitimate criticisms to be made of my actions and I'd
> hope that people would focus on constructive criticisms. Part of this is
> rolling up your sleeves to help out and/or providing specific
> recommendations.
>
> It's natural that everyone will gauge the seriousness of this discussion
> differently, but hopefully we can hash out some solutions here to address
> the concerns raised.
>
>
> On Mon, 7 Dec 2020, 14:09 Alex Leith, <alexgleith at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Hi Bruce
>>
>> There have been three directors resign. Two for personal reasons, and one
>> for ethical reasons. (Correct me if I'm wrong, Daniel, John or Adam?)
>>
>> I do feel fairly defensive of these types of criticisms, and I don't
>> really, honestly think I should, but I do. I have been involved in this
>> organisation from when it was an informal committee organising a conference
>> through until now, and like Ed and Phil say, it's full of good people doing
>> good things and meaning well. The organisation has made some minor
>> mistakes, and we're still working out how we work, but there is no serious
>> issue that I see. Please have a read of my words in the annual report, or
>> help me understand what you see as the serious issue or issues are?
>>
>> I'd like to hear from the community about what the expectations of
>> openness are, though. And thankyou Ed for kicking this off.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> On Mon, 7 Dec 2020 at 13:36, Bruce Bannerman <
>> bruce.bannerman.osgeo at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hello Edoardo,
>>>
>>> Well done for initiating this thread. I encourage the OSGeo Oceania
>>> community to contribute their thoughts on this issue.
>>>
>>>
>>> I also encourage you to not try and downplay or whitewash any issues.
>>>
>>> There is obviously a serious issue here. Why else did two former
>>> Directors feel ethically compelled to resign from the OSGeo Oceania Board
>>> mid-term?
>>>
>>>
>>> Kind regards,
>>>
>>> Bruce
>>>
>>>
>>> On 7 Dec 2020, at 11:17, Edoardo Neerhut <eneerhut at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> 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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>>> Oceania at lists.osgeo.org
>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/oceania
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Oceania mailing list
>>> Oceania at lists.osgeo.org
>>> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/oceania
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Alex Leith
>> m: 0419189050
>>
> _______________________________________________
> Oceania mailing list
> Oceania at lists.osgeo.org
> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/oceania
>
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