[OpenStack Foundation] Agreement on requiring board candidates to attend the meetings

Monty Taylor mordred at inaugust.com
Fri Oct 11 17:17:36 UTC 2013



On 10/11/2013 12:50 PM, Tim Bell wrote:
>  
> 
> As one of the people who does not have their OpenStack activities within
> their job role and who lives in a timezone which until today Jrequired
> out-of-working-hours conferences, I think it is asking too much for
> mandatory participation in board meetings as a bar for entry.
> 
>  
> 
> There are many other criteria that we can apply such as membership of a
> user group, participation in mailing lists, blogging their experiences
> or attendance at summits which is a more significant contribution than
> dialing in for a 6 hour call ending at 2 a.m. in the morning.
> 
>  
> 
> In choosing to stand for election, the candidate accepts the activities
> that come with it. However, to require people to do their ‘articles’
> before consideration for board membership does not seem the most
> effective use of some excellent community contributors.
> 
>  
> 
> Let’s find some other criteria.

As always a voice of reason. Thanks Tim.


> *From:*Nick Barcet [mailto:nick at enovance.com]
> *Sent:* 11 October 2013 17:34
> *To:* Foundation Mailing List
> *Subject:* Re: [OpenStack Foundation] Agreement on requiring board
> candidates to attend the meetings, and, why didn't this dogpile dial
> into the last meeting?
> 
>  
> 
> My 2c on this is that making participation mandatory is ok, as long as
> we also accept valid excuses for exceptional reasons, which can cover:
> time compatibility, prior engagements, etc...  I've missed two board
> meeting this year, one which was scheduled in the middle of my night,
> the other because I had to give a presentation on the role of a board
> member which was scheduled at the same time. In both case I tried to
> catch up immediately after (thanks for Alan´s help). 
> 
> I do think these cases (and there are certainly others) are valid reason
> to be exceptionally excused and would be consider a mandatory/no excuse
> rule be completely counter productive to our objectives.
> 
> Nick
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 11:19 AM, Richard Fontana <rfontana at redhat.com
> <mailto:rfontana at redhat.com>> wrote:
> 
>     On Fri, Oct 11, 2013 at 03:56:35PM +0100, Mark McLoughlin wrote:
>     > On Fri, 2013-10-11 at 14:42 +0000, Atwood, Mark wrote:
>     >
>     > > And finally, for many parts of the OpenStack community, this is our
>     > > *job*.  We get paid to do this.  Dialing into a Board meeting and
>     > > listening in should be as important in attending as the various
>     > > meetings and con calls and all-hands and stand-ups that we do
>     for our
>     > > employers.  Where were all the PTLs, the TC members, the couple of
>     > > dozen other community engagement folks?
>     >
>     > If I wasn't on the board, and if there was a detailed summary of the
>     > topics published after the meeting, then I'd read that rather than
>     > dialling in just to listen.
>     >
>     > I do think it would be worthwhile for people to attend in-person
>     for an
>     > hour or two if they happen to be convenient to the venue, but that's
>     > more from a "look these are real people, people who care about
>     > OpenStack" perspective.
> 
>     I've attended part or all of a couple of the board meetings by phone.
> 
>     One thing I have found rather puzzling is the orientation towards use
>     of webex, though I realize there is a backup traditional dialin. I
>     have wondered whether this might have some subtle effect in
>     discouraging some to attend the meetings virtually, since the natural
>     assumption is that webex is going to provide some fuller experience
>     (as otherwise I am not sure why it would be used at all).
> 
>     In the case of one meeting, I struggled without success in trying to
>     use webex via two devices I had available and the annoyance of that
>     experience almost led me to decide not to then dial in. I dunno,
>     perhaps my experience is atypical. What precisely does webex provide
>     that a traditional conference call service would not, for purposes of
>     OpenStack Foundation board meetings?
> 
>     In the case of one of the in-person board meetings I attended by
>     dialing in, it was possible to hear at best 40% or so of what was
>     said.
> 
>     - RF
> 
> 
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>     Foundation at lists.openstack.org <mailto:Foundation at lists.openstack.org>
>     http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/foundation
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Nick Barcet <nick at enovance.com <mailto:nick at enovance.com>>
> VP Products - eNovance
> a.k.a. nicolas, nijaba
> 
> 
> 
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