Open Stack

I agree, Roland, that measurable and meaningful objectives are fundamental, however, I think there is an earlier starting point.

The issue of diversity and inclusion rests on the foundation of organizational culture. In order to steer a change in culture you first have to know where it is and then where you want it to go.

The OpenStack foundation in particular is a blend of many divergent cultures. Every member comes to the foundation with a unique framework of values and cultural orientation. Typically, individual value systems are what drive behaviors. As we interact with one another we develop a collective cultural norm that makes up the overall organizational culture. In such a large organization there will be pockets of subcultures where one or more sets of cultural features are dominant. Some of these will naturally be more inclusive of "different" than others.

I believe it is important to assess the current culture as a first step. This could be done through a well-crafted professional survey of the membership. It would be prudent to engage with experts in the field of organizational culture to develop such a survey. There are several existing tools that could be employed but an expert would be versed enough to recommend the best suited for this type of organization.

With that knowledge in hand it would be possible to create purposeful objectives, with meaningful measurements to steer the culture where the board wants it to go.

Best,
Debra

*************************
Debra Scott, PMP  866-814-73304

First up the board should set some goals. Create a diversity or inclusion policy with specific measureable objectives. Then it is possible to have a meaningful discussion about what to do.

One starting point would be to have the foundation  regularly or continuously report on itself (board and staff at a minimum. Reporting on the membership would be great but perhaps only partially achievable).  That at least would demonstrate transparency and make it fairly clear whether there is a problem with the diversity of the foundation. It may also provide a mechanism for tracking progress towards the goals, whatever they may be.

Roland

OpenStack Community,

The Board has been discussing how to encourage diversity (all types from gender and region to commercial and technical) and also work to improve transparency of Board processes.

If you have ideas for us to consider, please feel free to reply to this thread.

If you think that we're doing OK (or not) on this, please let us know that too.

Thanks,

--

Rob
____________________________
Rob Hirschfeld, 512-773-7522

I am in CENTRAL (-6) time
http://robhirschfeld.com
twitter: @zehicle, github: cloudedge & ravolt

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstack.org/pipermail/foundation/attachments/20150330/b0fe846b/attachment.html>