Hi Sam,

first off, thx a lot - for engaging in detail, and with constructive
criticism!

Just a few comments, to perhaps adjust perception -

Sam Tuke wrote:
> Drafting a 5 year marketing plan following indecisiveness
> from the board is a job for a diplomat, not a marketer. 
> Guessing and compromising the needs of board members is a recipe 
> for /strategy by exclusion/ -- "exclude anything contentious". 
> "Exclude anything that will cause delay".
> 
A more positive look at this is - the board is supposed to be a
microcosm, to a large extend a fishbowl with many if not all community
interests represented.

The drafts we kicked around in the board where contentious; the result
now in front of us is a pre-distilled compromise, that hopefully makes
iteration into a final plan easier & faster. As you concede in your
answer to Michael, it's sometimes helpful to have most of the arguing
behind closed doors, especially in volunteer-run NGOs.

As such, your depiction of the current plan to be a hollowed-out
compromise is not accurate.

> As it stands the Marketing Plan seems more like a political project
> serving primarily internal needs of alignment of board members, with
> TDF staff serving the role of peacemaker.
>
That _is_ the board's role, to align conflicting interests, to the
mutual benefit of all involved.

TDF staff was not serving as a peacemaker, but as expert marketeers,
turning rough ideas into something actionable & concrete.

> I can understand that such a project is extremely important in its
> own right. Hence I propose separating that part from the purely
> marketing related components.
>
That is a fair ask, and IMO a good suggestion - as you correctly
state, asking for input without granting agency is a waste of
everyone's time.

> If the process and document cannot be redirected in the short term,
> as may be the case for various reasons, then at least let's not
> continue pretending that the Plan, as it stands, is primarily about
> marketing, or for LibreOffice marketers.
>
Let's for the moment assume it _is_ possible to redirect. What would
you change, just big-picture-wise?

Cheers,

-- Thorsten

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