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 <[email protected]> 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 <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Edoardo > Neerhut > *Sent:* Sunday, 6 December 2020 10:32 PM > *To:* [email protected] > *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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