Re: Executive director [was: Re: OOXML]
On 11/6/07, David Bolter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > It is perhaps of interest to some that the Mozilla Foundation has not > found it easy to find a new Executive Director I believe the GNOME project needs more an "executer" than a director. Looking for the perfect candidate can be a long, expensive race that perhaps brings no result. We have tried this, didn't work, don't think it will work. Note that in most cases you need a strong professional context to hire a strong professional. The Mozilla Foundation can offer that strong professional context. GNOME can't, and I'd even say doesn't want to. There are some people in our community that would make wonders executing and directing in the GNOME Foundation, if we would set humble objectives, humble approach and pay a decent salary for that. Hint: if that person hired among us is a good team player able to engage the community, after 1-2 years the results obtained in total wouldn't be humble at all. -- Quim Gil /// http://flors.wordpress.com ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: Executive director [was: Re: OOXML]
> It is perhaps of interest to some that the Mozilla Foundation has not > found it easy to find a new Executive Director (see > http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/executive-director-search.html). Note > the Mozilla position comes with salary and benefits. Are we thinking the > same for GNOME? Yes (this was the case with our previous ED too, btw), although we probably have less room to move on that front that Mozilla. ;-) Even if you know you want the traditional ED role filled, it's tough to find the right candidate. - Jeff -- linux.conf.au 2008: Melbourne, Australiahttp://lca2008.linux.org.au/ "But then one can only ask questions. One can't dictate answers." - Sam Varghese, 'Journalist' ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: Executive director [was: Re: OOXML]
It is perhaps of interest to some that the Mozilla Foundation has not found it easy to find a new Executive Director (see http://www.mozilla.org/foundation/executive-director-search.html). Note the Mozilla position comes with salary and benefits. Are we thinking the same for GNOME? cheers, David Quim Gil wrote: > fwiw I also think that an executive director would be good for the > GNOME project, more needed than a business developer. At least GNOME > gets the resources that needs for doing what is capable to do. This > was not clear a year ago but as Jeff points out things evolve and we > learn in the process. > > The profile could be someone already in the GNOME community with an > open professional career a love for GNOME and open source, community > development skills, good communication, able to travel and somewhat > interested and skilled in money related stuff. > > I'm sure this person exists already in GNOME, and is reading these > lines (or at least would read then in Planet GNOME). The secret is to > start humble and small, and improving something every quarter. > > The problem is _only_ to find the name and surname, sending the offer > on the right time. Perhaps opening the position publicly without a > pressure of time, waiting for candidates? > > Anyway, stuff for the brains of the next board. > > ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: Executive director [was: Re: OOXML]
fwiw I also think that an executive director would be good for the GNOME project, more needed than a business developer. At least GNOME gets the resources that needs for doing what is capable to do. This was not clear a year ago but as Jeff points out things evolve and we learn in the process. The profile could be someone already in the GNOME community with an open professional career a love for GNOME and open source, community development skills, good communication, able to travel and somewhat interested and skilled in money related stuff. I'm sure this person exists already in GNOME, and is reading these lines (or at least would read then in Planet GNOME). The secret is to start humble and small, and improving something every quarter. The problem is _only_ to find the name and surname, sending the offer on the right time. Perhaps opening the position publicly without a pressure of time, waiting for candidates? Anyway, stuff for the brains of the next board. -- Quim Gil /// http://flors.wordpress.com ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Re: Executive director [was: Re: OOXML]
> This sounds, 2 years on, like exactly the situation we find ourselves in > now. Perhaps it is time to revisit the assumption that our organisation is > so radically different from others that we don't need/want an executive > director? I substantially agree with everything raised in your email, but I've come to a different conclusion -- and that's okay! * I don't think we're in the dire situation described in your email. We're firmly on the small-target side of execution, but that's okay for now. * I don't think we have an assumption that our organisation is so radically different that we don't need/want an executive director. That sounds like a misinterpretation of my emphasis on previous hiring goals, which I'd be happy to work through with you if necessary. * It's more important to have a good grasp on what we want to hire for, and who we want to hire than just filling the role with a warm body. I firmly believe that hiring the wrong person is worse than having no one at all. * The current Board, during its mid-year meeting at GUADEC, chose not to put hiring on the top of its priority list for the rest of this term. * As I said in a previous mail, *things change*. I imagine that this will be one of the items a fresh Board would like to take a run at (and I'll be there with bells on). * This was one of the reasons I took the term length bylaws modification so seriously, and I regard that as a great success of this Board, given how often it has come up during my previous terms. Thanks, - Jeff -- linux.conf.au 2008: Melbourne, Australiahttp://lca2008.linux.org.au/ "And, most importantly, we now have modules named 'fontilus' and 'themus' -- the two founders of GROME." - Jonathon Blandford ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
Executive director [was: Re: OOXML]
Hi, Jeff Waugh wrote: > I explained it in that email. If something wasn't clear or you need further > explanation, let me know what it is. In particular: Jeff wrote: > It has actually been a very helpful learning experience -- understanding > what the purpose of that role should be, by grokking the gaps. It's less > obvious what that role ought to be now that we're so far away from the > "Executive Director" assumption. The gaps I've seen are things like actively managing a budget, managing our relationships with commercial partners (the advisory board, community donors and more), ensuring continuity year-to-year in event organisation, and managing relationships at an administrative level (accountant, lawyer, bank, payroll...). Do you see different gaps? Rosanna has taken up some of the slack - the day-to-day handling of the accounts, sending gifts to donors, getting it done when we need things sent somewhere/printed/received, and also managing some of those administrative relationships (bank, accountant, payroll), but her role is clearly administrative, and is not pro-active - she has no decision-making authority on spending the budget, does not cultivate relationships with regional groups or company representatives, and doesn't look at the Big Picture for GNOME or for the GNOME Foundation. All of those tasks are firmly in the "Executive director" mould. I agree that we're hoping for someone who can go beyond the bare minimum, and who can help grow the community by searching for opportunities to bring money into the foundation to allow us to better fulfill our role of supporting the community and the project, but is that really so far from the role of an ED? Isn't that what Mitchell Baker did for MoFo? Or Mike Milinkovitch for Eclipse? > Defining the role and hiring someone for it has been and will continue to be > a very tricky task. We have to be very comfortable choosing between large > target and small target goals. Just hiring for an "Executive Director" role > would put us firmly in the small target zone, which is probably not the > right thing to do. I don't even think it's necessary. So I'm wondering if our insistence that our needs are so far from an executive director isn't in some sense becoming a millstopne preventing us from seeking & hiring someone who could do a wonderful job for us, who would be a thousand times better than having no-one, and who would allow the board to assume the role which a board typically has, one of oversight. When we first found ourselves in the situation where we wouldn't have an executive director, we exchanged emails with someone in another software non-profit. He gave us this advice, which I think has become a fulfilled prophecy: > [We] stopped hiring an executive director partly because we > found we had trouble attracting competent executive > directors, and partly because poor management by these > directors and the board reduced our funds to the point where > having an executive director would strain the > organization. We, too, hired a very competent managing > director and assumed the volunteer board members would pick > up the executive part. > > As a result: > > * Projects, local chapters, and other good initiatives got > dropped, even though we detected a few years later that > there would have been big payoffs for continuing > them. When the initial volunteers got burned out, neither > they nor anyone else took responsibility for finding > replacements. > > * Crucial opportunities for external success (doing > publicity at the right moment, finding allies) were > missed. This is because individual volunteers might be > doing excellent work on a project, but no one was looking > at the big picture and asking, "How do we capitalize on > this." > > * Important projects (including those for which we hired > consultants) went off in the wrong direction early in > their history and ended up failing or being severely > compromised. This is because the direction of such > projects depended on board members who came and went, and > were sometimes unprepared to take the directing role. > > * In general, the organization suffered from being led by > board members who were sophisticated technically and > politically, but lacked skills at organizing, finance, > fund-raising, and other executive-director tasks. This sounds, 2 years on, like exactly the situation we find ourselves in now. Perhaps it is time to revisit the assumption that our organisation is so radically different from others that we don't need/want an executive director? Cheers, Dave. -- Dave Neary GNOME Foundation member [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ foundation-list mailing list foundation-list@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-list
