Jan-Bart: Spot on. It is always uplifting to see one of your measured notes come over the wire.
The Foundation is supposed to be an example of good Governance for our entire movement. We (as a movement) have come a long way in the past 20 years (and that is important: as our organisation and budget grows, so do our responsibilities and the critical questions we get from the world)
It is NOT good governance to have a current board member suddenly resign and then create a situation where that person receives compensation for a position that seems to have been created specifically for that board member (or at least was not publicly posted?).
The impact of this increases as the movement grows, and clear communication is at a premium. How can we use this moment to model the norms we want for the future? Any particular moment can feel like a special exception when you are close to it, but the WMF's actions set a standard, translated across time and context, more instantly and effectively than words.
It is a good practice to create a 12 month waiting period before board members of non-profits can become a staff member/paid contractor/consultant.
A few people mentioned that their own orgs or committees have norms or policies around this (Chris, Philip, Tito); could you describe specifics that are in place now around the movement?
SJ.