Dealing with COI is more than just declaring it. It also needs to be managed. Denny's COI issues were apparently somewhat self-managed to a certain extent, but please pay mind to this part of what he wrote:
I discussed with Jan-Bart, then chair, what is and what is not appropriate to pursue as a member of the Board. I understood and followed his advice, but it was frustrating. It was infuriatingly limiting.
It was apparently in this conversation that a plan to manage Denny's COI was laid out. Apparently after he joined the board. And apparently not something that he was at all happy with.
Denny also talked about catching lots of flack due to his ties to Google. Publishing a COI management plan would help allay those concerns. (Not put them totally away, but at least provide some comfort to those who are concerned that the board is aware of the COI and is managing it)
On Mon, Apr 11, 2016 at 2:42 PM, Ilario Valdelli valdelli@gmail.com wrote:
Any COI generates burocracy. After or before.
Doing it before helps to avoid empty seats.
In an election is the same community to check it. If there is an appointment, there is not a preliminary extensive check. A potential COI is revealed after the appointment. Il 09 Apr 2016 12:15, "Gerard Meijssen" gerard.meijssen@gmail.com ha scritto:
Hoi, Really more bureaucracy? As if that does not bring its own conflict of interest? Thanks, GerardM
On 9 April 2016 at 10:20, Ilario Valdelli valdelli@gmail.com wrote:
What should be noted is that a personal declaration of COI cannot be sufficient. Probably an evaluation of potential conflits done by a committee as neutral body can help the candidates to better evaluate
the
candidacy and to manage them better.
Kind regards Il 09 Apr 2016 8:26 AM, "Anders Wennersten" mail@anderswennersten.se
ha
scritto:
I, as all others, has full sympathy for Danny and find that he in his
made an excellent explanation on how the situation made the option to resign the only reasonable way forward
BUT this is the second community selected that has left the Board
within
a
year after being appointed, and before any future election (either a
snap
byelection soon, or the ordinary in a years time) I believe we should
look
into if anything can be learnt. And if there are things, primary in
the
election process, that can be done to ensure the appointed community selected members of the Board staying on the whole term.
For Danny my interpretation is that he is very operational role in ordinary work leads to many interaction with WMF etc and where COI consideration hampers his day-to-days activities. And that his major strength, "Wikidata", is hard to make use of in the Board as any influencing of decision re this also puts him in a COI situation, and
that
he outside this competence finds he has limited "value" for the board
work.
But all of these facts was known before the election (but not
necessary
the ramification). Would a more elaborate (tedious long?) description
of
requirements of serving in the Board helped Danny to understand the challenge before he entered his candidacy? Would some type of
(lightweight)
"vetting" by the Election committee by all candidates have identified
this
risk (which then could have been feedbacked to the candidate)? Should
for
future election the election committee not only be facilitator of the election, but also help he voters in complementing the data given by
each
candidate by some type of comments? For example last time the
requirement
from the board was non western (non English natives) persons and
priority
for nonmale. but 2 out of 3 was just his. Could some mark on the
candidate
statement made by the EC (he/she is/is not fulfilling the Board
criteria)
had helped?
The setup up of a Standing Election Committee is under formation but
it
will probably still be some month before it is established. Any
changes
in
the election process has to await this formation, but I believe a discussion of learnings can start independently.
Anders
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