[Foundation-l] Erik's New Job

[Thomas Dalton]

> - Why wasn't the position advertised?
>
> It's completely normal, in some circumstances, to not advertise. In this
> instance, the job requirements were pretty specific: I was looking for a
> longtime community member, ideally with a good understanding of the
> organization's history and how it works today, and with good
> relationships in the free culture movement.  Someone who is solid
> technically. Who is willing and able to relocate to San Francisco.
> Ideally with experience living or working outside North America, and
> with languages other than English.
>
> There is not a long list of people who fit those requirements, and my
> feeling was that I likely wouldn't surface any through advertising: if
> they existed, I almost certainly already knew about them.

That pretty much resolves my concerns, thank you.

> - Why wasn't this whole process more public/inclusive?
>
> I respect the position of the community members who want transparency
> and openness. But transparency is always tough when it comes to
> individual staffing issues.  In this instance, I planned to hire a
> deputy only_if_ I could find someone who fit the requirements I named
> above. Since I was clearly not going to publicly evaluate individual
> candidates, I don't think a public process would've been all that useful.

That's a tricky one. It would have been good to discuss with the
community what the requirements and role should be, and whether we
need such a person at all. The final decision would be yours, but some
consultation would be nice. However, if you did this it would have
been taken as advertising a job and various people would put their
names forward, some of them publicly, and you risked having to
publicly state that they were all unsuitable for the job, which is
rather an awkward position to be in. I imagine you could have done it
tactfully if you'd wanted to, though.

> - Has Erik resigned from his other commitments?
>
> Yes, Erik has resigned from the board and from his role as CTO of Open
> Progress.

If memory serves, Erik has also held a board position on another open
content related project (I can't remember which) - am I remembering
correctly, and if so, does he still hold it? (I see no particular
reason for him not to, as long as it's on his own time, but in the
interests of transparency, I'd like to know.)