[Foundation-l] Report on board meeting in Florida
daniwo59 at aol.com
daniwo59 at aol.com
Sat Mar 31 02:46:19 UTC 2007
Florence,
Thank you for your email. I will try to clarify exactly what you are saying—
the best way to do that is to read your email from bottom to top. You wrote:
" As I was explaining, we have no ED. Which means that the points listed
above as ED issues will either be left unfixed until we have one, or will have to
be dealt with by someone else (undefined). We might make an exception and
hire a legal coordinator, because this is a critical issue."
So let us look at the critical issues. I can safely assume that "Do it soon
and is important" is most critical
* Coordinate legal activities (ED)
* Job description for all (ED)
* Personnel needs (ED)
Note that they are all ED. Am I too assume that, except for the coordination
of legal activities, these will all be left unfixed until there is an ED, or
will they be dealt with by some undefined else. It seems the former is the
answer, with the exception of a legal coordinator. In other words, are you
leaving the most pressing issues unfixed? If it is the latter "undefined else,"
how will the "else" be selected?
Next came, " Do it soon (but not necessarily very important)"
* Data Gathering (ED)
* Fundraising Planning (ED)
* Board Skills and Expansion and Election (board)
* Short term budget (COO)
* Wikimania Finances (ED)
* Tech stuff in office (ED)
4 out of 6 are ED-related. Am I too assume here that this "do it soon
category" is delayed as well? (Wiktionary defined "soon" as "Within a short time;
_quickly_ (http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/quickly) .") In fact, the only
Board-related one involves the upcoming election for community representatives.
That will be soon, even though it is "not necessarily very important").
Finally, you had " Important (but not necessarily to do immediately)"
* Brand Strategy (board)
* Business Development Strategy (board)
* Technical Management (ED)
What professional expertise does the Board bring to the first two? When
talking about a brand worth billions of dollars--and that means billions of
dollars for free culture and knowledge--I would assume that the Board would
consider some professional advice and assistance. As for the last point, Technical
Management, I assume you mean managing Brion, Tim, Domas, Mark, and the other
developers. Wouldn’t the last be the job a CTO, and not the board?
As for some of the other topics discussed, you wrote "What can be mentioned
probably is this:"
* work on a travel policy (nothing very fancy to report)
I ask: what is the current travel policy which is being amended?
* work on a policy for reimbursement (nothing very fancy to report)
I ask: what is the current reimbursement policy, which is being amended. If
there is no reimbursement policy, how are reimbursements made? What is
eligible for reimbursement and what is not?
* study of some collaboration propositions (details confidential)
I hope you don’t mean the collaboration proposals with three major
organizations in DC that I brought to the table. If you do, why was I not asked about
them?
* study around brand licensing (not surprisingly since we are in the top
of most recognised brands, we get some propositions from branding
companies. Brand licensing is probably one of our best assets to collect
money for the development of the projects in the future, so we should be
careful about what we do on the topic. Brand licensing has also various
ramifications, in particular in our relationships with chapters).
Blah blah blah—who on the Board is actually qualified to discuss this on a
professional level?
* approval of two new advisory board members
Can you please provide a summary of what the advisory board has done or been
asked to do to date. Not who is on it, but what they actually do.
* discussion about a future CTO or a tech project leader. No conclusion at
the moment.
Does that mean that there is no direction in technical development as of
now? Considering the size of the website and the amount of money poured into
tech development, a basic roadmap should be the least one should come to expect.
You also wrote:
"During that week, the office was really populated, as it also hosted two
other meetings, one dedicated to Quality (might be worthwhile to ask
Greg to make a report on this one...), "
While Greg is extremely qualified to report on that, you might also ask the
person who organized it. Oh, and how much time did the Board take discussing
its recommendations.
You wrote: "Delphine was also in Florida for several days."
It is always very nice to see Delphine. What was her role in these meetings?
Or does that go under the discussed Travel Policy (to quote you, "nothing
very fancy to report.")
It would also be nice to hear some more elaboration from you about the
"difference of opinion" between the Board and the Search Firm regarding the role
of an ED. How does the Board see the role? How does the Search Firm see the
role? What efforts are being made to bridge this difference?
All in all, it sounds like a fascinating meeting. I look forward to reading
the minutes.
Danny
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