Communication skills

[Chris Travers]

On 11/1/07, Matthew Flaschen <matthew.flaschen at gatech.edu> wrote:
> Rodent of Unusual Size wrote:
> > Dag-Erling Smørgrav wrote:
> >> You're joking, right?
> >
> > Why would that be a joke?

The issue is that people who volunteer for board or accept
officerships should be willing to take on reasonable duties relating
to those positions.  There is a point where the "we don't have time"
excuse fails to be valid.  For that matter, if everyone is so busy
that basic governance issues cannot be addressed, why not scale board
meetings back so that there are fewer of them?

If I were to be an officer of an NPO, even if the position were
unpaid, I would be expected to fulfill my duties to the best of my
ability.  If that was not worthwhile, I would resign.  Obviously there
is a question of whether this is or should be strictly a part of
someone's duties, and that depends on the board deciding where they
want to take this organization.  Personally I would like to see more
transparency (and this is a part), but it is not my decision.


> >
> >> Ten people on the board, and not one of them had five minutes at the
> >> end of the meeting to inform the applicants of the outcome?
> >
> > It's more a matter of a) doing it isn't listed as an action item,
> > and b) those who think of it expect someone else to do it.
> >
> > In other words, a correction to process should fix it.
>
> Okay, here's a simple addition to process:
>
> At the end of every meeting, the Secretary (currently Danese Cooper) is
> required to send license-discuss at opensource.org a list of all licenses
> discussed during the meeting, including the outcome of each discussion
> (approved, rejected, or deferred).
>
> Thoughts?

Another option would be to open the board meetings up so that anyone
could observe.  That way if people don't see the information they are
looking for, it is their own fault for not being there or getting
someone else to be there if he/she can't be.  This might require some
policy changes but would absolve Denise or anyone else from the
responsibility to keep us informed.

Best Wishes,
Chris Travers

>
> Matt Flaschen
>