Re: Board meeting procedure

On Tue, Jul 29, 2003 at 08:53:21PM +0100, Ian Jackson wrote:
> After last board meeting, I said that I think we should change the
> usual procedure at board meetings to avoid them turning into argument
> fests.
>
> No-one followed up to my email, so I assume people didn't think it
> unreasonable, but this last meeting turned into another collosal waste
> of time and IRC argument.

I would also like to see more concrete resolutions and less talk.

However, I personally I find a little bit of real-time discussion
helpful and not categorically bothersome in the way you seem to.

In particular, I'm thinking about the fact that the couple of
resolutions I have brought to the board in my short tenure generated
almost no responses from the email list but, when voted on, generated
a relatively painless, non-quarrelsome and productive set of IRC
responses that led to a few quick revisions and, in 5 or so minutes, a
more solid resolution. The fact that this resolution at first
generated no response is evidence of what I see may be its major
problem.

I hate long bothersome and argumentative meetings but I think that a
little bit of back and forth that leads to a better resolution while
we're all to hash it out should not be categorically blocked.

If we can replace IRC meeting nastiness with more productive email
discussions, I am 100% behind this. If we're just going to create less
discussions without a real increase in the number of productive work,
I don't think we're introducing a real solution. This resolution
simply doesn't seem able to explore any kind of balance in this way.

In terms of your individual resolutions, I can definitely get behind
8, 11, 12 and 13 and to a less emphatic degree (perhaps just wording)
behind 6 and 7.

In terms of 9, I think I've covered my reservations above.

In terms of 10, I think I'm going to, on principle, shy away from any
resolution that calls for "ruthlessness." :)

Regards,
Mako

> B. IT IS RESOLVED THAT
>
> 6. Discussion at on-line real-time Board meetings of Software in the
> Public Interest shall be limited to the absolute minimum necessary,
> by the specific measures below, and by the active cooperation of
> the Board and others during meeting.
>
> 7. No items shall appear on the agenda of a Board meeting that are
> not accompanied by a firm proposal (or alternative versions, if
> there's a disagreement) in ready-to-vote resolution form. There
> ought to have been at least a week or so for discussion by email.
>
> 8. Reports of any kind shall be posted in advance to the board list. They
> should be accompanied by a standard form resolution like `the board
> thanks so-and-so, and accepts the report'.
>
> 9. There shall be strictly no discussion during the meeting. Anything
> that requires more discussion than has taken place before the
> meeting shall be postponed until next meeting or email voting. If
> board members feel the discussion has not been adequate then they
> should vote NO on the relevant motion.
>
> 10. The meeting chair shall be ruthless in enforcing the rules above.
>
> 11. The above rules may be deviated from in case of necessity, such as
> external deadlines, emergencies etc.
>
> C. IT IS FURTHER RESOLVED THAT
>
> 12. The practice of waiting for guests to state their name during the
> meeting will cease. Instead, the Secretary shall start logging the
> channel 15 minutes before the meeting, and guests will be asked to
> state their name during that period, or when they arrive if they
> arrive later.
>
> D. IT IS FURTHER RESOLVED THAT
>
> 13. The information about the availability of board members for the
> next meeting will be collected by email in advance of the meeting
> by a volunteer member of the Board, who will correlate the
> information and propose a date for approval by the meeting.
>
> Ian.
>
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--
Benj. Mako Hill
mako(at)debian(dot)org
http://mako.yukidoke.org/