Subject:
Re: Staff Election was Re: LDP Committee?
From:
Mathieu Deschamps ####@####.####
Date:
8 Mar 2005 16:39:39 -0000
Message-Id: <20050308163911.17579.qmail@web25707.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>
May I propose a draft structure base upon comments I read and your analysis, and some mannaging priniciple ?
Because I felt a bit unconfortable on some associative aspect Bas raise, I use to feel more confortable with the "commitee" principle. Of course it depends on what's in the name. Here is
my draft :
Draft
----
Everyone suscribing is a volonteer. Not need to be active, but persuing the policy to incitate people to make their LDP a reality according to the manifesto claim.
Free (specific : on the full range of free sense and closing with gratis included ) acessibility to volonteering. Volonteer dispatch through jobs regarding to their competence and wish and to the job
lists. First listen to the volonteer, he is a key, the more he stay, working on job, debating on subjects, the more LTDP live.
No forced labor:) and the most active volonteer on the X job (not necessary the senior) is said lead-X job (eg. lead-reviwer). It has to be known the involvement section somewhere where new volonteers can consider this. Roles must be know, so does these structure. The role is simple:
- has the final decisive word in the X volonteer group.
- discuss X job acitivties with the X volonteer group.
- update the list of X jobs considering the X volonteer group.
- work on a X job (redundancy accepted of course provided that jobs are sync).
- has a decisive voice in the commitee.
- can be taken by a senior
- can be removed temporary from the lead by a censorship group of volonteer, approuved by a seniors vote. To by confirmed at next commitee vote otherwise restored.
- gather requests from the and make a formulated requested to the commitee (web ressources, etc..)
The commitee falls into 'decisive voices'. Seniors are elected they could be historical members, initiators, project starters, webmasters, lead-reviewer, lead-translators, awarded volonteers,etc.. They have decisive voices. All different type of X job leaders have each one voice also, it has to be equally set.
Volonteer (so everyone) votes to elect/agree on new commitee.
--------------
For instance : Let's imagine there are 4 seniors and 7 job-leaders and total of 21 volonteers.
That makes 196 (4x7x21) voices total. Voices are virtual, 1/3 is held by seniors, 1/3 by leaders, 1/3 by volonteers.
'Voice power' : Senior is rated as 49 (196/4), a leader is rated as 28 (196/7), and a volonteer as 9 (196/(49+28)) . So senior voice count as 16 voices (49*1/3), a leader voice count as 9 voices (28*1/3), and a volonteer as 3 voices (9*1/3).
Total : Seniors 16 x 4 = 64
Leaders 9 x 7 = 63
Volonteer 3 x 21 = 63
Comments:
You notice total is 190 not 196 due to approx value, precised ratio will be then prefered.
You notice than a senior that is leader and of course volonteer votes 3 times.
You notice the more free volonteer (without no lead or senior engagement) there are the most
balanced is the global voice.
-----------
Q : Ok let's admit but this seems rigid, how many people will it be taking to make this working ?
A : Voting process auto-generated (script) and then it depends how often is commitee is called for a vote.
Q : Did you ever seen any Linux organisation working this way ?
A : No & Yes. No, none are the Linux organisation where rules to play the game are explained, where transparancy is a goal, even if IMHO it come naturally with the freedom aspect. Yes, this model is corresponding the acutal reality of LDP when a project runs ideally. I even think it may be preventing from counterperform.
Q : Ok so any contadiction is valid, that's it ?
A : No, there is _a least_ one limitation. If the volonteer raise in a very sudden manner and reach a "critical mass" then it will become rigid as glass
Q : Rigid as glass !
A : Glass breaks (do you got it ?:)
"Bas v.d. Wiel" ####@####.#### wrote:
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Is TLDP a legal entity? If not, this whole discussion about who
is or is not "staff" seems to me quite pointless. You either are
employed by said entity and are therefore "staff", or you may be a
member if the entity is an association.. in that case you don't have
"staff" but possibly an elected board of directors. Which is totally
different from the idea of having a staff. TLDP is not a company and
it would be folly to attempt to run the project like one since we're
not making any real money that we can use to hire people.
*Couldn't agree more.
Either TLDP becomes a full fledged legal entity in the form of an
association (probably), and the more active volunteers can become
(paying?) members. Members in an association have the right to vote on
decisions that the entity makes. If the association gets unwieldy, the
members may appoint a board of directors in a democratic way. The core
association with its members should the call the shots, with outside
volunteers still being allowed to contribute in whatever way they see
fit. They just don't have a vote on anything concerning the direction
or organisation of TLDP. It'd be a take it or leave it deal for
volunteers. Want influence? Pay your contribution and become a member,
then you can vote on decisions. Paid membership has the added benefit
that there is a small fund from which things like representation at
Linux community events (fairs like Cebit, Comdex, LinuxTag) can be
sponsored or maybe in time we can have actual books printed and
published at a modest profit to cover expenses. Just some ideas.
*Making visitors/volonteer pays make me unconfortable. A donation fits more to the volontary principle. Just on that point.
That's how associations work here in the Netherlands, and I don't
think it's that much of a bad idea. However you do have to go all the
way with this and actually register a legal entity somewhere or just
make do with what you have: a loosely knit club of volunteers. If
we're all volunteers, there's no use in voting for anyone since we're
all free to take our own marbles and go play elswhere at whatever time
we like without accountable. Indeed some volunteers are more active
and productive than others, but that's a fact of life in any volunteer
organisation.
* Yes but this should not prevent these active volunteer to be considered, and knowed even by some means to new volonteer (no link to fame or anything, but truely this is a sort of award)
Personally I applaud the idea of job descriptions as a start towards a
clear organisational structre. Of course we're not hiring people and
making harsh demands on delivery, they're volunteers. However they do
give a good idea of the organisational structure you're aiming for
and, as fas as I'm concerned, it's the only way to actually flesh out
a real structure to begin with. If this were up to me, I'd say one of
the more senior TLDP volunteers sketches out a basic structure and we
simply go from there.
*Oups, what an audacity I have !
Once there's general agreement (no need for unanimity, just a solid
majority) among most of us, we can start fleshing out the job
descriptions mentioned earlier. Everyone is free to apply for whatever
job he or she wants, but a description would help in selecting jobs
that a candidate is more fit for. You really don't want a hardcore
PHP/Perl/Python coder who speaks English as a third language in charge
of your English language reviews, but he'd be great as a developer for
the underlying infrastructure of TLDP. It's a matter of talents and as
soon as a single position has too many applicants there can always be
some sort of voting process put into place, if that's even necessary
at all.
In the end TLDP only needs its contributors to be in the positions
where they are most productive matching their talents and interests.
Maybe we don't need six webmasters, but there's always room for task
delegation and some redundancy in staffing.. which is great in a
volunteer organisation where day jobs tend to get in the way of work
for TLDP. I know it happens for me.
Maybe then, in the future, when this structure is firmly in place and
everyone knows what the others are doing it would make sense to
actually formalise it into a legal association with an actual chance
of success.
~
Whew.. back to the distraction I call my day job ;-)
Kind regards to all,
Bas
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