Minutes of the board meeting of March 30, 2020

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Wiki location: https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoard/Minutes/20200330

=3D Meeting of the GNOME Foundation Board of Directors, 30 March 2020, 14:3=
0
UTC =3D

=3D=3D Attending =3D=3D

 * AllanDay
 * BrittYazel
 * CarlosSoriano
 * NeilMcGovern
 * PhilipChimento
 * FedericoMenaQuintero (arriving later)

=3D=3D Regrets =3D=3D

 * RobertMcQueen
 * RosannaYuen

=3D=3D Missing =3D=3D

 * TristanVanBerkom

=3D=3D Agenda =3D=3D

 * Approve minutes of 16 March
 * Fiscal year 2019=E2=80=9320 budget
 * Meeting schedule
 * Foundation mission/vision
 * Pass responsibility for conferences to staff

=3D=3D Minutes =3D=3D

 * Approve minutes of 16 March
   * No amendments were proposed.
   * Minutes are approved.

 * Fiscal year 2019=E2=80=9320 budget
   * The budget was voted on in the meeting of 16 March, subject to the
treasurer's approval. Carlos has approved the budget in the meantime, so it
is official.

 * Meeting schedule
   * Allan: As you all know, we are trying to be more strategic, which
means concentrating on high-importance but low-urgency matters. This means
that we should be able to have meetings less often, even if we make them
longer. My proposal is to have monthly meetings going forward, which are
two hours long. Each meeting will rotate between strategy, policy, and
finance, and include a report from Neil.
   * Britt: Agreed.
   * Carlos: Agreed.
   * Philip: I agree but I'm concerned about our ability to keep our finger
on the pulse of the community. We should think about another way to
safeguard that.
   * Allan: One complication is that we are sometimes going to be asked to
deal with things on fairly short notice. We may have to have extra, short,
meetings to deal with these things. Working groups will also need to meet
more often.
   * Neil: Even if the focus of a particular meeting is, e.g. finance, it's
still possible to raise a strategy point there, so not everything would
have to wait three months to be discussed.
   * Allan: Another complication is finding a time that works for
everyone's time zone. If necessary we can send around a date tracker for
each meeting.
   * Carlos: Is it possible to vote over email?
     * Neil: Yes, but an email vote only passes if it is unanimous.

 * Foundation mission/vision
   * Allan: I would like to get an idea of the direction of travel for
this, and a working group will work on it. The main question is what we
think is most important: user share of GNOME desktops? Or our influence as
a project, impact on the software industry and wider world?
   * Philip: Are there people currently in the board who favour one over
the other? Or is this question more that we could go in either direction
and we need to pick one? In the Cambridge hackfest we had weighted both as
equally important.
   * Carlos: Are there any strong arguments against either?
   * Neil: The practical application of this will be in marketing and
outreach, even down to what tweets we write. The question with everything
we do, would be on the one hand 'will this bring us more users', versus on
the other hand 'will this advance our influence on free software
development'.
   * Carlos: I tend towards the practical side, placing user base first and
letting influence follow from that.
   * Britt: I'm in favour of the influence side, as it's a truer
representation of what the GNOME community today is. We don't contribute to
GNOME because we want user share, we do it because we want to make the best
software possible. However, correctly or incorrectly, a common perception
of GNOME is that we force our ideas onto users. We should either embrace
that or avoid it altogether, but not in between. Currently it seems like we
walk a line where we don't say it but we do do it. I think either the
mission statement should be neutral, or embrace this perception.
     * Allan: In my mind we are talking about influence, not telling other
free software projects or people what to do. We would be demonstrating what
it looks like to build a successful free software product and community,
leading by example.
     * Britt: I like that, and it separates us dogmatically from GNU, which
seems to place technicalities above the quality of the software.
     * Carlos: You can have strong morals and still be a good thought
leader, so I don't think those are in collision with each other.
   * [ Federico arrives ]
   * Philip: I am leaning towards the influence side, but I have my doubts
about what the effect of either of these will be if they are used to inform
every decision at every level of the organization. If we fully maximize
either one, then that might not result in the GNOME that we want. I would
like to consider how to word them that they can be used as a guide for
everyone within the organization, without being exaggerated. For example,
we could say it like the Agile manifesto: 'we value both X and Y, but we
value X a bit more than Y.'
     * Neil: This would be used, for example, to determine the approach to
writing a hypothetical new GNOME website. Would it be aimed at attracting
people to use GNOME, or at showcasing our technology?
   * Carlos: My interpretation of the influence vision is that we would try
to maximize software freedom, is that how other people are interpreting it?
     * Philip: That's not how I'm interpreting it.
   * Federico: I think we should focus on the first approach (increasing
adoption), since the second one (influencing the software industry) is more
or less already the status quo.  Users' freedoms are being eroded all the
time through proprietary and/or privacy-violating software. We need to give
them an obvious choice. It is easier for people to switch individual apps
to free software gradually (GIMP/Inkscape/whatever on Windows) than to make
the big jump to Linux systems. And yet we make very little effort to make
our apps available on those systems. They are available by default on
Linux, or with relatively little work, but making them available on
Windows/Mac is always dodgy.

 * Pass responsibility for conferences to staff
   * Deferred until next meeting.

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<div dir=3D"ltr"><div>Wiki location: <a href=3D"https://wiki.gnome.org/Foun=
dationBoard/Minutes/20200330">https://wiki.gnome.org/FoundationBoard/Minute=
s/20200330</a></div><div><br></div>=3D Meeting of the GNOME Foundation Boar=
d of Directors, 30 March 2020, 14:30 UTC =3D<br><br>=3D=3D Attending =3D=3D=
<br><br>=C2=A0* AllanDay<br>=C2=A0* BrittYazel<br>=C2=A0* CarlosSoriano<br>=
=C2=A0* NeilMcGovern<br>=C2=A0* PhilipChimento<br>=C2=A0* FedericoMenaQuint=
ero (arriving later)<br><br>=3D=3D Regrets =3D=3D<br><br>=C2=A0* RobertMcQu=
een<br>=C2=A0* RosannaYuen<br><br>=3D=3D Missing =3D=3D<br><br>=C2=A0* Tris=
tanVanBerkom<br><br>=3D=3D Agenda =3D=3D<br><br>=C2=A0* Approve minutes of =
16 March<br>=C2=A0* Fiscal year 2019=E2=80=9320 budget<br>=C2=A0* Meeting s=
chedule<br>=C2=A0* Foundation mission/vision<br>=C2=A0* Pass responsibility=
 for conferences to staff<br><br>=3D=3D Minutes =3D=3D<br><br>=C2=A0* Appro=
ve minutes of 16 March<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* No amendments were proposed.<br>=
=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Minutes are approved.<br><br>=C2=A0* Fiscal year 2019=E2=80=
=9320 budget<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* The budget was voted on in the meeting of 16=
 March, subject to the treasurer&#39;s approval. Carlos has approved the bu=
dget in the meantime, so it is official.<br><br>=C2=A0* Meeting schedule<br=
>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: As you all know, we are trying to be more strategic,=
 which means concentrating on high-importance but low-urgency matters. This=
 means that we should be able to have meetings less often, even if we make =
them longer. My proposal is to have monthly meetings going forward, which a=
re two hours long. Each meeting will rotate between strategy, policy, and f=
inance, and include a report from Neil.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Britt: Agreed.<br=
>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Carlos: Agreed.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Philip: I agree but I&#39=
;m concerned about our ability to keep our finger on the pulse of the commu=
nity. We should think about another way to safeguard that.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0=
* Allan: One complication is that we are sometimes going to be asked to dea=
l with things on fairly short notice. We may have to have extra, short, mee=
tings to deal with these things. Working groups will also need to meet more=
 often.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Neil: Even if the focus of a particular meeting i=
s, e.g. finance, it&#39;s still possible to raise a strategy point there, s=
o not everything would have to wait three months to be discussed.<br>=C2=A0=
 =C2=A0* Allan: Another complication is finding a time that works for every=
one&#39;s time zone. If necessary we can send around a date tracker for eac=
h meeting.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Carlos: Is it possible to vote over email?<br>=
=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Neil: Yes, but an email vote only passes if it is una=
nimous.<br><br>=C2=A0* Foundation mission/vision<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: I=
 would like to get an idea of the direction of travel for this, and a worki=
ng group will work on it. The main question is what we think is most import=
ant: user share of GNOME desktops? Or our influence as a project, impact on=
 the software industry and wider world?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Philip: Are there=
 people currently in the board who favour one over the other? Or is this qu=
estion more that we could go in either direction and we need to pick one? I=
n the Cambridge hackfest we had weighted both as equally important.<br>=C2=
=A0 =C2=A0* Carlos: Are there any strong arguments against either?<br>=C2=
=A0 =C2=A0* Neil: The practical application of this will be in marketing an=
d outreach, even down to what tweets we write. The question with everything=
 we do, would be on the one hand &#39;will this bring us more users&#39;, v=
ersus on the other hand &#39;will this advance our influence on free softwa=
re development&#39;.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Carlos: I tend towards the practical=
 side, placing user base first and letting influence follow from that.<br>=
=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Britt: I&#39;m in favour of the influence side, as it&#39;s =
a truer representation of what the GNOME community today is. We don&#39;t c=
ontribute to GNOME because we want user share, we do it because we want to =
make the best software possible. However, correctly or incorrectly, a commo=
n perception of GNOME is that we force our ideas onto users. We should eith=
er embrace that or avoid it altogether, but not in between. Currently it se=
ems like we walk a line where we don&#39;t say it but we do do it. I think =
either the mission statement should be neutral, or embrace this perception.=
<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Allan: In my mind we are talking about influence,=
 not telling other free software projects or people what to do. We would be=
 demonstrating what it looks like to build a successful free software produ=
ct and community, leading by example.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Britt: I lik=
e that, and it separates us dogmatically from GNU, which seems to place tec=
hnicalities above the quality of the software.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Car=
los: You can have strong morals and still be a good thought leader, so I do=
n&#39;t think those are in collision with each other.<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* [ F=
ederico arrives ]<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Philip: I am leaning towards the influe=
nce side, but I have my doubts about what the effect of either of these wil=
l be if they are used to inform every decision at every level of the organi=
zation. If we fully maximize either one, then that might not result in the =
GNOME that we want. I would like to consider how to word them that they can=
 be used as a guide for everyone within the organization, without being exa=
ggerated. For example, we could say it like the Agile manifesto: &#39;we va=
lue both X and Y, but we value X a bit more than Y.&#39;<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0 =
=C2=A0* Neil: This would be used, for example, to determine the approach to=
 writing a hypothetical new GNOME website. Would it be aimed at attracting =
people to use GNOME, or at showcasing our technology?<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Car=
los: My interpretation of the influence vision is that we would try to maxi=
mize software freedom, is that how other people are interpreting it?<br>=C2=
=A0 =C2=A0 =C2=A0* Philip: That&#39;s not how I&#39;m interpreting it.<br>=
=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Federico: I think we should focus on the first approach (inc=
reasing adoption), since the second one (influencing the software industry)=
 is more or less already the status quo.=C2=A0 Users&#39; freedoms are bein=
g eroded all the time through proprietary and/or privacy-violating software=
. We need to give them an obvious choice. It is easier for people to switch=
 individual apps to free software gradually (GIMP/Inkscape/whatever on Wind=
ows) than to make the big jump to Linux systems. And yet we make very littl=
e effort to make our apps available on those systems. They are available by=
 default on Linux, or with relatively little work, but making them availabl=
e on Windows/Mac is always dodgy.<br><br>=C2=A0* Pass responsibility for co=
nferences to staff<br>=C2=A0 =C2=A0* Deferred until next meeting.<br></div>

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