Zynot Board of Directors

Hi all,

Another long read, but I hope well worth the wait.

= First Board of Directors =

I would like to thank each of the following individuals for stepping
forward to serve on the first board of directors for The Zynot
Foundation (in alphabetical order):

  * Ammon Cookson - planning, management, marketing
  * Frantz Dihn - EU representation, corporate governance
  * Amir Guindehi - EU representation, technical
  * Emmett Plant - fundraising, mad science
  * Bradley Schrock - legal affairs, licensing
  * Sander Striker - EU representation, policies
  * Zach Welch - chairman, visionary, ringleader, ...

I have asked that each member provide a brief biography that can be put
on the web site, where we will also post their (still forthcoming)
zynot.org e-mail addresses though which they can be contacted for the
appropriate foundation matters.

These individuals will heavily involved with managing the business
affairs for this new organization, and each will begin to play an active
role in leading areas of the project (if only indirectly).  Over time, I
believe firmly that this team will serve our new community well, and I
hope you will come to welcome and respect our efforts in turn.

In the coming months, we will begin to develop those capacities required
to operate Zynot as a successful open source project.  I feel fully
confident that the skills being brought to bear on the multitude
of obstacles before us will allow Zynot to overcome and succeed, from
the boardroom to our eager (and patient) development team.

= On Conflicts Of Interest =

In several cases, Zynot board memebers will have various conflict of
interests because of their participation in other ventures, either
within the project or with other business entities.  Certainly, I am
going to be first among them.

It will be up to each of the directors to fully disclose any and all of
these conflicts, so that other members of the board (and the community
at large) can monitor any activities that potentially could lead to
unethical behavior - particularly accidental or inadvertant.

Despite my own internal reservations, I can not see any practical way to
avoid these conflicts of interest; this standard practice of consenting
disclosure appears to be our best option, for both the business and the
community.

Speaking for myself, I will feel that I will be walking a tightrope to
avoid the myriad of conflicts that might arise, and I expect the
community and the other directors to share in the vigilance required to
keep me - or other board members - from taking an ethical fall.

As the formal bylaws get into place, these things will be more clearly
spelled out for our own governace and future boards.  Finally, I expect
that Brad will shortly set me straight if I have not covered this topic
fully and properly.

= On Secrecy =

With the appointment of The Zynot Foundation's first board of directors,
I must raise some "secrecy-related matters" which I feel the community
must be aware.  I raised these issues in a previous messege, and it is
one that I approach with the utmost concern and sincerity.

Some issues need to be addressed in private.  At present, there are
intellectual property issues that affect our ability to move forward
with one critical aspect of the organization.  Due to the nature of our
legal sytem, these issues must be satisfactorily resolved outside of a
public context.

These issues actively prevent the release of my already tragically late
(and now perhaps over-hyped) management paper.  I apologize to everyone
for that continued delay of that material, but these matters can not be
ignored as they could have a rather dramatic impact on our fate.

= On Keeping Secrets =

I do not particularly care for this secrecy; however, these measures
fully aim to serve the community's interests and are absolutely required
given the legal surrounding culture in which the organization has been
established.  Even so, this does not prevent their eventual disclosure.

To ensure the community can someday learn from our efforts, I have
directed the creation of a "board members-only" mailing list that will
be used to help us resolve these issues.  Other such private
communication mediums will eventually grow to include other private
on-line communication mediums, such as Voice over IP as well as shared
calendar and whiteboard.

These tools will be critical to solving these problems efficiently and
effectively over the distances that span us.  Certainly, this
infrastructure will be developed in parallel with similar resources
available for all of our community members, as these "secret" activities
should account for only a portion of the board's involvement with the
project.  We will all need these tools in order to get our work done.

= On Full Disclosure =

Until sufficient time passes to enable the foundation to fully disclose
these matters that demand this secrecy, the mailing list server will
quietly collect archives of these conversations.  Further, I hope that
all such board-related corresopondance can be collected and archived for
later disclosure.

At some later date, I hope these archives can be made available (in some
form) to the public.  I imagine that such an undertaking will be both
time consuming and costly, and only time can tell either if or when such
measures will even become feasible or even necessary.

Certainly, the quantity of data makes full archival storage difficult
(e.g. VoIP) and the potentially sensitive nature will likely require
that all documents be "scrubbed" before being relesed.  I hope the
community can learn to trust its leaders and we do not find it necessary
to employ resource intensive measures to address these matters.

I definitely feel that the community deserves such an eventual
disclosure, though I expect a number of folks might groan at my very
mention of this possibility.  Certainly, I think there will be much for
the world to learn of these activities: how will these matters turn out
to have been decided and handled?  Lessons can be learned.

= Ongoing Disclosure =

I hope the community understands that this "meta-disclosure" means to
demonstrates a small part of the diligence I am taking to protect the
integrity of this distribution.

Beyond this now non-secret yet still private list, the board will
primarily attempt to conduct the majority of its communication through
the "zynot-board" mailing list (sign up today!).  We will later probably
want to create a zynot-members lists for "secret community discussions"
to be held out of the prying eyes of the public.

This new public list will be moderated for non-member posts, and the
subscription list will eventually be pruned and restricted to only
members of the foundation - once we finally define membership and
establish the means for tracking it.  The private list will be created
shortly, and it will be used exclusively for discussions that are too
secret for even foundation members.

The board may keep secrets, but it will never be allowed to hide that
fact from the community.  I have tried to make members of the board
understand the importance of this cultural requirement, and I believe
this to be the best solution given our present circumstances.

= Conclusions =

On that note, the board will begin drafting a version of the bylaws to
be presented to the community as soon as possible.  We will then
immediately begin work incorporating the feedback that I just know
everyone is waiting to deliver in return.

It turns out that putting together a board of directors takes a good
deal of time and energy, and this annoucement itself turned out to be
longer than I'd originally planned it to be.  I hope that it indicates
how important these issues are to me, and I am trying my best to be
sensitive to the needs of the community - it was not long ago that this
shoe was on my other foot.

Once again, I hope that this extensive discourse has helped address many
of the possible questions and concerns, but I look forward the board
working to try to address any possible issues that may arise.

In the end, I hope that our results will speak for themselves.

Cheers,

Zach Welch
The Zynot Foundation