TDF/BoD Meetings/2019
Minutes 2019-10-25
The Document Foundation
Board of Directors Meeting 2019-10-25
Meeting Minutes
Date: 2019-10-25
Location: Jitsi
Session chair: Marina Latini
Keeper of the minutes: Michael Meeks
In the meeting: Simon, Franklin, Marina, Michael, Cor, Florian, Eike, Thorsten, Kendy
Representation: Simon for Björn
Chairwoman of the Board is in the meeting. One of the Chairwoman or Deputy Chairman is required to be present or represented for having a quorate call.
The Board of Directors at time of the call consists of 7 seat holders without deputies. In order to be quorate, the call needs to have 1/2 of the Board of Directors members, which gives 4. A total of 7 Board of Directors members are attending the call.
The board waives all formal statutory requirements, or requirements in the foundations articles, or other requirements regarding form and invitation, time limits, and for the topics discussed in this meeting.
The meeting is quorate and invitation happened in time. From now on, motions can be passed with the agreement of a simple majority of those remaining present. The majority threshold is currently 4.
The meeting commences at 14:05 Berlin time.
Agenda:
Public part:
01. info: Board elections (Florian, 10 minutes)
* elections announced, nominations running now: https://listarchives.documentfoundation.org/www/board-discuss/msg04342.html * deadline for nominations: 2019-11-27, 24:00 CET/UTC+1 * preliminary results: 2019-12-13 * new board on duty: 2020-02-18 * we need at least 7 seat holders, ideally +3 deputies
+ have been announced. Important deadlines as above.
+ a bit morer than a month out.
+ will have a blog entry soon from Italo.
+ we have Daniel, Lothar, Kendy, Franklin so far
02. info: Board meetings - workflow for agenda composition and items to be discussed (Marina, 5 minutes)
+ don't forget to send items before Sunday at 4pm
+ please reply to Marina's E-mail.
Public meeting ends 14:09 Berlin time.
Marina Latini (Session chair)
Michael Meeks (Keeper of the minutes)
Minutes 2019-09-27
The Document Foundation
Board of Directors Meeting 2019-09-27
Meeting Minutes
Date: 2019-09-27
Location: Jitsi
Session chair: Marina Latini
Keeper of the minutes: Michael Meeks
In the meeting: Michael, Thorsten, Björn (leaving 14.05), Florian, Kendy, Uwe, Simon, Marina, Franklin (joins at 14:14) Representation: Simon for Eike
Chairwoman of the Board is in the meeting. One of the Chairwoman or Deputy Chairman is required to be present or represented for having a quorate call.
The Board of Directors at time of the call consists of 7 seat holders without deputies. In order to be quorate, the call needs to have 1/2 of the Board of Directors members, which gives 4. A total of 5 Board of Directors members are attending the call.
The board waives all formal statutory requirements, or requirements in the foundations articles, or other requirements regarding form and invitation, time limits, and for the topics discussed in this meeting.
The meeting is quorate and invitation happened in time. From now on, motions can be passed with the agreement of a simple majority of those remaining present. The majority threshold is currently 3.
The meeting commences at 14:00 Berlin time.
Agenda:
Public part:
1. Discuss: Culture Events at LibreOffice events (Bjoern, 5 minutes)
+ clothes / dress-up / concern at the castle + the pictures / maybe someone from that cultural background might take offense + happy to look to see if we caused any offence (Michael)
[ Bjoern left early here ]
Representation: Simon for Eike, Kendy for Björn
2. Vote: TDC (Simon, 15 minutes)
- Proposal by Simon: Nicholas Christener to lead the TDC steering group
- Proposal by Thorsten & Michael: add Uwe Altmann to TDC steering group
+ Uwe shared some questions on Board Discuss
1. missing a draft of a business plan
+ sentences wrt. what is needed, no numbers there.
+ with fixed sum to invest - should be a business plan.
+ the next step, and interested in this.
+ put the apps into the app store (Simon)
+ generate a base sum we can use as a basis for a business plan
+ assumption is that this is cheap - C'bra & CIB built packages
+ deal: talking for over a year ...
+ obstacle, another reason for delay.
+ have an outline for the operating principle
+ neither are intended to be profit making
+ neither should cost TDF any money.
+ bootstrap - get app there, and assess income on that.
2. why the intermediate step ?
+ why don't we do a business unit vs. bootstrap process
+ quick to set these things up.
+ no reason not to do it (Thorsten)
+ can start an entity overnight (Simon)
+ create a bank account, get setup with stores etc.
some bearocratic challenges - that take time.
+ place ownership with a non-profit in the interim.
+ havn't decided where the future operating business
will be located.
+ this could have been done by TDF, but nice to have
a difference of jurisdiction.
+ personal preference: UK if still in EU, otherwise
in the Netherlands.
+ CIC in UK can protect TDF's interests without
complex bylaws - which may be required in the
Netherlands
+ CIC is owned by someone (Uwe)
+ there is no owner - this is the purpose (Simon)
+ can be wound up & give its assets to a charity
+ an independent entity is here on purpose (Thorsten)
+ control this via TM license & resetability
+ TDF has plenty of load, extra items to do
+ Would prefer TDF to own it (Uwe)
+ seems to solve problems
+ discussion on TM license, etc.
+ simpler: operating company - as a business
+ surplus automatically goes to TDF
+ concerns wrt. perception (Michael)
+ full control & responsibility is different (Thorsten)
+ TDC operates under a TM license like other companies (Thorsten)
+ agree there is some other oversight needed for all.
+ what problem does 100% control solve ? (Thorsten)
+ it is simpler (Uwe)
+ disagree - needs Florian to setup a German company (Thorsten)
+ hire someone, or someone to do it part-time here.
+ give a loan and a TM license is simpler
+ Line of credit of Eur 50k is not the issue (Uwe)
+ Setup model propose in the Netherlands ? (Thorsten)
+ would you do the leg-work ?
+ finally have a compromise that doesn't fail (Simon)
+ doesn't instantly stop when we raise the various issues
+ started out thinking of doing it in Germany
+ not most concerned wrt. it being in Germany per-se (Uwe)
+ owned by TDF - causes problems
+ subject to regular geek interference
+ would you like to help oversee its setup ? (Michael)
+ tasked to discuss / hash-out an executable plan.
+ not an expert in operating such things (Uwe)
+ think it's useful to have him on-board ok.
+ advice would be helpful (Thorsten)
+ consulting the community issues (Uwe)
+ good to have time to include the feedback
+ fair comment (Michael, Thorsten)
+ got more insight into the process now
+ didn't know discussing this for years
+ outcome quite a small one for years of work
+ doing something is better than doing nothing.
+ if something ends up in having CIC department for
bootstrap - and means
+ go on to put things into the app-stores: sign a contract ?
+ TDC signs the contract (Simon)
+ need to check app-store licenses to see if he can pass them on
+ no need for Simon to be formally overseeing the startup (Simon)
+ replaced that by Nicolas.
+ any concerns wrt. doing this with Uwe included ? (Michael)
+ is everyone still pro creating TDC ? (Michael)
+ Michael
+ still in favour.
+ Franklin
+ don't know Nicholas, if we have anything he can do, tell him.
+ will do his best to help out.
+ will need help for Asian language app-stores (Simon)
+ Marina
+ would like to know the timeline Simon has in mind
+ elections are approaching
+ we should decide something soon, or give it to next BoD
+ rough timeline (Simon)
+ send an agreement from Public S/W CIC to TDC steering group
+ then set them up on accounting system
+ in parallel - talk to C'bra/CIB wrt. app-stores.
+ understand costs/cadence
+ ask both companies to help get 1st packages established
+ try to get Pub S/W CIC in the 2 app-stores
+ have packages branded LibreOffice in those app-stores.
+ test whether they work.
+ before the end of the year - marketing activity to
promote those packages.
+ on the company
+ as soon as un-incorporated signed up with CIC
+ will talk to Amsterdam & UK on the topic to get
structures & costs
+ discussion before end of year -> Amsterdam
+ the horizon of a decent grasp on what we do
+ next year: company incorporated
+ get a bank account for it setup.
+ transfer the app-store packages to company
+ trigger to develop code to spend the money
+ if by March: not earning money, consider - is it a good idea.
+ big-ticket item, marketplace - sponsor features / devs to sign up - ~Q2
+ is there a lawyer we can contact in the Netherlands ?
+ yes, on BoD of Console Democracy foundation (Simon)
+ just incorporatd in Amsterdam
+ would get advice from the same lawyers.
+ can you share documents ? (Marina)
+ will try to dig that out (Simon)
+ Nicolas likes Switzerland for some structures (Simon)
+ considered MariaDB there - have research on that too.
+ more or less ok. (Marina)
+ need a final document with the details.
+ discussing for a long time, without the community
+ sure others than Uwe have concerns.
+ good to decide on our side on a final version.
+ second the motion (Thorsten)
+ move it to an E-mail vote with 72hours.
+ why are we delaying again ? (Michael)
+ there is a motion from the screen at the conference (Simon)
+ Vote/TDC/Simon (Thorsten)
+ from proceural concerns
+ motion we were to vote on - at last meeting (Simon)
+ we wrote a motion, full meeting in advance
+ voted in the meeting to say we're voting on that.
The Board RESOLVES to start creation of The Document Collective (TDC) by taking the following acts:
- Broadly, to implement the concepts in the Board's Document "The Document Collective" version 0.4
- Appoint a transitional leadership Group comprising Nicolas Christener, Eike Rathke, Michael Meeks, Thorsten Behrens, Uwe Altemann
- Direct the Group to sign an agreement with Public Software CIC hosting TDC as an unincorporated association
- Allocate a loan of €50000 to be requested incrementally as needed by Public Software CIC for TDC when the Group so directs, to be returned once a surplus is available and at the Group's discretion concerning timing and portioning, with the addition of 3% annual interest.
- Grant Public Software CIC a trademark license for "LibreOffice" when used in the context of an online application software store
- Direct the Group to initiate availability of LibreOffice for Mac OS and Windows through the appropriate app stores for an appropriate fee
- Request the Group to take over making available Impress Remote and LibreOffice Viewer if each or either proves appropriate for TDC
- Direct the Group to commission a mechanism to spend TDC's income surplus in the manner agreed by the Board's Document
- Direct the Group to plan for the transfer of all TDC activities and liabilities to an independent legal entity as soon as practical, with governance implementing the concepts in the Board's Document.
+ believe we already voted to do this (Marina)
+ not certain that this is reflected in the minutes (Michael)
+ we agreed to vote on it at the next meeting (Simon)
+ don't want to vote on it now (Marina)
+ Invitation and agenda were not sent on time and in the public board-discuss list
[ Simon leaves ] Representation: Kendy for Björn
+ suggest we adjourn now and E-mail vote (Thorsten, Michael)
+ confusion from Proposal to vote next time, vs. announcing it (Florian)
+ so we did not vote on it - to create space to ask questions (Kendy)
+ definitely the minutes are right
+ to be voted on at the next meeting.
+ unclear how it didn't get to the agenda - but minutes are clear
+ proposal changed - with new names -> re-propose in public (Florian)
+ we announced at opening session - so from my PoV was decided (Marina)
+ missing the minutes of last session (Uwe)
+ they were not public / published yet (Michael)
+ needs editing - but last public BoD call is public (Florian)
+ community announcement was 3 weeks ago from Florian (Uwe)
+ think community has had time to make up its mind.
+ like to follow Simon: no more time to loose.
+ would love to see a public vote (Thorsten)
+ Encouraged to have Uwe included, thanks ! (Michael, Florian)
Meeting ends 15:19 Berlin time.
Marina Latini (Session chair)
Michael Meeks (Keeper of the minutes)
Minutes 2019-08-02
The Document Foundation
Board of Directors Meeting 2019-08-02
Call Minutes
Date: 2019-08-02
Location: Jitsi
Session chair: Marina Latini
Keeper of the minutes: Florian Effenberger
In the call: Franklin (board), Marina (chair), Eike (board), Florian (ED), Björn (deputy chair)
Representation: None
Chairwoman of the Board is in the call. One of the Chairwoman or Deputy Chairman is required to be present or represented for having a quorate call.
The Board of Directors at time of the call consists of 7 seat holders without deputies. In order to be quorate, the call needs to have 1/2 of the Board of Directors members, which gives 4. A total of 4 Board of Directors members are attending the call.
The board waives all formal statutory requirements, or requirements in the foundations articles, or other requirements regarding form and invitation, time limits, and for the topics discussed in this meeting.
The call is quorate and invitation happened in time. From now on, motions can be passed with the agreement of a simple majority of those remaining present. The majority threshold is currently 3.
The meeting commences at 14:05 Berlin time.
Public part:
1. Discuss: safety improvements for events (Marina, 10 minutes)
for more details see my previous e-mail
"A lesson learned from openSUSE conf 2019 and an important improvement for TDF"
Detailed proposal:
1) the automatic defibrillator is not always a mandatory requirement in a public place or in a conference venue.
For the TDF events I would suggest to:
* check with the local organizers what is available
* add to the website and to the badges some emergency info for the attendees.
2) missing emergency information.
I would suggest is to:
* ask to all the attendees to print and _always_ bring during the conference a piece of paper with the following info:
(TDF not collecting, but attendees bringing themselves)
** TDF to provide template/blank card
** Name, Surname
** birthdate
** an ID card/Passport or at least the document number
** the residence address
** an emergency contact to call
** any relevant medical info that could be useful to the doctors like allergies or particular health conditions relevant in case of emergency.
3) People with BLS notions list.
* I would suggest to:
** have a list of people (from TDF and the local organizers) with BLS notions
** guarantee that at least one person, better two, is always available in the conference venue and if possible in the rooms.
** populate this list also with conference attendees with BLS notions
** have a first emergency kit will be also a plus to have.
* Proposal (Franklin): create a sticker to put on the badge, giving visibility to those available for first aid
4) Organize a BLS course.
* I would suggest to:
** create a list of people interested to take this course (start from employees)
** contact the current insurance checking if there are discounts available for this kind of trainings
** when/where organize the course?
*** next in-person all-in meeting?
*** which language?
- add this as requirement for future CfLs (Florian)
- Do this for BoD and MC too, or leave it mostly to conference organizers? (Björn)
- good opportunity to share one training with many (Marina, Florian)
- Why board or MC? Rather do trainings with all conference organizers ahead of the event. (Björn)
2. Discuss: Dedicated sponsorship program for students (Franklin, 15 minutes)
In LibreOffice Asia Conference this year we noticed that there were very few young Japanese people joining. I exchanged some thoughts with Japanese community members (like Naruhiko Ogasawara, Shinji Enoki, and Takeshi Abe) about having some promotion to universities or high schools and encourage them to contribute and propose talks to LibreOffice Conference. And from the TDF side we can reserved some dedicated budgets for these students to encourage their participation, especially from areas outside Europe (since it's cheaper to travel inside Europe, we can put a bit more ratio to areas like Latin America, Africa and Asia).
In our first idea, the local community needs to promote ODF/LibreOffice and/or hold hackfests in universities and high schools to encourage more young people joining in. And the criteria to get sponsorship can be:
a) must be a student (approve by local community) b) aged from 16-24 (can be discussed) c) the proposal to LibreOffice Conference is accepted (so we need to decide the program faster so that they can buy flight tickets, or being handled by TDF)
We can discuss the idea first, and if we agree with it we can then discuss about the amount of the budget to be reserved.
- Do together with MC? (Marina)
- write document together with MC describing the project, get cost estimation/budget plan
- AI: Marina to poke Gabriele
3. Discuss: new Certification Category discussion (Michael, 10 minutes) postponed - Michael not in the meeting
Public call ends 14:30 Berlin time.
Marina Latini (Session chair) Florian Effenberger (Keeper of the minutes)
Minutes 2019-07-18
The Document Foundation
Board of Directors Meeting 2019-07-18
Call Minutes
Date: 2019-07-18
Location: Jitsi
Session chair: Marina Latini
Keeper of the minutes: Florian Effenberger
In the call: Franklin (board), Marina (chairwoman), Florian (ED), Thorsten (board), Kendy (deputy), Björn (deputy chairman), Cor (board) Representation: Kendy for Michael
Chairwoman of the Board is in the call. One of the Chairwoman or Deputy Chairman is required to be present or represented for having a quorate call.
The Board of Directors at time of the call consists of 7 seat holders without deputies. In order to be quorate, the call needs to have 1/2 of the Board of Directors members, which gives 4. A total of 6 Board of Directors members are attending the call.
The board waives all formal statutory requirements, or requirements in the foundations articles, or other requirements regarding form and invitation, time limits, and for the topics discussed in this meeting.
The call is quorate and invitation happened in time. From now on, motions can be passed with the agreement of a simple majority of those remaining present. The majority threshold is currently 4.
The meeting commences at 14:07 Berlin time.
Public part:
1. info: evaluation of the proposals for Almeria (Marina, 5 minutes)
https://redmine.documentfoundation.org/projects/libocon/wiki/Talk_proposals
+ 84 proposals in total, quite nice + AI Thorsten: file GSoC panel + CfP deadline was mid-July + trying to accomodate eligible submissions as much as possible + people to book their flights soon + we might need more budget, Florian to follow-up via mail
Bjoern joins 14:10
2. discuss: new Certification Category discussion (Michael, 10 minutes)
+ Deferring to next time
Public call ends 14:12 Berlin time.
Marina Latini (Session chair)
Florian Effenberger (Keeper of the minutes)
Minutes 2019-07-05
The Document Foundation
Board of Directors Meeting 2019-07-05
Call Minutes
Date: 2019-07-05
Location: Jitsi
Session chair: Marina Latini
Keeper of the minutes: Michael Meeks
In the call: Marina, Simon, Michael, Thorsten, Franklin, Bjoern, Florian
Representation: Simon for Cor
Chairwoman of the Board is in the call. One of the Chairwoman or Deputy Chairman is required to be present or represented for having a quorate call.
The Board of Directors at time of the call consists of 7 seat holders without deputies. In order to be quorate, the call needs to have 1/2 of the Board of Directors members, which gives 4. A total of 6 Board of Directors members are attending the call.
The board waives all formal statutory requirements, or requirements in the foundations articles, or other requirements regarding form and invitation, time limits, and for the topics discussed in this meeting.
The call is quorate and invitation happened in time. From now on, motions can be passed with the agreement of a simple majority of those remaining present. The majority threshold is currently 4.
The meeting commences at 14:05 Berlin time.
Public part:
0. Discuss: Almeria meeting schedule (Florian, 5 minutes)
+ Like the idea of a meeting split into two days, but how/when (Marina)
+ can't find anything that can work.
+ feedback on 1.5 - 2 days ? (Thorsten)
+ in theory - had agreement to have Monday meeting (Marina)
+ Tue afternoon - NLP meeting
+ do we need another 1/2 day ? (Thorsten)
+ would prefer two days but ...
+ as a general pattern - starting lunch on day #1 (Simon)
+ Monday, September 9 (calendar invite sent)
+ and having another day, but can't see how to fit it in.
+ suggest do a 9am to 6pm meeting etc.
+ don't let any non-board business to intrude on the day.
+ prefer to keep Sunday clear if possible (Michael)
+ tough to fit partner day in - need a separate event in future
+ perhaps with a hackfest, and the team there.
+ easier to have 2x days at FOSDEM (Marina)
+ more flexible, an dmore days there.
+ in future - ideally (Simon)
+ fly-in, start 1:30pm, have dinner, finish late on 2nd day
+ no MC bits planned for Almeria (Florian)
+ BoD only dinner for Monday evening ? (Michael)
1. Discuss: new Certification Category discussion (Michael, 10 minutes)
+ sorry to leave this lingering, can we punt again.
2. Discuss and Vote: Carbon Policy (Cor, Thorsten, Michael, 10 minutes)
More info and details from Cor with Wednesday, July 3rd as hard deadline. + moved to private.
Public call ends 14:15 Berlin time.
Marina Latini (Session chair)
Michael Meeks (Keeper of the minutes)
Minutes 2019-06-21
The Document Foundation
Board of Directors Meeting 2019-06-21
Call Minutes
Date: 2019-06-21
Location: Jitsi
Session chair: Marina Latini
Keeper of the minutes: Michael Meeks
In the call: Marina (chair), Cor (board), Eike (board), Florian (ED), Kendy (Deputy), Simon (Deputy), Thorsten (Board), Michael (Board), Björn (Deputy Chair) Representation: Simon representing Franklin.
Chairwoman of the Board is in the call. One of the Chairwoman or Deputy Chairman is required to be present or represented for having a quorate call.
The Board of Directors at time of the call consists of 7 seat holders without deputies. In order to be quorate, the call needs to have 1/2 of the Board of Directors members, which gives 4. A total of 7 Board of Directors members are attending the call.
The board waives all formal statutory requirements, or requirements in the foundations articles, or other requirements regarding form and invitation, time limits, and for the topics discussed in this meeting.
The call is quorate and invitation happened in time. From now on, motions can be passed with the agreement of a simple majority of those remaining present. The majority threshold is currently 4.
The meeting commences at 14:06 Berlin time.
Public part:
1. Info: Board meetings and agenda (Marina, 5 minutes)
+ reminder - please add items to the agenda well in advance if possible.
+ deadline Sunday.
2. Discussion: Budget/guide lines for inviting members to conferences (Cor, 10 minutes)
+ proposal on the list
+ difficult subject - hard to find something better than what we have now + perhaps a bit less compensation to those we invite to the conference + so we can give some more to some others + need to cope with different travel costs / welfare / etc. / inactive communities + Cor willing to put some energy into managing this discussion + happy to invite people to give ideas. + meets the idea that we can give more people compensation + perhaps people pay 10% - min Eur 25 & max Eur 75 eg. + an E-mail reply from Franklin & someone else - wrt. tough corner cases + if there is a general idea to look at it, Cor happy to invest time. + thanks for handling the topic (Marina) + in general great to find a way to bring more contributors to the conf. + need to keep in-mind, that in theory not just money, but cultural difference + might be ok for partial re-imbursement for some + for others - might think contributions are not good enough + like to examine the topic, but need to look at all aspects. + how big is the problem anyway ? (Thorsten) + keep encouraging people, and being surprisd how few ask for travel + last year, others intended to be there from Holland (Cor) + a bit less active but - good to give them some compensation too + shared some of his compensation with them. + first did it - asked who wanted it ? (Michael) + no response, disorganized. + switched to this pro-active: we will pay ... + which works better, but not perfectly. + instead of complexity - why not just invite more ? + Sophie sent list with names (Cor) + asked is there budget for more people ? + could have added more names without being sure + dislike the idea - creates a barrier to attendance (Simon) + if concerned wrt. marginally able to come. + additionally creates a bursary fund - you can apply to. + love it (Michael) + having fractional compensation for all is unfortunate (Simon) + we want to ensure some people can attend. + a bursary fund: would need an approver a budget & a process (Simon) + Debian community has a committee + GNOME had something similar (Michael) + can we ask the MC to do this ? (Cor) + already in contact with them. + an idea to ask them if they are confirming / prolonging a membership (Bjoern) + can ask which conference they want to atteend. + someone confirms they're part of the community. + like the idea (Marina) => Cor to ask the MC if they can handle this: + Eur 5k budget for -partial- travel re-funds. => Proceeding with Sophie's list.
3. Discussion: new Certification Category discussion (Michael, 10 minutes)
+ punt it again, save time.
Public call ends 14:22 Berlin time.
Marina Latini (Session chair)
Michael Meeks (Keeper of the minutes)
Minutes 2019-06-07
The Document Foundation
Board of Directors Meeting 2019-06-07
Call Minutes
Date: 2019-06-07
Location: Jitsi
Session chair: Marina Latini
Keeper of the minutes: Michael Meeks
In the call: Simon, Marina, Cor, Florian, Thorsten, Kendy, Michael, Bjoern, Franklin
Representation: none, Kendy cannot
Chairwoman of the Board is in the call. One of the Chairwoman or Deputy Chairman is required to be present or represented for having a quorate call.
The Board of Directors at time of the call consists of 7 seat holders without deputies. In order to be quorate, the call needs to have 1/2 of the Board of Directors members, which gives 4. A total of 6 Board of Directors members are attending the call.
The board waives all formal statutory requirements, or requirements in the foundations articles, or other requirements regarding form and invitation, time limits, and for the topics discussed in this meeting.
The call is quorate and invitation happened in time. From now on, motions can be passed with the agreement of a simple majority of those remaining present. The majority threshold is currently 4.
The meeting commences at 14:05 Berlin time.
Public part:
0. Representation
+ Cor coming part-time to Collabora to fill Marketing gap on Tuesday. + expect Kendy can't represent for voting for now
AI: + check on situation with Mike (Marina)
+ can't vote anyway since agenda was not sent early enough
+ Simon semi-present
+ very clear Kendy can't represent someone missing (Thorsten)
+ agreed (Michael, Kendy)
1. Info: Board meetings and agenda (Marina, 5 minutes)
+ please send items on-time for the BoD call
+ and clarify discussion / vote bits for the agenda
+ agreement was to use the invitation for sending the items.
+ can't check all the ML's that we have.
+ how best to do that ? (Michael)
+ ok to reply to the invitation message adding Marina & Bjoern to CC (Marina)
2. Discuss: new Certification Category discussion (Michael, 10 minutes)
+ heated dicussion in private
+ should be kept on the agenda to discuss on a call at some stage
+ lots of other things on the agenda today.
+ no problem discussing the topic (Marina)
+ agree wrt. postponing - but ask for more details next time.
+ agree wrt. timeliness - can postpone (Thorsten)
3. Discuss: marketing strategy (Florian, 10 minutes)
+ highlight - still the discussion wrt. Marketing paper from Michael
+ talked about this at FOSDEM
+ outcome was that Simon could draft guidelines
+ feeling it's becoming more of a problem for the staff
+ like to ask the board to come to a conclusion as to what to do
+ Florian sits between the chairs here.
+ should come to a conclusion one way or another
+ some un-controversial items have been done
+ some others are completely open.
+ like a clear directive from the BoD
+ Florian feels his performance / review is affected by this too.
+ seems several problems (Thorsten)
+ individual BoD members interacting with the staff
+ is it better to have that directed through Florian
+ no issue directors talking to staff (Florian)
+ with this topic, I get conflicting messages.
+ if in doubt, poke Florian to channel the direction
+ but I don't know the direction.
+ challenge - there is no single opinion (Thorsten)
+ correct that Simon was going to write-up here (Cor)
+ Florian's request sounds fair.
+ mentioned some especially hard topics
+ would help if some that are hard & need clarification.
+ challenge we face as a board (Thorsten)
+ not likely to get that in finite time.
+ getting the hottest potatoes solved may be best way ahead
+ would be good to know where we're heading (Florian)
+ catch-22 feeling around the team
[ Simon joined the call ]
+ have a marketing paper from Michael (Marina)
+ agreement was to have something more concrete to vote on
+ was to have guidelines from Simon
+ who is not so directly involved in the ecosystem
+ hopefuly that will solve the problem from the team.
+ sounded like need positioning guidelines (Simon)
+ want to write a draft & straw-man policy
+ perhaps best fixed by sitting in a room together
& writing it together.
+ like the approach (Marina)
+ next face-to-face is in Almeria / September.
+ will have no policy at all.
+ what do staff find difficult ? (Simon)
+ what you do for 1 ecosytem member, the other not happy (Florian)
+ if all are your bosses somehow - not easier
+ need to be clear it doesn't affect their performance rating
+ think read parts of this message between the lines.
+ not helpful to have one or the other, constant discussions
stepping on people's toes.
+ some of the conflicts are quite contextual (Simon)
+ hard to write a policy.
+ would it be good to have an indep. member of Board (eg. me)
to join with Mike to team together with messaging to
understand the conflicts.
+ proposal is to take responsibility away from Mike so it's
all Simon's fault.
+ advantage of oversight can give confidence in overall balance (Cor)
+ not easy to do vs. written words.
+ like the idea if it covers Mike and Italo (Florian)
+ ask to make case-by-case decisions in this area on marketing for next 45 days (Simon)
+ not a blank cheque (Michael)
+ willing to give lots of time on this, to get to understand it
+ want to see what the concerns are, and then argue with Michael / Thorsten
+ seems a reasonable timeline (Cor)
+ both report & proposal would be appreciated.
+ like the proposal - if only, 1 reference opinion - Simon's (Bjoern)
+ that we can diff ours against.
+ might be a good way to unlock that
+ sounds good to me (Marina)
+ minor concerns about pages we've discussed at length (Michael)
+ expect Simon will take that into account (Cor)
+ wholeheartedly +1 (Thorsten)
=> consensus on empowering Simon here.
Public call ends 14:34 Berlin time.
Marina Latini (Session chair)
Michael Meeks (Keeper of the minutes)
Minutes 2019-03-01
The Document Foundation
Board of Directors Meeting 2019-03-01
Call Minutes
Date: 2019-03-01
Location: Jitsi
Session chair: Marina Latini
Keeper of the minutes: Michael Meeks
In the call: Michael (BoD), Thorsten (BoD), Marina (Chairwoman), Franklin (BoD), Florian (ED), Simon (Deputy), Cor (BoD), Björn (BoD), Eike (BoD)
Representation: None
Chairwoman of the Board is in the call. One of the Chairwoman or Deputy Chairman is required to be present or represented for having a quorate call.
The Board of Directors at time of the call consists of 7 seat holders without deputies. In order to be quorate, the call needs to have 1/2 of the Board of Directors members, which gives 4. A total of 7 Board of Directors members are attending the call.
The board waives all formal statutory requirements, or requirements in the foundations articles, or other requirements regarding form and invitation, time limits, and for the topics discussed in this meeting.
The call is quorate and invitation happened in time. From now on, motions can be passed with the agreement of a simple majority of those remaining present. The majority threshold is currently 4.
The meeting commences at 14:01 Berlin time.
Public part:
0. Last-minute addition: Meeting for approval of annual report (Florian, 5 minutes)
* send in until April 30 (in German)
* formal meeting planned for mid-April
-> proposals: regular meeting slot CW 15 (Friday, April 12) with fallback CW 16 before Good Friday
+ Simon in Barcelona for a conference April 12th (but a Deputy so need not be blocking).
+ can we do an E-mail vote ? (Michael)
+ can do it by E-mail yes (Florian)
+ need one formal meeeting per year
+ FOSDEM and/or LibOCon work well for that (Michael)
AI Marina/Björn: send formal invite two weeks before as per statutes
* report currently in writing by Italo and Mike
* we need the final budget projects by then
* first complete draft planned mid-March
AI: Florian to share folder link when first set of docs is there early next week
AI Florian: find out if we need a formal meeting, or a regular e-mail vote is fine
* need to know which projects we hope to run for filing (Florian)
+ projects need naming as a line-item.
1. Discuss: Status update on extensions & templates page (Florian, 5 minutes)
* WordPress or OpenDesktop environment, simple wiki page with linking as fallback
* WordPress needs development work
* service provider 1: 260 hours - with discount ~8,5k €
* service provider 2: happy to do the job, but suggests OpenDesktop, as it's there
* OpenDesktop
* self-hosting possible
* SSO question pending
* offer consulting
-> will try OpenDesktop first
* Don't want something heavily customized - so not needing to maintain it
* had a call with OpenDesktop
* we can self-host it, rather than doing it externally.
* Need to avoid "bus factor" - potential loss of capability by loss of a single contributor
* Guilhelm curious wrt SSO support ?
* linking vs. hosting - does it meet that criteria ? (Michael)
* OpenDesktop - hosts files & releases etc.
* interested to include volunteers (Thorsten)
* buovjaga was in the discussion too (Florian)
* Eager to ensure that community is included (Cor)
* provide updates on mailing list wrt. where we're
at to increase interest and inclusion.
* also good to clarify the criteria - is it just portal
or does it have storage too - a full replacement ?
* would be a full replacement (Florian)
=> Seems good to proceed with switch to an OpenDesktop instance
https://www.opendesktop.org/
* Cor wants to look further at it.
Public call ends 14:18 Berlin time.
Marina Latini (Session chair)
Michael Meeks (Keeper of the minutes)