Meeting:Board strategic working group 2010-01-18

Roll Call

 * Attendees: John Poelstra, Matt Domsch, Paul Frields, Mike McGrath, Chris Tyler, Colin Walters

Working Group Kick-off

 * Set ground rules for our meetings going forward
 * Start on time/be early
 * Communicate in advance if you will not attend so we don't have to go searching for/pinging people in vain
 * Everyone helps with meeting notes
 * Everyone leaves the meeting with an action item or something to bring back next time--we aren't leaving everything to one person
 * Meetings will last 60 minutes or less
 * John Poelstra will act as the meeting facilitator with permission to:
 * keep the meetings moving
 * make sure the meeting ends on time
 * publish meeting minutes
 * suggest ownership of tasks (among group members)
 * We will make decisions by consensus
 * Meaning--everyone agrees enough to support the proposal, even if not everyone is wild about the idea
 * The term decision is used in the context of our working group discusions--not ''deciding things for the board, Fedora, etc.
 * Our discussions in these meetings are to:
 * pull together past unresolved issues while not solving them
 * bring loose items together into formulated proposals the board as a whole can discuss and approve
 * Initial work will be cataloging all of the issues
 * Proposing (not dictating) solutions will be a follow-up step
 * Send cataloged list to advisory-board for sanity check to make sure we've collected (not solved) everything

Meeting Outcomes

 * Finished in 57 minutes (3 minutes early)
 * Emphasis of meeting was on setting up structure and how we plan to work issues through
 * Decided on initial approach:
 * Catalog all the issues we understand to have been raised as questions
 * Break cataloged issues into two groups:
 * Issues we believe are resolved with a reference to where and how it was resolved
 * Issues we believe are unanswered with references to our to-do list
 * Explain in plain terms why the working group and the Board are pursuing these issues
 * Catalog initiatives the board has started, but not clearly resolved
 * For example, website redesign, Chris Aillon's proposal, Spot's Proposal, Persona's, etc.
 * The rest of the meeting we worked as a group cataloging the issues the board is grappling with
 * https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Unfinished_Board_issues

Other Observations/Side Discussion

 * Is there a disconnect between what the community thinks the board should do, and what the board thinks the board should do. Dominant views seem to be:
 * dispute mediators
 * looking out for Fedora's feature
 * If the community does not agree with the Board's charter they may not agree with its actions
 * Current board charter: Board

Agenda for Next Meeting

 * 1) Be ready to publish the list of resolved and unresolved issues to advisory-board list for sanity check
 * 2) Explain why this working group and the Board are pursuing these issues
 * 3) Catalog open initiatives

Next Meeting

 * Monday, January 25, 2010 @ 15:00 EST