Rescheduling the last meeting

[Robie Basak]

It seems like DMB absenteeism is becoming a problem again unfortunately.

My own attendence is generally excellent. I show up to virtually every
meeting, including on days when I'm not working. The last one was an
exception because I was busy at the time on a day I had taken off and
I'd sent apologies well in advance.

I understand that some Mondays have been public holidays in various
parts of the world recently. However, DMB members aren't even bothering
to send apologies in advance, and I think that's a problem. Ideally,
somebody would go through the calendar and cancel meetings well in
advance if DMB members aren't expected to attend, preferably before they
are booked by applicants.

> I think since we already have 5 people on the agenda, we should make
> up for the no-show last meeting. I propose we meet at 4 PM UTC next
> Monday (09th September).

-1. I have other responsibilities too, including other Ubuntu work that
needs to get done, and I think that setting aside an hour every two
weeks for DMB work is the appropriate balance. I lose that scheduled
time if there's an applicant and others don't show up since I'm not
doing something else. I don't get that time back. And we have enough
difficulties getting enough DMB nominees every time there's an election,
and demanding extra attendence isn't going to help with that.

Further, if people aren't showing up to our routinely scheduled
meetings, is expecting them to show up to additional dates really going
to work?

Overall, I think we still have enough capacity. The issue is:

1. DMB MEMBERS NEED TO SHOW UP TO MOST MEETINGS. That's the commitment
they made. If the actual scheduled meetings take place then we'll clear
the backlog without a problem.

2. DMB members need to send apologies in advance if people are going to
miss meetings. Then we can stop letting down applicants from last minute
no-shows.

3. Ideally, somebody could go through the calendar and cancel meetings
on popular public holiday days, so applicants do not get let down by
those. But I still think that we (all) need to be better at sending
apologies well in advance when absence is known in advance, including
for public holidays.

4. If Canonical employees who are DMB members are regularly missing
meetings at the last minute, perhaps that's something for the DMB to
take up with their managers.

Robie