Ubuntu Governance: Reboot?

[Scott Kitterman]

On Friday, November 14, 2014 15:24:25 Elizabeth K. Joseph wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 14, 2014 at 10:59 AM, Jono Bacon <jono at jonobacon.org> wrote:
> > I shared my wider thoughts on this topic on
> > http://www.jonobacon.org/2014/11/14/ubuntu-governance-reboot/ -
> > primarily so it reaches the wider Ubuntu audience who may have views
> > on this.
> > 
> > I think this is best discussed here though (as Elizabeth suggested).
> 
> Thanks for taking the time to bring this to the list.
> 
> > I think it could be worthwhile exploring a new set of core goals for
> > our governance, and then transform those principles into a charter.
> > 
> > Thoughts?
> 
> You make some excellent points, as a member of the Community Council I
> certainly don't enjoy the times when we have to be reactive to
> situations and handle bureaucracy. However, I do believe that these
> past couple years the CC has gotten in better touch with the community
> through our bi-weekly check-ins at our meetings[0] have given teams
> their own space for sharing successes and challenges they're facing.
> We actually do have the opportunity to help proactively now and I'm
> really proud of the work we've been doing. Additionally, while it's
> not glamorous, we are helping teams get connected with the tools and
> resources to get their work done, which is often what they're up
> against as they navigate resources controlled by Canonical, ghost
> teams that need new administrators and even simple things like
> milestone announcements so team members who only have time to check in
> when they get a nudge via email can schedule their work.
> 
> As for being inspirational leaders Ubuntu-wide, that's very, very hard
> for a community-based team in an ecosystem of a project backed by a
> single company, particularly as the community has diversified and some
> segments are very clearly controlled by Canonical (Phone, Cloud).
> Aside from a few spaces in the community where Canonical has little
> presence like Community-based support, Documentation & Translations
> teams, I feel we have very little power as community members to make
> bold, Mark-like statements. Instead, many of us instead lead by
> example, doing real work in the community that's visible (insert
> gushing about elfy's amazing work with QA here) and encouraging others
> to do the same in our spaces. This is not flashy and exciting, but we
> do have our successes and work gets done.
> 
> As such, it's these spaces that are community-driven that I think we
> may be able to do a better job with. Lately I've seen a fair amount of
> "Why am I doing all of this unappreciated work for free?" rather than
> "I am passionate about making sure Ubuntu has good $insert_thing_here
> so I can make the world a better place." It would be wonderful to see
> our community work toward bringing back some of the excitement by
> supporting the community-driven teams: Drive contributions to
> Documentation, Translations, support outlets. Do more to support and
> encourage the amazing work of the Flavors teams.
> 
> In the same vein, I'd love to see us reinvent the Ubuntu Global Jam
> event so that it's more valuable for the community-driven teams. I
> discussed some of the problems with the Jam this past cycle that was
> proposed just 6 weeks before the event itself was to take place, which
> was not enough time for most volunteer-driven LoCos to find a venue,
> prepare for and advertise any valuable event:
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/loco-contacts/2014-August/006721.html
> 
> All that said, this all takes volunteers. The CC is often busy making
> sure teams have the resources they need to do the work they need to
> do, and as boring and administrative as this is, we don't have
> something to build a community around if these teams still are hitting
> barriers. I'm honestly not sure I have time for more than what we do
> already and I don't think we're doing unnecessary work. We should
> follow-up with the other Councils to see how they feel about the work
> they're doing and work to break down unnecessary bureaucratic barriers
> where they exist.
> 
> Finally, we should all remember that the community we're supporting is
> not just a group of Ubuntu cheerleaders (as wonderful as those are!).
> The Councils support LoCos doing Jams where they hack on projects,
> online support communities that make Ubuntu one of the best-supported
> operating systems in history and a completely volunteer-driven efforts
> of teams like Docs and Translations. We have to keep in mind that it's
> not just about inspiration and excitement, but actually getting the
> work done.
> 
> [0] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CommunityCouncilAgenda

I agree.

We need to be careful not to confuse the governance structure with the 
project.  It's not up to people to lead and inspire because they are part of 
the governance structure.  The governance structure is here to help and 
support the participants in the project getting stuff done.

It's true that many of the people who are members of governance bodies in 
Ubuntu are also the people doing large chunks of the work and leading  people 
in their areas of focus, but that's not because they are in the governance 
structure.  The are generally in the governance structure because of the 
work/leadership/etc that they are already doing.

As a member of two governance boards (DMB and Kubuntu Council) the only thing 
I routinely do because of that is show up at meetings and vote every now and 
then.   I've sometimes had to do some dispute resolution as well.  Pretty much 
anything else I do in Ubuntu I'd do anyway/did before I was a member of these 
bodies.

Scott K