[Ubuntu-US-CA] Request For Comment: Ubuntu California IRC meeting frequency

[Elizabeth K. Joseph]

On Wed, Apr 8, 2015 at 2:02 AM, Nathan Haines <nhaines at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> There are two important, conflicting concerns.  One is that regular,
> predictable meetings are an important part of checking in and working
> together.  A LoCo team is a community, and by meeting regularly, we stay in
> touch and and engaged.  Plus, regular, predictable meetings are easy to
> commit to attending.

This is pretty much where I land, and why I've felt there's value in
having meetings even when there is no agenda. Typically the team can
come up with *something* to talk about for a few minutes, whether it's
reminders about global events we should consider planning for
(releases, jams) or other local events or conference participation
we're planning. We also have a kind of informal agenda item of
"upcoming events" which is a nice opportunity to mention the upcoming
Ubuntu Hours that are held once a month, and having the meeting every
2 weeks means we can actually mention them in a timely manner, rather
than monthly meeting + monthly mention of an Ubuntu Hour that may be
up to 3+ weeks away.

It also means that I can miss a meeting here and there and know it's
not a big deal to just follow up at the next meeting, since it's only
a couple weeks away. This has been important to me because I travel a
lot and don't always have internet access during the meeting. That's
just me, but there are various reasons why folks can't make every
meeting, because life, work, etc.

> The other concern, of course, is that everyone's time is valuable and a 10
> or 15 minute meeting on Sunday when people would otherwise be getting ready
> for the work week or spending time with family is a questionable use of time
> when we're all unpaid volunteers.

I don't really find popping in for a quick IRC meeting to be all that
disruptive, but I guess others feel differently? I can multitask
(unlike voice/video calls, the worst!) and there are a variety of ways
to log in to a meeting even if I'm not home at that moment.

-- 
Elizabeth Krumbach Joseph || Lyz || pleia2