One Organizational Model

''As people were talking about forming local and special interest groups the other day, I made notes about an object-like model that could be used to "describe" the organizatinal structure of Foundation. Here they are, if only for posterity.''

For the sake of discussion, let us use an object-like model to describe organizational strucutre of the Foundation.

The Project type has the following properties:
 * is initially chartered by the Board
 * has a Management Committee of some sort, with at least one elected Foundation Member
 * must periodically report status to the Board
 * additionally, the WebComm folk can define some common infrastructural properties for Project  objects, such as Wiki space, mailing lists, etc

Now, several types can be derived from the base Project class:


 * CodeProject- specifically concerned with code development work, e.g. OSSIM development
 * LocalInterestGroup - specifically concerned with bringing together individuals from a common geographic region, e.g. Ottowa or Brazil
 * SpecialInterestGroup - specifically concerned with bringing together individuals with a common geo-related interest, e.g. GRASS users

There are also types derived from Project which are to be instantiated as singletons:
 * IncubationComm
 * FunCom
 * VisCom
 * WebCom
 * EduCom
 * OpenDataCom

Given this, I then see the Foundation as really being a "federation" of Project objects, all of which share certain common properties. One of the underlying intents is that this model might help us better understand -- and possibly simplify -- the Board's role to just the following areas:
 * identify new strategic opportunities, and charter off a new Project as required
 * oversight over all projects, to make sure they are following OSGeo's goals and principles
 * control of budget and allocation of funds

Note that nothing in the above is intended to "change" the Foundation -- this is just a way of thinking about things.