Board Face to Face Meeting 2016

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Background

It is important for the OSGeo Board to meet in person to discuss and make changes to the foundation. The foundation is mature now, and many lingering topics must be dealt with, but are often to detailed to be handled in a one hour meeting or e-mail.

Goals of Meeting

The overall goal of the F2F meeting is to define the "OSGeo 2020 strategy plan". It imply to discuss and outline the vision of the foundation. Where are we today, and where do we want to be 5 years from now, and most importantly, setting tasks so that we get there. After this meeting the OSGeo Board, and OSGeo in general, should have a clear focus.

Restructured Draft Agenda

Strategic Map, based on identified goals and pillars it is possible to define strategic objectives which are clear to communicate, see for example strategic-plan


"Toward the OSGeo 2020 strategy plan"

0. Government

  • evaluation of resignation of Jeff McKenna
  • replacement of the President
  • replacement of the Board member
  • prepare related official board statement to be posted on OSGeo discussion list

1. Define vision, mission, values, ethics

  • review mission statement and revise it if necessary
  • develop core values of OSGeo to dictate behavior and action around open source GIS
  • review foundation goals and set the vision of OSGeo
  • review bylaws based on mission statement, core values and vision
  • draft OSGeo Activities System Map

2. Identify a limited number of strategic objectives (SO) and the expected outcomes

  • review relationships with external organisations based on mission statement, core values and vision
  • review relationship with participants (contributors, members and sponsors)
  • review projects
  • review branding (website etc.)
  • review finances
  • review incubation progress
  • review conference practice and procedure
  • review elections process

3. Define a procedure for "OSGeo 2020 strategy plan" finalization

  • define working plan (steps, votes, discussion time, etc.)
  • define community involvement and procedures
  • define assignments and responsibilities (who do what by when)
  • define a budget plan for 2016
  • revise OSGEO Activities System Map for publishing on OSGeo website

4. Practical questions

  • analyse the need of having executive directors which helps to implements decisions
  • Geo4All organization positioning
  • analyse the need to guarantee representation of minorities in the OSGeo government bodies (e.g.: allocate board slots by geographical location is an option)

Draft Agenda

Mapping the activities of Ikea. We will draft our own version of this map for OSGeo and its activities. This exercise will force us to define our core activities.

See above the agenda items organized by topic - removed from here to avoid duplication

Desired Outcomes

  • outline the strategic position of OSGeo (what separates OSGeo from others)
    • outline strategic themes and activities of OSGeo (see example map image)
  • develop a vision for OSGeo (how does the future look like)
  • set specific action items that help OSGeo meet its goals

Draft Schedule

Saturday January 30

8:00 - 9:00

  • breakfast and informal introductions: getting to know each other

9:00 - 11:00

  • 0. Government
    • select f2f meeting chair and lead person for each session
    • fill in the vacant board seat, decide on the process to elect the new president
    • prepare official board statement on board member changes
    • respond to message from Arnulf on Geospatial Media
    • define the 2016 board objectives and agenda

11:00 - 12:00

  • review mission statement and revise it if necessary
  • draft OSGeo Activities System Map to identify our current core activities

12:00 - 13:00

  • lunch with informal discussion about values

13:00 - 14:00

  • develop core values of OSGeo to dictate behaviour and action around open source GIS

14:00 - 15:00

  • review foundation goals and set the vision of OSGeo

15:00 - 16:00

  • review bylaws based on mission statement, core values and vision

16:00 - 18:00

http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2016-January/015547.html, OGC


18:00

  • dinner with informal discussions

Sunday January 31

8:00 - 9:00

  • breakfast and informal discussions

9:00 - 10:00

  • review projects
  • review incubation progress
  • review elections process

10:00 - 11:00

  • review branding (website etc.)
  • review finances

11:00 - 12:00

  • elect the president
  • review/propose guidelines without imposing excessive regulatory burden
    • travel reimbursements
    • conferences
    • covering code/community sprints

12:00 - 13:00

  • lunch with informal discussions

13:00 - 15:00

  • 3. Define a procedure for "OSGeo 2020 strategy plan" finalization
    • define working plan (steps, votes, discussion time, etc.)
    • define community involvement and procedures
    • define assignments and responsibilities (who do what by when)
    • define a budget plan for 2016
    • revise OSGEO Activities System Map for publishing on OSGeo website

15:00 - 17:00

  • summarize outcomes and set action items
    • outline the strategic position of OSGeo (what separates OSGeo from others)
    • outline strategic themes and activities of OSGeo (see example map image)
    • develop a vision for OSGeo (how does the future look like)
    • set specific action items that help OSGeo meet its goals

References

Timing

Weekend of 30 & 31 January 2015. Please be sure to arrive at the latest Friday night, as we will start at 8am Saturday.

(original Doodle form: http://doodle.com/poll/yzk7qka3ethkm3eg)

Location: GeoCat office in Bennekom, Netherlands

Address of GeoCat

Veenderweg 13, 6721 WD Bennekom, Netherlands (OSM map)

From AMS (Schiphol) Airport
  • 55mins by train from Schiphol
Accommodation
  • at Jeroen's house (4 single beds and two double beds)
  • Reehorst hotel (nearest option)
    • http://reehorst.nl/en/index.html
    • 60 EUR/night
    • in nearby town of Ede
    • The area is not very exciting though
    • There is a bus running twice an hour to Bennekom and it is five minutes walk from the train station
  • Hotel de Wereld (in near university town)
    • http://www.hoteldewereld.nl/html/index.php?page_id=2&language_id=2
    • 125 EUR/night
    • in nearby town of Wageningen, on a walking street
    • If you are looking for something with more life around (bars & restaurants) Wageningen is a nice student city and it is close to Bennekom too. You can rent bikes at the train station for those that can cycle. Buses, trains and taxis are all available and affordable.
    • has only 15 rooms
Travel Schedule
  • Anita Graser: Friday 19:15 to stay at Jeroen's house
  • Helena Mitasova: Saturday morning, to stay at Jeroen's house
  • Jody Garnett: Friday 08:25 to stay at Jeroen's house
  • Massimiliano Cannata: Friday 22:30 taxi or share to stay at hotel
  • Michael Smith Friday arriving 10:35 on WW 442 (Wow Air) to stay at Jeroen's house
  • Sanghee Shin: Friday 18:40 to stay at Jeroen's house
  • Vasile Crăciunescu: Friday 18:30 to stay at Jeroen's house or hotel
  • Venkatesh Raghavan: Thursday 15:15 taxi or share to stay at Hotel de Wereld

Costs

Travel costs for each Board member will be covered by the foundation.

This meeting is so important to the foundation, that any cost is worth it. However, for estimates, with 9 board members and travel, costs could be approximately 15k.

Minutes

Attending:

  • MS - Michael Smith
  • VC - Vasile Craciunescu
  • MC - Massimiliano Cannata
  • AG - Anita Graser
  • HM - Helena
  • JG - Jody Garnett
  • SS - Sanghee Sin
  • VR - Venkastesh Raghavan
  • DF - Dirk Frigne

Jan 30 Saturday Morning

  • Chair: HM
  • Notes: JG
Activity Direction Notes
Motion MS: "To accept Jeff's resignation".
VR: second
Passed 		.
Action VK: "Draft blog post thanking Jeff for his service covering the above discussion" Send draft to anounce@osgeo.org
Motion VR "Nominate Dirk Frigne to fill the remain 8 month term"
SS: second
Passed.
Action VK: "Respond to email from geospatial media"
Motion JG: "Publish mission statement for Feb 4th"
VR second
Passed 		(This is the OSGeo 10 year anniversary)

Select f2f meeting chair and lead person for each session:

  • sat morning: helena, Jody
  • sat afternoon: Michael, Anita
  • sun morning: Venka, Sanghee
  • sun afternoon: Maxi, Vasile

Jeff's sent resignation request to board mailing list, this has not been accepted yet.

  • board members reached out Jeff clarification, resulted in second request that resignation be acknowledged
  • motion: MS: "To accept Jeff's resignation". VR: second. Passed
  • action: VR Draft blog post thanking Jeff for his service covering the above discussion. Send email to anounce@osgeo.org

Fill in the vacant board seat

  • precedent - fill seat with next individual nominated. This year that is Dirk Frigne (138 votes) showing a lot of support form the community.
    • action: Jody: consider putting this precedent in the by-laws (or guidelines) during tomorrows discussion
  • VC has contacted Dirk Frigne and he is willing to serve in this position :)
  • Motion: VR "Nominate Dirk Frigne to fill the remain 8 month term" SS: second. Passed.

Decide on the process to elect the new president:

  • Arnulf currently handling this role - accepting emails emails coming to the president
    • What do we need? Have a president cover the current term (until August)
    • VR: Considering the balance of a strong decision that selects for a longer period
    • DF: diverse discussion, mission, vision, ... save for later
  • Anyone want to be president?
    • Discussion on President vs CEO and bylaws
    • What is expected of the president?
      • a lot of stuff assumed and done, this is not supported by by-laws
    • Arnulf and Jeff did a huge amount of work taking on multiple "roles" from our bylaws
    • Mike: this is not sustainable, and should not be expected in the future
  • Can we factor out the chair of the board vs the president?
    • Balance between chair of the board, president, vice-president
  • action: HM: "table until after we have some clarity on mission, vision,..."

Prepare official board statement on board member changes

  • seperate this press release from thanking Jeff for his service
  • tabled: until tomorrow's decision

Respond to message from Arnulf on Geospatial Media

  • DF / VR provided background
  • Action: Venka will respond to email

Define the 2016 board objectives and agenda

review mission statement and revise it if necessary

  • Extensive US 501(c)(4) legal status discussion
  • mission statement feedback and discussion
  • draft mission statement
  • "Our mission is to foster open philosophy and global adoption of open geospatial technology by being an inclusive software foundation devoted to participatory community driven development."

review foundation goals

  • guidelines: sanity check, remove the "to", use stronger language, remove examples
  • discussion of each goal using the above guidelines
    • Keep "provide resources for foundation projects"
    • Recast the "promote geodata" into a goal on how we collaborate with allies rather than being data specific
    • capture the idea of fostering open source software, outlook, etc...
    • encourage interoperability (external) via standards, encourage interoperability (internal) between our software components (testing, qa, osgeolive, etc...)
    • quality discussion, excellence, trust, stability ... innovation
    • accessable / ease-of-use promotion - need a user focusing discussion, binary builds make software easier to adopt and use
    • educational outreach
    • recast the communication and cooperation in terms of a general principle of being inclusvie
    • great discussion horizontal outreach via local chapters and vertical outreach into different sectors (education, public service, industry specific verticals) through collaboration with external organizations as appropriate
    • move specifics to foundation details section of the website (ie annual conference, sol katz award)
  • resulting draft goals
    • provide resources for foundation projects
    • actively engage with the likeminded communities and organziations
    • foster the use of open source geospatial software
    • encourage interoperability with open and community standards
    • champion interoperability between the foundation projects
    • ensure/encourage a high degree of quality and reliability/excellence/stability/innovation in foundation projects
    • encourage open geospatial education through participation in open geospatial projects
    • enable communication and cooperation between OSGeo communities
    • champion community building through horizontal (local chapters) and vertical agreements with like-minded organizations
    • be a welcoming and inclusive worldwide organization at all levels
    • celebrate excellence, openess and service to the OSGeo community

lunch!

Jan 30 Saturday Afternoon

  • Chair: MS
  • Notes: AG


Activity Direction Notes
Motion HM: To develop a seal
JG: second
Passed 		as stated in bylaw article 10
Action ???: Develop an OSGeo seal
Action HM: Revisit article 6 "Project Steering Committees" make it less confusing
Motion JG: To dissolve Education committee
MS: seconded
Passed
Motion MC: Recognize Geo4all is the new educational outreach of OSgeo
MS: seconded
Passed 		(we will need geo4all to provide a contact person)
Motion MS: To sign the MoU with UCGIS
HM: seconded
Passed
Action <president>: sign MOU with UCGIS
Action HM: Revise the MOU draft with GSDI by adding a bullet point: "recognize the importance of open source in the success of spatial data infrastructure initiatives" and remove references to examples of edu initiatives which may not be up to date.
Action ???: collect all MOUs in Dropbox and create public list of MOUs
Action ???: clean up committee list on OSGeo website
Action JG: contact projects about CITE testing
Action JG: coordinate interaction with OGC for 2016
Action VC: reach out to Apache foundation


Refined mission statement in wiki to: "Our mission is to foster open philosophy and global adoption of open geospatial technology by being an inclusive software foundation devoted to participatory community driven development."

Define foundation values

  • Discussion and suggested values:
    • Some values are already in our goals
    • Suggested: inclusiveness, openness, transparency, community culture, diversity, respect, equality, participation, do-ocracy, lighthearted/fun, enjoy, passion, supportive, sharing, ethical/moral, welcoming, excellence, innovation, collaboration
  • Resulting draft values: open/openness, collaborative, passionate, inclusive, respectful

Develop foundation vision

  • Discussion and suggestions:
    • "provide full and unrestricted access to geospatial technologies worldwide"
    • "the Open Source geospatial community all across the globe/for all/for everyone"
    • "the global Open Source geospatial community"
    • "geospatial technologies are available worldwide in a full and unrestricted manner/way"
    • vision about community - mission about technologies?
    • "empower (global communities/society/everyone/all) with open (source) geospatial solutions/technology"
    • look at https://topnonprofits.com/examples/vision-statements
  • Resulting draft vision: "empower (everyone/all) with open (source) geospatial (technology)"

Review bylaws

  • Some points might be outdated and don't match the current foundation status, e.g. written with paid staff in mind
  • We refile bylaws with the Delaware office in our annual report (due March 1st), a lawyer doesn't seem necessary for changes
  • Article 6 Project Steering Committees: confusing, seems to refer to foundation committees in general rather than project PSCs
  • Article 10 states that we should have a seal
  • We may need to find solutions for committees which the board considers necessary but is not covered by volunteers, e.g. marketing
  • Bylaws concerning voting do not need change but we should update the process we use to make it more liveable
  • Based on article 13.6, we might be able to indemnify our projects

Review relationships with external organisations

  • Relationship with organizations who support OSGeo not through sponsoring but through manpower
    • We would like to recognize them, but difficult not to forget and thus upset someone
    • Currently, this recognition mostly happens on the project level
    • Idea: Supporting organizations could become a new sort of member - Would be new since, so far, we have focused on personal membership rather than businesses/organisations
  • Relationship with Geo4all
  • UN MOU
    • Draft MOUs have been exchanged, we're waiting for UN feedback
  • UCGIS MOU
    • MOU draft received
    • OSGeo is expected to contribute a webinar each year - should be covered by Geo4all
    • We'll sign the MOU
  • GSDI
    • OSGeo is ecpected to contribute education material - should be covered by Geo4all
    • We'll ask GSDI to provide case studies in exchanged
  • We should collect all MOUs in Dropbox and create a public list of MOUs
  • OGC
    • Our projects are expected to get certified, but there are ressource issues
    • We'll send a representative to OGC meetings
  • Apache foundation
    • We'll reach out / invite them to FOSS4G
  • LocationTech
    • Mike to represent OSGeo at LocationTech meetings
    • Discussion about clarifying the relationship, e.g. by signing a MOU

Jan 31 Sunday Morning

  • Chair: VR
  • Notes: SS
Activity Direction Notes
Action JG: "Ask OSGeo Projects to put the OSGeo Projects logo to their webpage" Add issue tracker tickets: OpenLayers, ...
Action JG: "Open ticket to update OSGeo Projects contents." (correction we will be linking to the project websites directly)
Action JG: "Clear up all the dead web pages" will create bug tickets?!?
Action VR: "Ask OSGeo Incubation Projects to put the OSGeo Incubation Projects logo to their webpage" Add issue tracker tickets
Motion JG: "Decide charter member election process by March not now."
AG second
Passed 		Establish time frame for election is also part of strategic plan
Motion MS: "Establish the fixed date of charter and board member election."
VC second
Passed
Motion DF: "Decide laster by email whether dissolve or establish the Web site committee"
VR second
Passed 		JG: Contacted Ian Edwards during the meeting with request for web site work party.
Motion JG: "Motion: Contact Marketing Committee with strategic plan of 2016 to give new mandate to them for reviving marketing activities."
VR second
Passed 		(we ned an action here)
Motion DF: "Motion: Based on actual financial reporting, Board allocate 75,000USD for operational budget for 2016."
MS second
Passed
Action JG: "Prepare for 2017 operational budget." (This was the approach used to set operational budget above)
Motion VR: "Appoint 2 officers from different region from president as vice president."
JG second
Passed 		(We understand that only the current board is in position to do this)
Nomination: HM: nominate VR for president
VR: accepted
Passed 		congrats!
Nomination: ?? nominate DK for vice-president
DK: accepted
Passed 		congrats!
Nomination: VR nominate HM for vice-president
HM: accepted
Passed 		congrats!

Review OSGeo Projects

  • Current status of all OSGeo projects has been reviewed.
    • deegree: May need infrastructure
    • geomajas: Need to add OSGeo Project logo to webpage instead of OSGeo logo
    • GeoMOOSE
    • GeoServer
    • Mapbender
    • MapBuilder: Retired projects. Should be removed from OSGeo webpage
    • MapFish
    • MapGuide Open Source
    • MapServer
    • OpenLayers: Need to add OSGeo Project logo to webpage
    • GRASS GIS
    • gvSIG
    • Marble
    • QGIS
    • FDO
    • GDAL/OGR
    • GEOS: Need to add OSGeo Project logo to webpage
    • GeoTools: Will replace proprietary Java based image rendering engine to open source. It will take several years and will be the first collaboration between OSGeo and LocationTech
    • OSSIM
    • PostGIS
    • GeoNetwork
    • pycsw
    • Public Geodata: How about signing MOU with OSM?(VR). Need to refer the OSGeo live open geodata page.(JG)
    • Education and Curriculum: need to remove or link to Geo4All(MC)
    • Need to create menu for outreach activities: MOU, Geo4All, OSGeo Live
    • Let's update and revise the webpage!

Review Incubation Projects

  • Improving Incubation
    • Can have incubation sprint
    • Can have incubation BoF or sprint
    • How about hiring someone to check code?(VR) -> Not so good idea(JG)

Review Election process

  • VC: Report past processes
    • Last year, we adopted new rule allowing negative vote
  • MS: Discussion always starts August.
  • Some discussion about how to avoid hostile take-over
    • Very unlikely there would be any hostile take-over
    • But practically very vulnerable to hostile take-over. So, need to consider how to prevent that.
    • Under current charter member election process, anybody could recommend charter member. In this case how could check his/her real intention?
  • Board need to decide whether limit the number of charter member or limit number of percentage?
    • It should be informed 3~4 months earlier before election begins.
    • August is not good time to carry out election because of FOSS4G in August.
    • Can we have election in June? (JG)
    • Can we have election after FOSS4G? (DF)
    • Motion(JG): Decide charter member election process by March not here now
    • Second(AG)
    • Motion passed
    • Motion: Establish fixed date of charter and board member election(MS)?
    • Vasile Seconded
    • Motion Passed

Review branding

  • Webpage
    • Have some volunteer to hire staff to improve many things(MS)
    • Have public call to ask how to update website and others(Maxi)
    • Web committee is inactive. Something need to be taken.(DF)
    • Contact Web committee and inform Board's plan. Dissolve marketing committee and take responsibility back to Board (JG)
    • Make execution body to run website and (JG)
    • Motion: Decide dissolving/establishing of Web site committee via email later(DF)
    • VR Seconded
    • Motion Passed
    • Motion: Contact Marketing Committee with strategic plan of 2016 to give new mandate to them for reviving marketing activities.(JG)
    • Seconded(VR)
    • Motion passed.

Financials

  • Reporting current balancing
    • Treasure reported the current balance(MS)
    • Annual cost + 1 more FOSS4G seed money should be kept(DF)
    • How much money has been spent by marketing committee to support local activities?(SS)
    • Take 2015 budget as minimum and then add some(DF)
    • Motion: Based on actual financial reporting, we decide we allocate 75,000USD for operational budget for 2016. (DF)
    • MS seconded.
    • Motion passed

Elect President

  • Role of President and Chair of Board
    • JG: Break into several pieces
    • DF: Do we need to break role into 2 or 3? President/Chair of Board?
    • Discussion about clarifying role of president
    • Add board members to info@osgeo.org mailing alias to handle matters together and keep informed
    • Need to reduce load of president and share among board members!(VR)
    • President should set up the mechanism to execute many things. By doing this president can reduce his/her jobs.(DF)
    • Previous president did too much as president without full support/help from Board members
    • Directors agree that Directors should reduce loads of president and should share many jobs with president.(MC)
    • Community expect too much from President(JG)
    • Motion: Appoint 2 officers as vice presidents and 2 vice presidents will be appointed from different regions from president region(VR)
    • JG seconded.
    • Motion passed
  • President and Vice President Election
    • HM nominated VR as president
    • VR accepted nomination
    • All in favour
    • VR elected as OSGeo President
    • HM and DF nominated as Vice President
    • All in favour
    • Term of this President/VP:Until the next board initial meeting after new board election.
    • DF(Suggestion): need to change board members 2 yrs term to 3 yrs. This is a part of strategic plan of OSGeo.(JG)

Jan 31 Sunday Afternoon

  • Chair: MC
  • Notes: VC

Revised mission statement and goal drafts

Draft mission statement 2016:

  • Our mission is to foster open philosophy and global adoption of open geospatial technology by being an inclusive software foundation devoted to participatory community driven development.

Draft vision 2016:

what we will do: "empower (everyone/all) with open (source) geospatial (technology)"

"empower everyone with open source geospatial"

Draft values 2016:

  • open/openness
  • collaborative
  • passionate
  • inclusive
  • respectful

Draft goals 2016:

  • provide resources for foundation projects
  • actively engage with the likeminded communities and organziations
  • foster the use of open source geospatial software
  • encourage interoperability with open and community standards
  • champion interoperability between the foundation projects
  • ensure/encourage a high degree of quality and reliability/excellence/stability/innovation in foundation projects
  • encourage open geospatial education through participation in open geospatial projects
  • enable communication and cooperation between OSGeo communities
  • champion community building through horizontal (local chapters) and vertical agreements with like-minded organizations
  • be a welcoming and inclusive worldwide organization at all levels
  • celebrate excellence, openess and service to the OSGeo community
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