XSF Discussion - 2018-03-29

Hm?

Hm!

Hm.

¿Hm?

*waves*

heya

XSF Board Meeting | Logs: http://logs.xmpp.org/xsf/ | Agenda https://trello.com/b/Dn6IQOu0/board-meetings

0. Welcome and Agenda

Who do we have and do you have something to add to the agenda?

Kev, in the intro of im-ng, s/has progressed/have progressed/

oops, sorry

I'm here. I don't have anything to add.

same

MattJ, nyco?

Here

1. Board prios.

Guus, you wanted to say something on this I believe.

I motion that we no longer plan for a dedicated priorities-meeting.

if we really thought that it would be valuable, it would have happened by now.

we're 3 months in our 1 year term. Prio definition should be completed or no longer attempted.

Is it blocking progress on any front?

I don't think it does.

We're holding other things, waiting for it.

I dedicated a lane in trello for that.

(the right most)

Right, that's blocking in the other direction

I think we should consider this one failed, and start to put the limited amount of effort that we can spare on different things.

Incrementally.

I can agree

(that came out funny - hope you understood my meaning)

I'm fine with that. Personally it's not taking any time from me, except for the minutes every week we spend discussing it

I'm of the same view as MattJ

and I don't feel it's especially required for anything I'd like to see done this year

It would seem the motion carries.

(which reminds me: we need a minute taker)

Indeed. I just realised... did I volunteer last week?

Guus: oh, good one.

MattJ, I think you did. Want to redeem yourself by being it this week? 😉

Yes, MattJ

Sure, I'll do this one and last

:-D

Sorry about that

no worries

2. Bus factor

Peter, are you here?

(he mentioned via mail that he wanted to try being here for this)

I don't see him in here.

ok, to bad.

Anyways, there is a bit of background in the Trello card

Sure, but we discussed that last week?

In short: Peter is the only person that is authorized to manage our bank account.

It would be good to add a second person, in case something happens to Peter.

Peter came up with two solutions

(excuse the copy/paste)

1. There is a manual form that someone can fill out to become a signer on the account, however that would not enable online banking access. My thought is that we could ask our long serving and highly reliable Secretary if he would do this.

2. For online banking access, someone needs to show up in person. I could arrange this with Thomas Muldowney or Dave Smith (emeritus members of the XSF who live near me and are reliable people), so that they could step in on a temporary basis if needed.

Let's do them one by one

(because they're not exclusive)

I have had a chat with the Secretary (highly reliable) - he is willing.

Solution #1

I'm +1

+1

+1

+1

For the record, this is about Alexander Gnauck being additional signer.

Ok, that's agreed.

Then option 2.

To be clear though, this would enable Alex to carry out what operations exactly? (does it 100% solve the original problem?)

In case Peter would not be able to, Alex could perform operations on the bank account

except, apparently, online banking

This would allow Alex to show up in person at the bank and act as it's owner/manager. It likely does not give him online banking privileges (unsure)

Which is what Option 2 is about.

for me, it is a 100% solution to the problem of us loosing all bank account access, in case of Peter becoming unavailable.

(worst case, we need to stick him in a plane).

right

Alright

As for #2, I'm -1.

Works for me

So you are saying that we wouldn't need to add someone for just the online banking access.

ralphm: I don't believe we do - certainly not to resolve the 'bus factor' issue.

With no other directors in the US, this would need to be somebody else. I have no objections to Peter's suggestions, but I can understand if you do.

It's not a personal matter regarding the persons that were put forward by Peter, by the way. I just like, in general, to limit the access to our bank account. I thnk that's even more important when people do not have an affiliation with the XSF any more.

I'm on the fence about this one

Ideally I think we ought to be in the position where someone has online access (other than Peter), but I also feel it's awkward if that person is not actively involved with the XSF

as far as I'm concerned, we're only tackling the issue of Peter becoming permanently unavailable here. I do not interpret this issue as 'lightening the load' for Peter. I think no such request came from Peter, and I don't see a need to be able to speed up bank account-related business.

It's nothing to do with trust, but practicality

Arguably they do have an affiliation (as emeritus member, which is a recognised affiliation described in our bylaws), but I get your feeling.

Guus: indeed

I agree with Guus

Ok, so #2 is rejected.

wfm

Did we drop the name of Alex? He's here.

'alex'

(tag, you're it.)

The Board asks the Treasurer to add Alexander Gnauck as an additional signer to our bank account.

3. Financing

Guus: did you also happen to touch upon this with Peter?

No, I dropped the ball on that one.

I'll get to it before our next meet.

Splendid.

ya, I am here, just reading

Alex: thanks

Maybe we should start next meeting with this item.

the finance item, that is?

works for me.

+1

4. Membership survey

MattJ, it looks like your name is on this.

Yeah. I wrote up my notes last week and I think I was going to send them out with the minutes but forgot both

I sent an email earlier today, so maybe we can discuss it next week if there's remaining time (unless you all had a chance to review already)

The draft that you sent earlier today looks fine for me (maybe make a nice Google Form out of it). One question: how exactly are we going to process the responses into action for board?

or just reply with feedback on the list and maybe I can iterate on it ahead of next week

Guus, yeah, I was thinking of Google Forms

I think Google Form is a good idea, works quite well for our dinner signups

Ok, comments on list.

I think we can just go over the responses during a meeting - I'd be happy to take on the task of providing a summary

aye

ok

I mean, discuss what actions, if any, come from the responses

sure

5. AOB

anything?

Can we clean up the right-most lane of Trello a bit?

Oh, right, that scrolled out of view

I think two cards can be archived?

and perhaps put the remaining one on a todo list again?

We need to discuss what to do with the role of Executive Director in general. Peter was not convinced we need one, but it is an official role defined in our Bylaws.

Let's put that on for after the Financing discussion

I'm happy to discuss that. Let's put it on the agenda.

ok

I think the only thing blocking a proper search is defining the requirements of the role

Indeed

ok

which is something we should be able to do

The survey item is already covered

and the priorities card can be archived, I think, given the above.

makes sense?

yes

my thoughts exactly, but didn't want to act on my own.

+1

Makes sense to me

I think I'd summarize our priorities as "get our things back in order" (running this company) and afterwards we can rediscuss direction.

+1

All right.

6. Date of Next

+1W

wfm.

wfm

7. Close

Thanks all!

Thanks ralphm

Thanks

Thank you

that was nice and productive.

XSF Discussion | Logs: http://logs.xmpp.org/xsf/ | Agenda https://trello.com/b/Dn6IQOu0/board-meetings

Guus: indeed!