LEADERSHIP and a ROADMAP Prologue: 25th March, Melissa Draper (our team contact) was sent an email outlining some of the following in detail. I am still awaiting a reply (maybe she is on holidays), thus my reason for a public post to the Ubuntu-au community. (I wish that she had replied so we could have made a joint post)
LEADERSHIP: From the correspondence that I have had with Melissa, she informs me that "The contact is not the dog's body nor is it the mastermind." Further, "I'm responsible for allocating privileges as allowed to us by Canonical. I'm the team /contact/. I'm the person who interfaces between Canonical and the team members." So my conclusion is that the 'Team Contact' is NOT the team leader (contrary to popular belief), but a 'Conduit' between Canonical, the Community Council and the Ubuntu-au community. (and also that the Team leader should convey the sentiment of the ubuntu-au community) Thus, Ubuntu-au is a collection of people with no leadership, a group of individuals trying to further the goals set down in the wiki page 'The Australian team focuses on distributing, advertising and demonstrating Ubuntu within Australia' I also asked Melissa the following "What is your vision ?" Her reply "My vision is for a team that is constructive and contains people who think up initiatives or support others rather than waiting for orders." My reply "How do we encourage & support constructive people? Some people need to be given guidance, in my experience there are three types of people. 1. Leaders: Those that inspire others to do great things 2. Followers: Those that need inspiration to do great things. 3. Others: They just don't give a damn about doing great things." On March 8,9 & 11, there was some very robust threads on this mailing list about Ubuntu-au Governance, Re-approval and the Website. Now I'm not sure that these discussions achieved much as it has been over one month and it seams that these issues remain unresolved. I think I can see why this is the case. 1. There seams to be a reluctance to change the status-quo. 2. There is a fear about 'loss of control'. 3. There is no clear process to bring about change to the Ubuntu-au community. 4. There is no 'leadership' to enable change to be achieved. In summary: 'Nobody is responsible for everything' or 'Everybody is responsible for Everything' or 'Nobody is responsible for Nothing' "Change is the law of life and those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future." —John F. Kennedy BIG PICTURE: Currently there is a discussion with the Community Council https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-community/+bug/392986 It talks about 'LoCo's are not "Lo" Enough' (Mark Shuttleworth has even made comment) and the concept of: ReCo = Regional Community (for States and Provinces) CoCo = Country Community (for Countries) LoCo = Local Community (for Towns and Cities) The Ubuntu-au community is clearly a 'CoCo' not a 'LoCo' as we are seperated by large distances, in cities and regions. If we accept the premise that the ubuntu-au community is made up of smaller 'LoCo' around the country. I.E. Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Hobart *********************************************************************************************************** PROPOSAL: I would propose that an "Australian Community Council"(ACC) be created. (A Trial for 18 months) Its members would be 1. Team-Contact 2. Web-master 3. 'LoCo' representative(s) (7+-2 people total) *********************************************************************************************************** (See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-au/council/structure for a summary of models) (See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-au/council/structure-detailed for a detailed model of the ACC) (These models have been created in collaboration, and are open to further modification) The role of the ACC, is really one of "Advisory, Support & Consultation", as the "Team contact" will still retain the role & privileges. ADVANTAGES 1. It gives the community some ownership in the process of running the Ubuntu-au. 2. It will bring forward 'leaders', which could be potential successors for the 'Team contact' 3. Spreading the load of leadership. (with 9 potential persons) 4. An open transparent process. 5. Authority to drive discussion and implementation. 6. The decision making process, on a national level is simplified, it is easier to make decisions with 9 (potentially) than it is with 40 in an IRC meeting. 7. An identifiable 'Contact' person for each City/Region. There are many Teams in the wider Ubuntu community, that utilise a council to share the leadership role eg. Georgia & Ohio DISADVANTAGES 1. Elections. 2. Structured. 3. A Committee. (These are not really disadvantages, but necessary evils to achieve the outcomes of the ADVANTAGES) ROADMAP: Where do we go from here? **************************************************************************************************************** I guess that I am asking YOU the community to see if YOU are in favour of an 'Australian Community Council'? **************************************************************************************************************** If this thread gets a favourable response, then the next thing to do would be to call a poll and have the 'PROPOSAL' passed. Then we could call for each City/Region to elect a representative to the ACC. One response to this post could be: 'This is all great in theory, but we don't have enough people to create an ACC.' My response would be: 'Let's ask for interested persons to come forward and nominate' (I know of three people that would be interested) Finally, unless we have a 'Structure & Process' in place to create a leadership team nobody will come forward. The status-quo cannot continue and to move forward a leadership team is required to motivate the community to do great things. RE-APPROVAL: As our re-approval approaches, obviously my 'PROPOSAL' for the creation of the ACC cannot be implemented. (if the community agrees) We can say to the Ubuntu Community Council, "We are in the process of creating an Australian Community Council, from our Regions/Cities" our chances of re-approval will be greatly improved. *********************************************************** Are YOU in favour of an 'Australian Community Council'? *********************************************************** Those of you who want change, now is the time to speak-up. Regards, Andrew G. PS. Please read the detailed model at the wiki before replying to this post. Ref: wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeamLeader and wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeamHowto -- ubuntu-au mailing list ubuntu-au@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-au
