Re: [gentoo-nfp] You need to pay them

[Daniel Robbins]

On Thu, Apr 12, 2018 at 2:53 PM, Alec Warner <antarus@g.o> wrote:
>
>
> I think the main objection to this is that then the Foundation would then
> drive development in the direction the Foundation wants; as opposed to the
> direction advocated by the developer base. I don't think the friction you
> see is necessarily due to the value-less nature of the Foundation (If
> nothing else, the Foundation continues to invest in Gentoo's server
> infrastructure as an example of value added) but instead that the
> developer-base and the foundation are not aligned in objectives and instead
> the developer-base sees the Foundation as a means to exert influence (over
> project direction) and inevitably, power over developers themselves.
>

Ah, I see. I think then a key component of this will be to define the
relationship between the development planning efforts and the strategic
direction of the Foundation to ensure no one group is stepping on the
other's toes, one group isn't controlling the other, but that there is some
level of coordination and support (so dev and Foundation don't drift apart.)

A Foundation should be focused on outward-directed efforts, toward the
public, potential members, fundraising, communicating the vision of Gentoo
to the public, etc. The development planning efforts need to be focused on
the technology.

A very simplified example of how this could work is that the Foundation
(from members) could define strategic objectives -- some kind of key
strategic goals for the project. However, these goals should be
non-technical in nature and not dictate implementation. These are
communicated to the development leads/Council. The development leads are
then able to take them into consideration for their development planning,
and explain how their efforts map to these larger goals, but a particular
approach would not be dictated from the Foundation, nor would this prevent
the dev teams from working on other efforts they feel are important (which
would be micro-management from the perspective of volunteer free software
development.)

Maybe the ultimate result of this coordination is a report that the
trustees publish that explains "here's how the dev teams is helping to make
Gentoo better." Then we have a conceptual bridge between the technical work
of the dev teams/Council and the strategic work of the Foundation. The
Foundation then helps to communicate this message outwards. This in turns
helps the Foundation to do outreach, and the cycle continues.

I will think about this some more.

-Daniel