We’re at a cross roads, a conflict that has been lingering and postponed for some time now that Indiana is bringing to the surface with new viger. So lets get some basic ground rules understood please…
“Sun” refers to the corporate, nameless entity. The big black box when no attribution is available. I keep hearing “Sun did this..”, “Sun did that..”. This has got to stop. We know the players involved. They, despite having a Sun badge, are members of the community. Address them as such.
The OpenSolaris Governing Board (OGB) is a representative body created as an interface between Sun corporate and the community. It consists of 7 natural persons who are a core sample of the community at large. I keep hearing calls for community votes; this is rediculous. The vote of the OGB is the vote of the community. If you don’t like the decisions of the OGB then you should pay more attention when voting for your elected representatives.
What we’re seeing now is that there is no leadership. Those that would be leaders, such as Ian, aren’t getting the respect of a leader. No one is arbitrating and no one believes in the system. We’re seeing calls to revoke the commit rights of individuals who implement something that a community members doesn’t like, and people arguing with motions from the community submitted to the board. This is chaos of the worst kind and a sign that people don’t trust the system or even know that one exists.
Part of this confusion is the fact that the players inside of Sun who might ordinarily represent Sun corporate are also acting as members of the community.. thus the OGB isn’t a definitive bridge between the two groups.
The OGB itself has been paralyzed by several factors including internal gridlock (members that don’t want to work with others on the board), a lack of leadership from the chair and vice chair, an apparent disregard for the Constitution or rules of order, and an inability to act above other members of the community as leaders. Power and authority are available to those who assume it, not those who wait for it to be granted… because that was already done.
Lets face it, we got by for a long time because Jim was acting as the leader of this community.. but as he’s pulled back from that role when he moved to Japan no one has really filled that void. Dr. Stephen Hahn has done so perhaps more than anyone else, but he’s a very busy man.
The community is without leadership and clearly it is required. I would ask that someone immediately be appointed to such a position as Jim once filled and to get all parties involved on track. This chaos must end and its going to be a full time job to do it.
Ben makes some important, truthful, observations in this post, but there are a couple I’d like to comment on.
Ben says “The OGB itself has been paralyzed by several factors including internal gridlock (members that don’t want to work with others on the board)…”. I don’t know if “paralysed” is a fair term, and I’m certainly not aware of members who don’t want to work with others on the board. The only thing I can think of that fits this description is Glynn removing himself from the vote about the OGB’s position paper about the Indiana fiasco that we’re currently drafting. Glynn chose to remove himself because he considered himself to be in a conflict of interest, being activley involved with Indiana. I support his decision 100%.
Ben also says that there’s a “lack of leadership from the chair and vice chair”. I’m the chair of the OGB, so I think it’s fair that I comment. The intent of the OGB is to not be involved in the day-to-day running of the OpenSolaris community; we’re a court of last resort. The OGB is also charged with looking after meta-issues which affect more than one Community Group. We also take a “hands-off” approach, because there’s a fine line between being a dictator and showing great leadership. Perhaps out of fear for being accused of the former we’ve been somewhat negligent in the latter. But I will say that we’ve got the community’s interests first and foremost, and we’re doing what we can with the limited resources we have.
I think the current Indiana firestorm is the first real test of our mettle, and I think we’re up to the challenge.
[In the interests of full disclosure, I consider Ben to be one of my friends, and an invaluable member of the Sun/OpenSolaris community. I take his critcism seriously and will do what I can to placate his fears.]
Excellent response Rich! Thank you very much. We are friends and colleagues, and I have great faith in your abilities.
Ben you get a big +1 from me. This is one of the few things I have seen that have made any sense lately.
I nominate Alan C to be the lord and savior you speak of.
If that doesn’t go through I would like him to adopt me
I completely agree Ben; I feel like recent events have clearly demonstrated that leadership is at the heart of issues surrounding our community.
Your post agrees with what’s been on my mind for the last week or so.
Thanks for sharing.
Respect is earned. Authority is given. Power is seized.