[FAmSCo] [Ambassadors] FAmSCo meeting minutes 2013-06-17

[John T. Rose]

On Mon, Jun 17, 2013 at 1:19 PM, Jiri Eischmann <eischmann at redhat.com> wrote:
> Hi,
> we had another FAmSCo meeting today. Only 3 members attended, so we
> didn't reach the quorum, but we managed to discuss several topics. You
> can find more in meeting minutes:

17:20:41 <sesivany> another issue is the budget report from NA. I
wrote inode0 about it (famsco mailing list cc'ed), but no response
yet.
17:21:06 <sesivany> I have absolutely no idea what's going on there budget-wise.
17:21:38 <sesivany> and since they've got by far the biggest budget,
it's the biggest risk for our overall budget...

Ben should be able to provide something soon.

17:23:46 <cwickert> I think it's on the wiki
17:23:57 <cwickert> at least what inode0 paid
17:24:21 <cwickert>
http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Inode0/community_credit_card_report
...
17:25:43 <sesivany> yeah, but it's just a part of it, a lot is paid
directly by Red Hat (rsuehle).

Not just rsuehle, but yes, what I pay directly is only a small part of
the NA spending.

...
17:26:57 <cwickert> as for NA, I have no idea
17:27:09 <cwickert> other than to nag rsuehle and inode0 again

Nagging me to provide details I don't have won't help anyone.

...
17:27:31 <cwickert> actually I think rsuehle is the one to do the report

I agree, all our spending gets approved there and the totals should be
easily trackable there.

17:28:00 <cwickert> inode0 already is doing quite a lot, let somebody
else do the report
17:28:12 <cwickert> he should only held responsible for his CC report
17:28:31 <sesivany> cwickert: yeah, I agree. inode0 even told me they
had no idea what other payments in NA had been done... which doesn't
sound very transparently.
17:29:10 <cwickert> one more thing to discuss at FLOCK
17:29:27 <cwickert> frankly speaking I am a bit shocked what is going on in NA
17:29:41 <cwickert> I mean, they were one of the most active communities

What are you shocked by?

This fiscal year we have represented Fedora at events including:

PyCon US in Santa Clara, CA
Northeast LinuxFest in Boston, MA
LinuxFest Northwest in Bellingham, WA
Texas LinuxFest in Austin, TX
Southeast LinuxFest in Charlotte, NC
Red Hat Summit in Boston, MA

We've been busy.

17:29:41 <sesivany> cwickert: and that's exactly the problem with
having no regional treasurer, one person responsible for the budget.

We never had a treasurer so the lack of one can't be related to any
perceived reduction in activity.

17:29:53 <cwickert> and I thought they had good workflows for everything
17:30:02 <cwickert> but apparently they have not

We had good workflows that worked well for years. They might not fit
in with the workflows you want us to have now.

17:30:21 <sesivany> because in EMEA, I put all kinds of expenses
together (kitals, other cards, direct payments)  and put them in the
budget.

You are lucky you know about direct payments. Perhaps working at Red
Hat helps in that regard.

17:31:12 <sesivany> it's definitely something we should discuss at FLock.
17:32:26 <sesivany> cwickert: I think they have had almost no
processes so far which probably suited them, but if you want to do
some budgeting, planning etc., it's a nightmare.
17:32:54 <cwickert> yes
17:33:16 <cwickert> it worked for years, but it strongly depended on
certain people
17:33:33 <cwickert> nobody else had a clue and there is no documentation
17:34:03 <cwickert> but on the bright side, we now have more reasons
to establish more process there :)

Great, we love looking forward to more processes foisted on us from FAmSCo.

17:34:17 <sesivany> cwickert: yeah, and our budget amount was
declining because no one made sure we spent what we were able to...
because no one had a clue.
17:34:30 <cwickert> I mean, in the past they always told is "No, don't
force your rules on us, we get alone very well"
17:34:40 <cwickert> obviously they are not

Are you hearing NA complain about anything? We are in fact getting
along fine with respect to finances.

17:35:00 <cwickert> ok, lets kick b*tts at FLOCK
17:35:23 <cwickert> or should we bring this up on the list now?
17:35:44 <sesivany> we should also set some general communication
between NA and FAmSCo. We won't have any NA members in FAmSCo which
will be a bit challenging.

There is probably a reason no one from NA wants to be on FAmSCo. Think about it.

17:36:40 <sesivany> cwickert: frankly, it's an issue I'd like to
discuss rather in person.
17:37:19 <cwickert> ack
17:37:23 <cwickert> +1
17:37:31 <aeperezt> sesivany, since there will not be any NA members
at famsco we have a reason to have some one responsable for budget
17:38:33 <aeperezt> and we can request that NA apoint someone for this task

You can ask but we don't have appointment power and unless Red Hat
shares their payment information with us that person would be wasting
his time.

17:39:26 <sesivany> and I think there will be one very good motivation
for regions to take care of their budgets. We should base the next
year's regional budgets on how much they managed to spend this year.
This year, we didn't have an idea, but we will have it after this
year.

We can all spend what we are allocated so you don't cut our budgets
next year but that isn't really being responsible. We should request
budget based on our perceived needs and expectations for the coming
year. And we should spend or not spend allocations based on existing
needs.

It is way too early in the year to get in a panic about not spending enough.

John