[Ambassadors] FAmSCo (North America) Regional Meeting Reminder - 02/04/2009 20.00

[Max Spevack]

On Wed, 1 Apr 2009, inode0 wrote:

> Hypothetically let's assume some issue bubbles up to FAmSCo's 
> attention and FAmSCo decides it needs to be resolved. Perhaps 
> something like "ambassadors need a mentoring program" might be an 
> example. How does FAmSCo decide whether this is something that should 
> be tasked and implemented by FAmSCo or something where FAmSCo might 
> lay out a statement of the goal it believes we should have but leaves 
> the implementation to be handled by local ambassadors in the various 
> regions?

My opinion is this, and I SPEAK ONLY FOR MYSELF:

(1) One of the purposes of steering committees in Fedora is to *make 
decisions* that need to be made, so that issues don't just wander around 
forever, or reappear every few months.  I think FAmSCo has been too 
timid in this regard, to be honest.  On places where things are kind of 
50/50 like the whole active/inactive thing, I think FAmSCo has chickened 
out and "done nothing" because the will of the larger Ambassadors 
community wasn't clear.

That's wrong.  And I'm glad that in the current iteration of FAmSCo, we 
are trying to analyze some root problems and come up with a plan for 
solving them.

(2) More than just making decisions as things bubble up, a leadership 
team is reponsible for presenting a vision for the future that is 
compelling, and that people can agree on and believe in.  I believe that 
FAmSCo is in the process of crafting such a vision right now, and that 
it encompasses an overhaul of mentoring and training while respecting 
the precedents that we have set of regional leadership and autonomy.

(3) FAmSCo has a sacred responsibility (like all Fedora leadership 
teams) to explain and justify its decisions.  If the community doesn't 
like them, they are entirely free to throw the bums out of office 
completely in the next election.

(4) I have been torn for a while about how vocal I should be in FAmSCo 
about non-budget items.  In 2008, I was sort of an honorary member of 
FAmSco, and therefore I limited myself to the budget stuff.  In 2009, I 
am an actual elected member of FAmSCo, so I am speaking my mind more 
forcefully.

(5) Like all things in Fedora, I think the job of the leadership team is 
to lay out a vision and a set of actions needed to achieve the vision. 
If there is buy-in, then some people will step up to help.  At that 
point, I think it is entirely appropriate for a FAmSCo member to do some 
of the implementation, but if you have one person all alone saying 
"let's go this way" and no one wants to follow, then there is *not* a 
mandate to act.

(6) People on FAmSCo need to speak not just for themselves, but they 
also need to consider the needs of their regions.  We are fortunate to 
have a FAmSCo with members from all over the globe.  Those FAmSCo 
members should be attending (and if necessary leading) their local 
regional Ambassadors meetings, and being part of their regional 
leadership teams, or at least in frequent communication with those 
teams.

(7) I believe that it is entirely unacceptable for any region of the 
world to not have at least a monthly meeting on IRC for ambassadors to 
feel like there is a local community of support around them.

--Max