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Re: The Role of the SPF council

2004-12-09 00:25:06
In <4305010(_dot_)1102542447(_at_)[192(_dot_)168(_dot_)0(_dot_)2]> Greg Connor 
<gconnor(_at_)nekodojo(_dot_)org> writes:

In 
<Pine(_dot_)LNX(_dot_)4(_dot_)44(_dot_)0412061001100(_dot_)23330-100000(_at_)sokol(_dot_)elan(_dot_)net>
"william(at)elan.net" <william(_at_)elan(_dot_)net> writes:

I would also remind that SPF Council (as it was called for based on
the results of my poll) should not really be making up policy on its
own,  rather it should be acting is similar way to chairs in IETF WG and
ratifying positions that have consensus of the community ...


I have recently been studying the difference between Management and
Leadership.  So it is interesting and serendipitous that this should
come up now.

Yeah, Meng sent out a list of pointers to papers on that subject.  I
confess, I haven't read all of any of them, but I read some of each.


I am not saying that the council needs to act as Leaders.  The council
should set its own agenda.

Ok, maybe this is a quirk in my personality, but see my self as having
many different roles.  When I post here, I am (unless noted) wearing
my "member of the SPF community" hat.  When I post to the spf-council
list, I'm wearing my "council member" hat.  When I'm with my kids, I'm
wearing my "father" hat.  The things that I can and should do in each
situation is different.


If the council limits itself to Management, it will probably do its
job amazingly well, and the actual leadership will end up coming from
somewhere else.  A blurry kaleidescope of everyone else's visions
perhaps.  [...]

When I say that the council should judge the rough consensus, and not
try and to more, that is in large part an acknowledgement of what the
council can do.  The council has no money to hire anyone, it can't
fire anyone, we can't tell people what to do.  In reality, all it can
do is vote and hope that the results will be respected by the SPF
community at large.

Leadership, as you point out, has to come from somewhere else, and I
thought it was pretty obvious that it has to come from here.  Nothing
says that, as a member of the SPF community, I can't try to lead and
to give a vision of where I see us going.  The same goes for everyone
else here.  The council, however, can look at that "blurry
kaleidescope" and say "we should choose this vision".


Let me give an example.  Say the council votes 4 to 1 that we should
create a theme song for the SPF community.  Say we also vote 5-0 that
this theme song must end up in the top 10 of the pop charts.

So what?  Yeah, that is a vision.  The council is "leading".  But who
is going to carry out our vision?

On the other hand, if I propose a theme song here, and I get rough
consensus that this is a really good song, the council can acknowledge
it and say that it is the official SPF theme song.  RMS might even
sing it.

In both cases, I may be the one with the vision of the need to create
a theme song, but one case I'm doing it as a "council member" and the
other as a "member of the SPF community."  



If people here think that the council is the only group that should be
leading, then we are hurting ourselves.  If someone around here has an
idea for a great SPF crossword puzzle, then they will likely wait
until the SPF council says ok.  If people realize that *they* must
take charge and do their part, then someone who steps forward with a
good crossword puzzle can be rewarded for their work with the only
thing the council can give: an acknowledgement of their efforts.



-wayne