ODK TAB Election - 2020-09-01

Governance
#1

It's been a little over a year since we added to the ODK Technical Advisory Board (TAB, formerly the TSC) and per our governance, it's time to hold another election!

If you have a technical background, this is your chance to step up as a volunteer leader, help influence the direction of ODK (Collect, Central, JavaRosa, XForms). If you are interested in this opportunity or the process, read on for more important information.

The TAB will solicit applications from now through Sept 15th with the web form below. On Sept 16th, the TAB will post the text of the applications on this forum so the community can ask public questions of the candidates until Feb 2nd. The current TAB will discuss internally for a week, then on Oct 1st, the TAB will announce the new members.

So to summarize:

  • Sep 01, 2020 - Sep 15, 2020: Call for applications
  • Sep 16, 2020 - Sep 22, 2020: Call for public questions
  • Sep 22, 2020 - Sep 29, 2020: Private TAB discussion
  • Oct 06, 2020: Results announced

There is a 2-year term for TAB members, and minimum time commitment is 2-4 hours per month for TAB meetings. Asynchronous discussions are also likely to consume a few hours a month.

An ideal candidate would spend more time than that consistently participating in the community to contextualize the technical decisions the committee has to make. Other than meetings, the specific activities you may perform as a TAB member will vary based upon your unique skills and interests.

The roles and responsibilities of the TAB are described in detail at TAB Governance. Please read the entire document before applying and if you have questions, put them below.

Action items:

1 Like
#2

The call for applications is closed!

The text of the applications has been posted in the topics below. We will now have a one week period (Sep 16, 2020 - Sep 22, 2020) of public questions from the community.

Please click on the (randomized list of) topics below, read the applications, and post your questions to the candidates in the appropriate topic.

The current TAB will take the questions and answers into consideration as they select new TAB members.

#3

The current TAB needs a few more days to discuss the applications. We are now expecting to announce results no later than Monday, October 5th.

#4

Thanks for your patience while we discussed the great applications we received this election cycle. The applicants who've been elected to serve on the TAB are:

Special thanks to Odil (@Odil), Chris (@seewhy), and Mathieu (@mathieubossaert) for their applications as well. We had to make some hard decisions to keep the TAB size manageable.

We are fortunate to have contributors that are willing to help lead the project. I look forward to working with all six of you to make ODK better!

8 Likes
#5

Congratulations to @Tino_Kreutzer, @chrissyhroberts and @Florian_May - three high flyers in the community who will hopefully help steer ODK forward on our behalves - a diverse range of interests and skills too.

Commiserations to my fellow challengers @mathieubossaert and @Odil - I think we gave the others a good run for their money :wink:

Also worth mentioning, from my own perspective, that it was a positive exercise in governance to see the level of engagement in making the selections for the new TAB - some challenging questions and thought provoking answers all round. Something else for ODK and its community to be proud of.

Right, back to the day job :slight_smile:

7 Likes
#6

I agree with you @seewhy, a very positive exercise in governance, and, from a personal point of view, a really interesting experience that requires to take some time and distance to think. Which is always a good thing.
But not always easy when your mind is stuck on office emergencies and database server hardware crash :slight_smile:

4 Likes
#7

I feel very lucky to get to collaborate with all of you @chrissyhroberts, @Florian_May, @mathieubossaert, @Odil, @seewhy, @Tino_Kreutzer. I learned a lot about each of you and your work through the application process and I hope that whether or not you are serving on the TAB this round, we will get to do more together!

Each of your application threads was an absolute gold mine of good ideas. I've made some notes and though we won't be able to act on all at once, with your help, I think we can do a lot!

3 Likes
#8

... and its nice to finally have someone on the TAB/TSC in an even less civilized timezone than myself! :smile:

2 Likes
#9

Uncivilized or hours ahead? (At least one thing Oz is ahead - timezones) :stuck_out_tongue:
Looking forward to picking your brains on tricky issues and learning from @seewhy's experience, @mathieubossaert's postgis black magic, @Odil's VueJS/R skills!

2 Likes
#10

I respectfully disagree... NZ is way 'ahead' of ya. From "What time does New Year arrive around the world?":

Tuesday December 31, 2019

10am - Samoa and Christmas Island/Kiribati
10:15am - New Zealand
1pm - Most of Australia
...

'nuf said :wink:

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