[Linux-aus] Linux Australia as It Stands

[Kathy Reid]

On 12/12/16 16:00, Hugh Blemings wrote:
> Hi David, All,
>
>> Has it outgrown its grassroots and does it need a paid secretariat?
>> Note that “need” does not invite a discussion about “being able to
>> pay for”…
>
> I'll defer to Kathy as she may wish to elaborate, but devolving some
> more administrative functions of the organisation has been discussed
> and is something she explicitly posits in her Candidacy statement.
>
> If as I hope we will, we as a community decide to grow LA then this
> sort of offload seems eminently reasonable to me :)
>
> Cheers,
> Hugh

Thanks for starting the discussion David, I think it's a good one to have.

I think there are two different questions here;
1 - should LA offload / outsource work to paid people
2 - should the Council be paid for the work they do

The implications of both are different.

I strongly advocate paying professionals / organisations / companies to
do $things that we don't have the capacity or capability (viz. CiviCRM)
to do internally, and where doing $thing is a priority for Linux
Australia. This should be coupled with due process such as clear
specifications / statements of work, a review process for proposals etc.

I'm on the fence re: Council being paid for the work they (we?) do, and
I'll note the obvious conflict of interest I have in commenting on this
as a current Council member who's nominated to stand next year.

Different Council members put in different amounts of effort over the
year, and to be equitable we would need to stipulate and enforce
'minimum hours' of contribution or similar. Some Council members go
above and beyond, with no remuneration whatsoever. Would introducing
stipends or similar change who nominates to Council by providing a
financial incentive? I'm not sure that's the position we want to be in.

As a counterpoint though, some Council members spend upwards of 5-6
hours per week on LA business, at peak times more. That equates to say
240 hours a year, or say 6 weeks' full time work - at say a conservative
rate of $500 per day that's $15k a year these people are donating in
kind to LA. Reimbursing even a portion of this may be an incentive to
get the "good ones" to stay on and keep contributing their expertise.

Really keen to hear the thoughts of others on this one.

Best, K.