Multiple "Founding Member" special privileges within the Bylaws:.Main site, first element lists "Independent." However, this is by definition false.Independence of the Foundation is disingenuous.In looking through the public material (at least the semi-easily discoverable documents and pages), the following issues stand out: This has, unfortunately, resulted in a loss of trust between the Foundation leadership teams and the membership. There is little or no clarity from the membership in terms of who is responsible and who has power to actually "do things" in Foundation projects. There is a large misunderstanding about what it means to join the Foundation as a project. Much of the recent difficulties seem to center around this as well. I've even spoken with people who were running for Board positions, but who had little to no understanding of how things really work internally. Members, and even key projects, have been repeatedly surprised by what is happening. There seems to be a large disconnect between the governance of the Foundation and the public opinion of the Foundation's purpose. I will be listing some concrete ideas on potential changes below.
I hope that bringing this to light might help bring forth change, at which time I'd love to be able to revisit my recommendations. There are far too many red flags that arise when I try to read the available documents. I hate that I currently feel unable to recommend the Foundation. As things stand today, I find myself unable to honestly recommend anybody put time or effort into the Foundation, or recommend joining as a member. However, when going through the Foundation's documents and website as well as some of the recent communication, I can't help but find myself in a position where I have significant concerns. Non-profit issues are a unique challenge, and I do have a lot of sympathy for the current, former, and especially new Board members and the struggles involved in trying to make things right. It's also an aspect of management outside of most developers' typical experience. I also know, from personal experience, that getting these things right is very hard. There is definitely motivation and a large, active community - key aspects to bringing long term sustainable success. I applaud the effort of everybody involved, and do see it as a very good sign that the Foundation has the potential to be hugely successful. I also know that the Board of Directors has the best intentions, and that there are a huge number of people putting a lot of effort into the Foundation and its activities. Part of me dreads bringing this up, but as somebody with a lot of experience in non-profit governance and operation, I feel that there are some significant issues at play.įirst off - I want to say that I truly want the. NET Foundation, and have seriously struggled with being able to get clarity on its purpose, structure, and governance. In order to give the most complete opinion possible, I've been trying to do some research on the.
Given the recent controversies, I have had quite a few people reach out to me and ask my opinion or advice on recent discussions surrounding the.
#The hunting ground discussion questions software
For the last nine years, I've served as the Executive Director of the F# Software Foundation.