On the board again?
I was thinking the other day, “Why am I running for re-election in the current Eclipse Board elections?” It’s really quite a bit of work. There are monthly phone calls, quarterly face to face meetings, committees and working groups, prep for all of the above, … Oh my!
All in all I figure it takes at least 5 days a quarter just to keep up. If you want to help drive things, well, you could easily double that. When you figure there are about 50-55 work days in a quarter (depending on your location’s holiday calendar and your vacation time), that’s at least 10% of your normal work time!
So what’s up with that? We have 8 dedicated committers all willing to contribute still more of their time to help run the foundation. Why?
I can’t answer for the others but I can list some of the reasons I’m on the list.
- The other board members. I’ve mentioned this before but the set of people on the board today is frankly, superb. Diverse, talented, bright, engaged. You can’t pay for a better set of teachers.
- Committer members have an impact. We have day to day knowledge of how the committer community thinks and works, and the kinds of challenges they face. Because of that, we ground the discussions in reality and focus on the things that help committers most.
- Committers don’t know it all. Gads! But its true. Eclipse has a very vibrant commercial aspect that, to be honest, I did not know or particularly care about when I first became a director two years ago. It is extremely interesting to understand. More committers should take some time to understand how their companies and others make money with/from/… Eclipse. The board spends quite a bit of time on this.
- The board meetings. Two days, locked in a room with 30 other people, no internet access, … Wait, that was not one of the pros…
Anyway, we’d be here all day. There are more reasons and many are outlined in my vision statement. The point is, as I went through the list, I quickly realized that being on the board is a huge opportunity that excites and inspires me. That is why I am willing to donate this time.
Eclipse is many things that are good and can be many other great things. The Board of Directors’ mission is:
“to advance the creation, evolution, promotion, and support of [Eclipse]“
There is no better place to be than on the board, if you want to have a hand in shaping the larger Eclipse world. I look forward to another term on the board and more interaction with the entire Eclipse community.
Posted March 3rd, 2008 by Jeff McAffer in category: eclipse
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Chris Aniszczyk Says:
March 3rd, 2008 at 10:33 pm
All this blogging from you Jeff is making me dizzy