LA Drupal Governance Proposal

The Westside meetup this week was well-attended with around 45-50 attendees. When I asked who wanted to be involved in a discussion about how group decisions are made, who is allowed to use the "LA Drupal" name, etc. more than half the hands in the room went up. This was far more than I expected and indicates that folks in our community are very interested in this subject.

I also went around to the 10 or so organizers before the meetup to see if there was interest in an organizers' BoF (as Scott Knight strongly encouraged) if there was time for it in the agenda. Unfortunately, we didn't have access to any meeting rooms at our venue, so there was no way to do BoFs or breakout sessions about this and other topics.

Since we had only one space available and several people said they wanted to focus on Drupal and not LA Drupal politics, the idea of a separate organizers' meetup was introduced. Benno's place (the home of the Hollywood Drupal meetups) was suggested, as was Droplabs (the home of the Downtown LA Drupal meetups). I'm happy with either location, and all of Droplabs' founders (myself included) have reached consensus for hosting this event if that's what people would like.

I ask that we move this discussion to the ladrupal-organizing mailing list so that we don't continue inundating people's inboxes with dozens or hundreds of comments. Anyone can sign for the mailing list and it happens that the majority of LA Drupal's organizers are already on the list. Please go to http://groups.drupal.org/node/96824 to sign up or to http://ladrupal.org/pipermail/ladrupal-organizing/ for the public archives.

Just to clarify my earlier remarks: I am proposing that the group select a single leader as an interim solution. As I also proposed, the community should select a governance committee to determine a durable, long term structure.

I see the selection of a single leader to manage and run LADrupal and the Culver City meetup until we have a viable governance structure in place as a critical step to putting the group on track for long-term viability and success.

Being a part of the LA Drupal community for the last three years or so I can definitely see that there is a power struggle going on with many motives that are unknown. To "elect" someone as an interim solution suggests that there are some over whelming problems with the group and that it has gone off the tracks. If you believe this please explain why you think this is true, from my perspective as a small Drupal shop owner and member of LA Drupal I don't see any problems with the meet ups or the camp, which is what a users group is about. The problems I see is the struggle for control of the group as if one could control it. I think if people want to start a professional organization with by laws and a voting membership no one is stopping you go do it, I don't think the Drupal groups were established for this. However if this is the way people want to move I think there are critical things that need to be identified;

1) Voting - Who can vote? Do I have to be a member of the group for a certain time period? Do I have to just have a group user account? Do I just have to be present when the voting occurs? whats to prevent someone from bringing in 100 new la Drupal group members and hijack the vote?

2) What does the Drupal Association think of this? I would like to hear from them before such a "vote" occurred, I am not sure they would approve of this.

3) Who is going to write the rules governing the group and what power the "LA Grand Droplet" is going to have.

4) Business conflicts of interest, if the the head of the group is a Drupal shop owner what is to prevent them from shutting others out of business opportunities, and if they do how would one appeal that especially if the group was not sanctioned by the Drupal organization.

I think no matter what side of this argument you find yourself on there are to many issues to be dealt with before just going rogue as a group and voting someone in during a meet up. There is a reason why user groups are the way they are and I think if some people in the group want to morph to a professional association or organization then we need to hear what the owners of the brand like Dries think on the subject. After that I think there needs to be a more thoroughly thought out plan and not this randomness that is occurring. If not we will lose more people in the end, and by the way this stuff is why people don't join user groups or come to meet ups.

Jassen Bluto

I am not sure LA Drupal has "enough formalism", due to it's organic growth, to run a selection process to create a Board Of Directors. So, I am going to explain something I did in the past, and suggest our current leadership could adopt this approach, now, with little effort.

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LAMPsig.org Council Meeting Reviewed

Jim Workman and Peter Benjamin, me, co-founded the first LA LAMP User Group in 2003. I decided that Jim and I needed help in doing non meeting activities, like planning, finding speakers, website, getting more minds solving problems, and assisting in their solutions. We announced the formation of a "Council" group, that would meet once a month, over food, and discuss for two hours the posted agenda.

At the first meeting, Jim and I arrived 1 hour early, and discussed what would happen as members arrived. Not knowing if any would arrive. We were pleasantly surprised, to get 5 very dedicated, senior LAMP developers to attend for two years. At the end we had 8, for a total of 10 members for planning purposes. We offered three 8 week training courses, PHP basics, SQL, and PHP OO. All free, taught by volunteers.

I feel the only way we got such value in member volunteering is a degree of formalism I borrowed from my Aerospace employment decade.

The meetings were open to all members. I maintained the Agenda and posted it a week before the meeting. By posting an Agenda, "value" was established to motivate volunteers to attend. It was fun.

The meeting rules were simple:

• Determine if any agenda item needed to be handled first,
• Determine if previously tabled items were to be talked about, or re-tabled.
• Determine if there any new agenda items (always to be discussed last),
• Handle each agenda item in turn, letting each counselor talk to it,
  ** Discuss until two things were determined for that agenda item:
  *** Consensus, and
  *** Which counselors had the action item,
  *** Which counselor would take the lead roll, and
  *** See that it was completed by the date the involved counselors thought they could complete it by.

Agenda items could be tabled, for the next meeting, tabled indefinitely, and all sorts of easy ways to keep the discussion per agenda item, short enough, so that ALL agenda items got some discussion.

I wrote up the Minutes of the Meeting, where each current and new Agenda Item was summarized regarding our consensus, which volunteers were taking it on, and when they expected to completed it, and if any additional volunteer help was needed for them to complete it.

This format, the pre posted Agenda, with the follow up Minutes, encouraged many to attend at least one Council meeting, and got a lot of volunteers doing stuff to create value for attendees. The Minutes meant that credit was given where due, commitments were public, and follow through was great.

Food is not just a consideration, but I consider it a requirement. The start time as I recall was 6:30, but food was not ordered until 7:30, allowing late arrivals to have food as well, which was a pleasant break in the "formal" handling of Agenda Items, where we still talked about agenda items, but there was no big push to maintain 'focus' during eating, and upon desert, we would resume handling the remaining Agenda Items, or table each one in turn, or not, but postponing discussion on the last items, until all Agenda Items had a "status" to be reported in the Minutes.

I acted as meeting Secretary, taking notes (you've all seen me taking meeting notes on my clipboard), and while Jim was always the Master Of Ceremony, at both the general and Council meetings, during the council meetings I would step in, as sub chair, and if one Agenda Item had plenty of talk, I would announce that, summarize the consensus, ask if that was correct, and upon the voting, tally it, announce the actions for that Agenda Item, and then speak the next Agenda Item, and ask for discussion on it. It's a skill I have honed to run meetings in Aerospace, for 12 years. Point is, not anyone can 'chair a meeting' and ensure all Agenda Items are covered, and do so "nicely", without a trace of impoliteness, from a position of neutrality.

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My Beliefs

I believe the above method, informally, that is, not in writing, was how our managers have done things in the past. First in planning meetings, then pre-meeting meetings, and then via phone, as they grew well familiar with each other.

Thus, I believe an open invite to all members to attend a monthly "planning" meeting is a small step, that if formally chaired, more or less, by 1 or more organizers, would be an organic growth. Easily done.

I put this idea forward, for consideration, though it has one disadvantage... LA travel time. Certainly a central location is needed. We used various restaurants, until deciding upon one everyone like. It had long tables, able to hold 10-12. At the LAMPsig planning meetings, several times cell phones were used to conference in highly motivated members. Agenda Items were prioritize for them, grouping them.

I hope potential members, volunteering their time, to establish greater value for our members, can reach a consensus in the next 12 months of the next LA Drupal organizational structure. I hope it's one month.

I feel the Planning or Council Meeting is doable in 1-2 months, after DrupalCampLA.

I personally believe the DrupalCampLA planning activities should take priority over "finalizing" any structure changes.

I believe a "Kick Off" meeting before DrupalCampLA "might" be beneficial, ..., or not. I will attend.

I believe it's going to take more than one meeting, and having that meeting announced at LEAST 3 weeks before, is critical, along with a posted Agenda, will be key to follow up meetings having a greater degree of success and getting the most bang for the volunteer hours that will be invested in this undertaking.

I believe the days of the DrupalCampLA event is NOT the time for discussion, as it would divert volunteer hours away from our yearly event.

I believe the third week of the month has few LA Drupal happenings, and would be a prime week to schedule 3 or more Structure Meetings, and get the job done. Even weekly meetings if the consensus is for that.

I believe the Council Meeting idea can fly immediately, and the Structure Meetings could easily morph into Council Meetings. And do so after the very first Structure Meeting. Thus, getting the most bang for the volunteer hours, and moving forward ASAP.

At future Council Meetings, the nature of the meetings, can be an Agenda Item, one of the last to be talked about, and changes reaching consensus can be implemented in the agreed time frame.

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Non Profit Status

I believe in the coming years (3-5 years away, if not more) a formal, IRS non profit status will enable us to solicit greater donations, as much as a 50% increase per event, due to the tax advantage to the sponsor. Allow us to grow beyond 60 attendees per meeting, at venues able to hold hundreds. Have quarterly BIG events. Provide surrounding Drupal User Groups a non profit umbrella if they desire.

Offer greater value to our members, in the form of typical benefits, like Health, Dental, Eyesight, Car Insurance, and other needed forms of insurance, along with local business discounts, national business discounts, sponsoring more sprints each year, doing charity work, and getting tremendous visibility in Los Angeles, Orange County, Southern California, at all levels of community, business and government.

Most of all, fund raising events can offer training to not only our members but also the general public should be able to attend fund raising events. Training to introduce newbies to Drupal, get them on board, and even up to the expert level. However, imho, it's not how world wide Drupal organically grows... yet.

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Organic Growth

Finally, I believe the past organic growth is a strong indicator of where and how this group will move forward. That is, a "formal" structure will NOT be possible for at least one year, if not two, or more, imho.

The organic growth movement will continue, is unstoppable, can not be tamed by any set of leaders, and should be allowed to continue, unhindered without attempts to put on reins and control it. Until it's ready for such.

That's one man's opinion, and he's sticking to it.

Pete

Given the size of LA Drupal, I'd like to see a governance board of at least 11 people, probably 13, roughly 1 representative per hundred members as well as representatives from special groups such as the drupal female members, a member of Drupal Rainbow and equal representation from all the local areas included in LA Drupal. I would try to limit it to 21 or less, always and odd number for obvious reasons. The size limit would be due to finding available meeting rooms. We need to make sure everyone is represented.

All meetings of the governance board should be open to observation by the entire membership, people wishing to speak before the governance board can sign up for 5 minutes up to a week prior to the meeting. Any voting the governance board does should public to allow the members at large to see who really represents their view.

I need to think more on what else I would like to see.

Paul

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to the issues of LA Drupal governance. Most of this I already said at Saturday’s meeting on this topic, but I thought I would actually write it all down, throw it against the wall and see what sticks.

To begin with, I came to the meeting with a distinct sense that there were many related, but ultimately separate issues that needed to be discussed and dealt with. However, these issues were all being conflated and confusing the discussion. In broad terms, we have the administration of our group on groups.drupal.org, the management and organization of LA Drupal meet-ups and events, and the management of the LA Drupal Association. The funny thing is that the GDO administration seems to be the issue that’s gotten the most attention, when in my mind it is the least relevant and the easiest to solve. Meanwhile, the LA Drupal Association management has received almost no attention, when it appears to be, by far, the most important issue on the table, the least understood and the hardest to solve. In any case, moving forward, I think it is important to be clear about what issue we are discussing at any given time and how it fits into the broader picture. So unless otherwise indicated, when I talk about LA Drupal, I’m talking about the actual group(s) of people who meet at events throughout the year and not the Organic Group on GDO.

At first I was very attracted to Mike Stewart’s anarchist leanings. Open-source organization all the way! But then I realized that the group actually has some substantial money and other assets. Getting rid of the money is a tempting idea, but I don’t think it is very realistic.

Lets face it. LA Drupal is huge! Hundreds of people come to DrupalCamp every year now. Hell, people fly across the country to go to our DrupalCamp. And now we’ve started a second camp in the fall. Having a fiscal receiver to take in money from sponsors and write checks to vendors just makes sense. Sure, you could filter funds through organizers’ personal accounts and try getting sponsors to write checks directly to the venue, but that’s just not a good way run things if you don’t have to. It puts too much of a burden on the organizers and makes us look sketchy to potential sponsors. Has it been done before? Sure. But is it a good idea? Not so much. And besides, having a little surplus sitting in the bank to smooth the initial planning for the following year is good thing. It helps keep organizers sane, which helps prevent burnout, which keeps them volunteering longer.

Initially I put forth the idea that the Drupal Association could be that fiscal receiver. In other words, we would give them all our extra money and they would write us checks to cover DrupalCamp expenses when we need them to. However, for better or worse, I’ve been told that the Drupal Association does not have the ability to support local groups in that way right now.

At this point I was left with the realization that LA Drupal needs some way to receive, spend and save money from year to year. So I think the need for an LA Drupal Association is very real and I don’t see a good way around it. And once you start dealing with money, you need to have some form of accountability. There needs to be some rules. This isn’t even so much about solving problems we have right now. It’s about preventing problems down the road. As I said at the meeting, I trust the current LA Drupal Association Treasurers completely to manage those funds in the interest of the community. In fact, if we were voting for Treasurers, I would vote for them. But all that is besides the point. What happens when they decide to leave? Or if they get hit by a bus? Or abducted by aliens? If there are no rules to fall back on, what happens to the thousands of dollars sitting in the Association’s bank account when the holder of that account isn’t there?

So, then I was torn. How do we maintain the sense of open-source community in LA Drupal, with lots of people pitching in however they can to keep things going and growing, but still put in place some responsible protections for the community’s assets. In the end, I came up with the following proposal-in-progress.

Meet-up organization and management

The big change here is the disbanding of the LA Dupal Managers. As you will see, there is no real need for them in the organizational structure. Also, there would be no official designation of which meet-up is the “main” meet-up. The meet-ups can instead be judged on their merits, based on the quality of their organization, the centrality of their location and the number of participants they are able to attract.

The management of these meet-ups should continue as an organic process, much as it has in the recent past. Anyone who wishes to volunteer their time to organize a Drupal meet-up in the greater Los Angeles area is welcome to do so. All are free to take ownership of this responsibility and run with it. This is were the real open-source organization strategy comes into play.

As a matter of respect, it is understood that people wishing to organize meet-ups will do their best to coordinate with existing organizers in the area, to prevent potential conflicts. It is expected that those wishing to organize activities in close proximity to an existing group, will offer their help to existing organizers in the area, rather than starting their own competing group. It is also expected that existing organizers will do their best to involve other members of the community who wish to participate in the management of their local group. Actions taken by group organizers should be as transparent as possible and should always be in the interest of growing and enriching the Drupal community, rather than for personal gain.

I suggest posting an organizers’ code of conduct on a wiki, where the community at large can review it, comment on it and evolve it over time. These would not be enforceable rules, but a statement of community expectations.

The LA Drupal Association

The LA Drupal Association is a legally recognized association, with its own bank account. I propose that it should be run by an elected Board (more on elections later), governed by written bylaws. The specifics are very much up for debate, but I had pictured a 3-5 member board, serving one year terms, with no term limits.

I don’t see any reason to prevent board members from also helping to organize local groups and meet-ups, if they wish. However, officially speaking, the Board would have no responsibility whatsoever to plan, organize, or in any way manage monthly meet-ups and other events.

The primary responsibility of the Board is to provide oversight of the Association’s bank account and other assets. Mostly this means writing checks for DrupalCamp and posting a financial report, maybe once a quarter. It also means managing physical assets that have been donated to LA Drupal. Like the projector, extra t-shirts from events and raffle prizes. It is up to the Board to ensure that these assets are properly cared for and distributed fairly throughout the community. That doesn’t mean a board member needs to be at every meeting. They just need to work with the organizers to make these things available as needed.

The bylaws which govern the Board would mostly be concerned with how members are elected, how they are removed, what happens during a transition of power and how the bylaws themselves can be changed (we don’t want to completely lock ourselves in). We don’t want anything too restrictive or draconian, I expect, but there would also be guidelines as to how the association’s money and assets can be used. The specifics would again be up for much debate, but I have a few thoughts on some suggested guidelines.

The Association should always prioritize helping the community over helping individuals. The main purpose of the Association’s bank account is to accept DrupalCamp sponsorships and enable the payment of vendors for those events. Any surplus from one DrupalCamp can then be held to support future camps. Funding the traditional summer DurpalCamp would undoubtedly be the Board’s first priority, followed by the fall Design for DrupalCamp, started last year. The Board could also justify spending money for accounting help or legal advice, if necessary.

If the Board felt that there was more than enough money in the Association’s bank account to fund the two DrupalCamps, then they would have the authority to expand their funding to other LA Drupal activities. This funding should happen in the form of grants. The board would determine the maximum amount of funding that can be granted and, optionally, the maximum amount per grant, but they would not be directly involved in the grant selection. Rather, the Board would appoint volunteers to a grant review panel, choosing people with no conflicts of interest with the current proposals. Proposals would be submitted in a public forum where the community was free to comment. Panelists would review the grant proposals, including the community commentary and select who gets the funding.

As you see, my intention is to restrict the establishment of enforceable rules to the LA Durpal Association. And further, I am trying to minimize the scope of the LA Drupal Association’s role, so these rules don’t get in the way of things too much. Even in the case of things the Board controls, most of that control comes in the form of delegating responsibility to others. Being on the Board should not be seen as a way to take center stage. They’re like an auxiliary organization that local organizers can use as a tool to help them support the community. Board members do not need to be charismatic leaders, or Drupal ninjas. They just need to be nice people in the community, who we trust to watch our stuff and to be fair mediators if any disputes arise. Their actual responsibilities should be kept small and manageable, to prevent burnout and to prevent any temptation for abuse of power.

DrupalCamps

While the LA Drupal Association Board writes the checks for DrupalCamp and provides financial oversight, they should not have to organize the event itself. The Board could appoint one or more willing volunteers to organize the camps. These organizers would be empowered to look for sponsorships, negotiate with venues, construct a website, organize volunteers and otherwise handle the details of the event. The DrupalCamp organizer would need to get the Board’s approval if they want to use money from the Association’s bank account, but by and large they would get to run the show. In the event of mismanagement, the Board would have the authority to step in and take control, or delegate it to a new organizer, but that should only happen in extreme circumstances. The final budget of the camp should be submitted to the Board and made public, much like is done at the end of every DrupalCon.

The LA Drupal Brand: groups.drupal.org, ladrupal.org, etc...

One of the assets the LA Drupal Association Board would be in charge of managing is the group’s brand, or identity. To start with, ownership of all domain names and social network accounts related to LA Drupal should be transferred into the Association’s name. This is not to say that the Board would take a day-to-day role in managing these online outlets. They should delegate that responsibility to other volunteers. I suspect in many cases, the same people handling these things now will continue to handle them in the future. But in the case of a contentious issue, or mismanagement, or the disappearance of someone in a position of responsibility, the Board could step in temporarily to set things right again.

The Board’s control of the LA Drupal name would extend to use of that name to gain sponsorships and donations. The intent of this is not to constrain local groups, but rather to help them coordinate and support each other. For instance, if three different local groups were to approach the same publisher looking for a book donation, then it might raise some alarms. However, if one person were to approach that same publisher on behalf of the LA Drupal Association, they would be able to demonstrate greater credibility and could potentially secure a larger donation. This donation could then be shared among many individual groups within the LA area. The Board would have to try and distribute such assets equitably throughout the region, taking into consideration the extent of community impact and the reliability of local organizers. Remember though, the Board is not actually responsible for going after donations. If individual board members wish to take that on, then so be it, but ultimately the purpose of the Board is to empower people in the community who want to do these things for the community.

I don’t want to get too much into the administration of GDO here. As I said, I think that is an easily solvable and mostly irrelevant issue, with regards to LA Drupal governance. The GDO admins don’t have to be organizers or board members. They’re just trusted people in the community who are moderating discussions on that website. I’ve already posted an issue on the GDO issue queue requesting they allow groups to configure the name of the “Group organizers” block and make the display of the block optional within each group.

Elections

OK. This is perhaps the hardest problem to solve and there is no easy way out. Assuming we agree that LA Drupal will hold assets and that those assets will be controlled by people, the question immediately arises, how do we chose the people to watch our stuff? The usual methods—first come first served, or he who screams the loudest gets the job, etc...—just don’t seem to fit the bill. I don’t think anyone feels comfortable with an invitation only group of insiders controlling everything. But how do you hold an election in an organization with no clear membership? I see two possible solutions, but neither of them are perfect.

The first possibility is that we just let everyone vote. No restrictions. So, you live in Wisconsin, have never installed Drupal before and accidentally stumbled onto our website while looking for RuPaul? No problem! Cast your vote for board member! This has the obvious advantage that it is completely inclusive of everyone in the community. But it has the disadvantage that it would also include lots of people who are decidedly not part of the Drupal community. It is the most open method, but also has the most potential for fraud and abuse.

The other option I see is for the LA Drupal Association to implement a membership program, similar to the international Drupal Association. Unlike that program, however, ours would be dirt cheap. I’m thinking $5/year. Why bother with $5, you might ask? Well, the guy from Wisconsin looking for RuPaul isn’t going to pay $5. In fact, I doubt anyone outside the community would pay it. Likewise, I doubt anyone in the heart of the community would hesitate for a moment on kicking in $5 for LA Drupal. So you pay the $5 and you get to vote for the people who will manage that money. Maybe we can even design a badge for LA Drupal Association members to put on their websites. The downside of this is the appearance of a pay-to-play bureaucracy. But appearances aside, this may actually be the fairest way of handling things. And it has the added benefit of providing some financial support for the group. Given the size of our community, you’re look at several hundred dollars minimum that could go toward supporting DrupalCamp LA. Possibly much more. It may not cover all the camp costs, but that’s one or two fewer sponsorships we need to worry about.

In conclusion...

I’m trying to strike a balance between the organic organization many of us would like to see in the user group and the need for structure where money is concerned. There’s still a lot to be worked out here, but I think this is a good starting place for discussion. If nothing else, reactions at Saturday’s meet-up were promising. What do you think?