Getting a diverse board for the Drupal Association

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nedjo's picture

The Drupal Association is reaching out to identify candidates for a diverse board that represents the Drupal community, and frankly we need a lot of help.

You can find information on the process here: http://association.drupal.org/node/1139.

One of our key aims is to ensure we have a board that's diverse and representative of the worldwide Drupal community.

We have a nominations committee, drawn from the "permanent members" of the DA. As a committee we're hardly the most diverse--all male, all Drupal developers, all working for or running Drupal shops, and all but two based in the US or Canada.

Ensuring diversity on the new board could be particularly important because proposed new changes for the Association would include dropping the current voting membership; the board would become the sole decision-making body for the DA.

What do we need to do to ensure we reach out to diverse board candidates? What do we need to hear and learn? Who should we talk to?

Comments

Money is a barrier

zzolo's picture

I was just talking to @nedjo about this on IRC, but would like to re-iterate. I would be interested in applying (though I am not that representative of any minority). But the biggest barrier entry is that the expectation is to be at a meeting in person 4 times a year without any financial support from the Drupal Association.

I know Drupal is a very volunteer driven, but money is a huge barrier to entry for many people, and especially a lot of minorities and diverse people that should be represented.

But, I would love to see a more diverse DA and hope that someone from this groups applies and gets nominated.

--
zzolo

I would reiterate what zzolo

Jeff Burnz's picture

I would reiterate what zzolo says about money - you will never a get a truly global and diverse board if there is a requirement to meet four times per year and you have to pay your own way. Traveling this much is prohibitive in itself (every 12 weeks pack and fly half way around the world is a big ask), let alone the cost. While it is relatively inexpensive to travel internally within the USA, its a whole different ball game if you're flying in from overseas. For example I know someone in New Zealand who would make a very good board member, but there is no way she can afford these travel expenses. I would find this difficult myself flying in from Europe - unless two meetings a year were held in Europe and we only had to attend one meeting in the USA (at Drupalcon). This would be especially attractive if meetings coincided with major camps as well.

So, removing barriers is probably the most important thing and money is going to be the biggest barrier.

One thing board members might want to consider is outreach, by this I mean actually reaching out into the community and grooming people to become board members or to work more closely with the Drupal Association. This is pretty easy to do - spot someone you think has the right stuff and befriend them, encourage participation and share responsibilities. I have been doing this in the Design Initiative and have blooded several new faces which has worked out just great - very smart and enthusiastic people who simply needed a bit of guidance and encouragement to get involved.

Disabilities

MGParisi's picture

It would be uncommon to have diversity that reaches into the pool of the disabled. But do we need a disabled person to represent the needs of the disabled? What would be nice is to have someone who is fluent in disabilities of all types and the challenges we face.

I think accessibility is a major topic in all discussions regarding Drupal. As a content management system, it not only needs to be accessible to those who speak different languages, but also might be blind, deaf, learning disabled, etc...


--Sig--
Owner of Proper Programming, LLC a software and website development firm.

Topic has come up again

arianek's picture

The topic of diversity on the DA board has come up again, I strongly encourage anyone who feels strongly about this to comment so that there is a strong voice to enable more diversity and inclusivity in our governance.

http://groups.drupal.org/node/199178 (my comment: http://groups.drupal.org/node/199178#comment-658028)

I really want to apply

timmillwood's picture

I really want to apply because I feel more Europeans are needed. As I was one of the co-leads for drupalcon London I feel I have a lot to give, but travelling to the US 4 times a year is too much, I already do this for my day job, therefore I could end up with 2 months a year away from home and more importantly, away from my family.

One of the meetings would be

kattekrab's picture

One of the meetings would be in Europe - coinciding with the European DrupalCon.

Donna Benjamin
Former Board Member Drupal Association (2012-2018)
@kattekrab

Regional/Continental Drupal Associations

davideads's picture

Thanks to Nedjo for raising this issue in an inquisitive and open way. After pondering ArianeK's comment about the economic and personal barriers inherent in DA travel obligations and timmillwood's tweet about continental DAs, I want to suggest a model for consideration as a long term goal:

  1. Contintental/regional Drupal Associations that meet face to a face a few times a year (perhaps at the major camps in the region) and are expected to maintain a board and fulfill a couple of responsibilities.
  2. A general assembly that collaborates remotely, probably via a group with regularly scheduled IRC chats, building on the work DA has already done to improve transparency and communication. The general assembly is the most open and participatory group, and perhaps it can make formal motions somehow.
  3. A DA congress consisting of a representative from 6 or so continental groups (Asia, Europe, India, North America, South America, Africa) and permanent members that makes decisions via some fair and clearly explained governance process. The assembly could meet face to face for big decisions and general conversation at least one DrupalCon each year.

    The DA congress could practice some form of consensus decision-making. In some forms of consensus, each representative may approve, stand-aside, or block a formal proposal. In other forms, you use a super-majority voting model, where a 2/3rds or better (5 or 6 reps in assembly consisting consisting of 5 regional groups and 2 or 4 permanent members or interest groups) vote is required for a motion to pass.

    How each regional DA board is nominated and elected, how to pick a rep for formal meetings, and how to make decisions could vary from group to group, hopefully animated by principles of inclusion, respect, and fairness. The congress or regional DAs could maintain a pool of money (perhaps augmented by individual donations) to help defray travel costs.

There are a lot of questions here beyond the mechanics, like how to encourage diverse leadership, but the mechanics matter a lot. I think the model raises questions about the meaning of "permanent membership". It doesn't directly address issues of diversity at a regional level, nor the role of interest groups at a community level (though one can imagine a mechanism for interest groups to join the united assembly. Concerted effort will be required at the every level of the Drupal community to foster diverse, representative leadership. An important goal of any model for the Drupal Association is to enable minority voices to be respected and carry weight.

I certainly can't imagine the DA immediately adopting such a model immediately -- it's the sort of thing that needs to be hashed out and implemented over time. ArianeK's suggestion of 2 remote meetings a year seems like an ideal step for the next year. Addressing the money issues -- perhaps via a community fundraising model -- could be a good goal to work towards at the same time.

I think this type (ie. not

arianek's picture

I think this type (ie. not necessarily exactly this, but something along these lines) of structure would be a fantastic goal, though it'd definitely be along the 5 year plan speaking more realistically. Thanks for laying out a potential "ideal" of what the governance could look like!

I don't really have a lot to add except that I want to make it clear that 2 remote meetings per year is really a compromise. I think that there are some clear and important reasons why in-person meetings are preferred... I'm mainly playing devils advocate a bit because I think the real solution is to provide financial support for the board members (if needed).

And when I say financial support, I don't mean just the travel costs - it's obviously insufficient for many people, and for many different reasons. I think appropriate support would cover all costs for the attendance in addition to a stipend to cover lost work/personal time as well.

Let's not pretend that Drupal is some grassroots organization anymore. The profits off of a single DrupalCon are huge, and if this is something that the general community thinks is important, I would think it'd be possible to find some adequate funding for it!

Travel costs + meeting structure

davideads's picture

I don't really have a lot to add except that I want to make it clear that 2 remote meetings per year is really a compromise. I think that there are some clear and important reasons why in-person meetings are preferred... I'm mainly playing devils advocate a bit because I think the real solution is to provide financial support for the board members (if needed).

Is it fair to say that 1 or 2 in-person meetings a year and financial support (a stipend based on reported income? per-mile travel compensation?) from the DA with a grassroots fundraising component is a do-able step towards reducing barriers to participation?

Another option would be to go ahead and hold 2-4 in-person DA meetings a year. The DA could relax the attendance requirement by making in-person meetings about reporting on important community issues and agenda/priority setting and use shorter, more frequent (4 a year?) remote meetings and a public group to make formal decisions and solicit community input.

Board meetings are actually

kattekrab's picture

Board meetings are actually monthly. Only 4 of those will be held in person. On top of board meetings there are various committee meetings. The estimated minimum time commitment (without travel) is 15 hours a month. That's a reasonable commitment for a board of directors. They have work to do and getting together in person as regularly as possible does make it easier to get work done. That's not in question.

The problem here is that the current board makeup, with one exception, is in the USA & Canada. In my view, it's not at all unreasonable to expect North Americans to travel somewhere in North America four times a year. It may be harder for someone in Miami or Prince Edward Island to get to Portland than someone in Vancouver or San Francisco - but nowhere near as hard as getting there from Shanghai and Mumbai, let alone from Cape Town, Perth, or Buenos Aires.

Global! Or does the DA think "global" is like the "World Series" baseball competition? ;-)

I went to Portland for OSCON last year. I live in a large city, just 15 minutes from an International airport, so the first part of my journey to anywhere in the world is trivial. I didn't want to go through LAX, so we decided to go via Hong Kong, and Vancouver, BC, then catch a train to Portland. It wasn't the most direct route. It took 30 hrs to get to Vancouver which included an 8hr stop in Hong Kong. I could have caught a 15 hr flight to LAX and then a 2hr flight to Portland.

Dries is coming to Drupal Downunder in a couple of weeks. He's flying from Boston to Los Angeles (5hrs) to Melbourne (15hrs). It is the most direct flight possible, with a 2hr stop in LA.

Portland at least is West Coast, so it's a bit easier for me than Boston or New York.

Disclaimer time. A couple of people suggested I should nominate for the last round of board members. So I thought a lot about this. I was prepared to commit to 2 in person meetings a year at my own cost. 1 was easy, because I already intend to go to one DrupalCon a year. The 2nd would be hard, but I was prepared to commit to finding an additional $2500-$3000 a year to do it. I run my own small (2 people) business, I do not have children, and my schedule is my own. I can easily find the time. I could not commit to finding yet another $5000 - $6000 a year to attend all four in person meetings.

I've been told that not committing to the four meetings up front was one major count against my application. I was also told, that despite the stated expectation [1] I should pay for this myself, if that was going to be a problem, the DA may be able to cover my travel costs. So I said, OK - I can commit to 4 meetings. I know I can. And I understand that means at least 48 hours travel for each meeting.

I am not wealthy, I run my own small business, so do not have a salary. But finding $10,000 a year to travel to be a board member is just not something I was confident I would be able to do. On the other hand, I acknowledge my privilege - I am white, well educated, located in a city with a major international airport, in a first world, English speaking country and do not have family obligations preventing me from doing this.

But what about someone from China, or India, the world's largest nations? They have exploding Drupal communities, it would be great to have their input.

Honestly, I can see the need for 4 in person meetings a year. And I can see it makes sense to hold most of those meetings in the USA when 90% of board members are in North America.

Personally - I think the DA needs to look at another way to ensure voices of 95% of the rest of the world have a forum to be heard. The Board is never going to be able to represent us all.

[1] - https://association.drupal.org/node/1139

"Four Board meetings per year are held in-person and directors are expected to travel to these. Board meetings will coincide with DrupalCons when possible. Director positions are not paid, and directors should expect to pay their own expenses in most instances."

Donna Benjamin
Former Board Member Drupal Association (2012-2018)
@kattekrab

I think you are a perfect

arianek's picture

I think you are a perfect example of someone who would be an excellent and willing board member - but the geographic constraints and the resulting financial impacts are obviously a lot to bear.

I was actually asked to run for the board and declined not just for financial but also health/wellbeing reasons (conserving my energy)... But even though it's not for me, I'd really like it to be a more realistic option for more people.

Great thoughts

zzolo's picture

Great thoughts, @davideads. I think this is the direction that needs to happen with the DA. The only way it can be fully representative of the Drupal community is to expand its decision-making body.

Maybe a first pass at this is:

  • The DA Board which meets in-person 4 times a year (with the financial support)
  • A community board that meets remotely. The community board would present its decisions to the DA board. (I am thinking Free Geek)

As I do think sub-grouping via continents is appropriate given the community, I don't think the DA is at that point of organization and resources.

Is there are other similar projects that we can look at here? Ubuntu?

--
zzolo

+1

arianek's picture

That's a really interesting way of looking at it - a DA board and a related community board that reports to the DA board. Could be the best of both worlds?

A community board is a great

kattekrab's picture

A community board is a great idea.

Donna Benjamin
Former Board Member Drupal Association (2012-2018)
@kattekrab

This is a a better model

davideads's picture

This is definitely a better, more feasible model than what I initially sketched and could be a "best of both worlds" candidate for the medium term (1-2 years). I think you'd want to carefully delineate responsibilities, and create a mechanism that allows the community board to ask the DA board to consider formal proposals.

The FreeGeek Chicago constitution and especially FreeGeek's Constitution 2.0 (currently under consideration) provide possible models, but at a significantly smaller scale than the Drupal ecosystem and with far fewer travel considerations because of our local mission. Our new constitution, which is based on all our practice at community governance to date, might serve as template for a board/community board structure for the DA, though the specifics would have to vary considerably.

David, I think you would be

zzolo's picture

David, I think you would be the best resource for defining this. Free Geek [Chicago] is definitely the model that I was thinking of.

I think something pretty simple for right now is the way to go, especially since we aren't the ones making decisions at the moment; we are the ones that need to convince.

But I would love to see something more like what David proposed and Free Geek Chi constitution.

--
zzolo

Definition

davideads's picture

Thanks Zzolo. I agree about simple models. Start simple, and then deepen and refine based on practice.

I don't think I'm the one to define this at all, but I could help facilitate and inform a conversation about Drupal governance based on our practice at FreeGeek if there was interest from the DA.

In terms of convincing -- I think we should step back from the conversation and determine a small list of "structural adjustments" we'd like to see the DA make. This is my list:

  1. Reduce the number or change attendance requirements of in-person meetings
  2. Provide a robust financial support model for DA board members, based on need and location.
  3. Publish explicitly stated expectations for board members as a form of transparency and to invite conversation about potential barriers.

+1

arianek's picture

I think these are fantastic and super reasonable first/short term steps. It sounds from http://groups.drupal.org/node/199348 that this would satisfy a lot of people's concerns, and it sounds very easy to implement.

Global and Diverse? What does that really mean?

kattekrab's picture

The requirement to meet 4 times a year for better productivity and commitment of board members will negatively impact diversity.

It automatically makes the commitment required of anyone not in the USA just that much more onerous.

We've been assured that board members unable to pay the money to travel and attend will be able to get their travel expenses reimbursed. That's great. But the costs are not purely financial.

If the goal is really to promote diversity then we must acknowledge this requirement will negatively impact that goal. Good, vocal, potential candidates such as Catch and ArianeK have already indicated it's a barrier for them. How many more just won't step up?

If the need to meet 4 times a year in person is deemed more important than diversity, then that's fine. But it's disingenuous to state "We want a more diverse board" and commit to this kind of barrier.

The current board actually has pretty good gender balance, but no-one from outside Europe or North America. How many board members make their living from Drupal and work for established Drupal companies?

Currently the Board of Directors is:
* Founder: Dries Buytaert (USA)
* Jeff Walpole, Seat expires 2014 (USA)
* Vesa Palmu, Seat expires 2014 (Finland?)
* Tiffany Fariss, Seat expires 2014 (USA)
* Cary Gordon, Seat expires 2013 (USA)
* Danese Cooper, Seat expires 2013 (USA)
* Mike Woster, Seat expires 2013 (USA)
* Angela Byron, Seat expires 2012 (Canada)
* Currently Empty, Seat expires 2012
* Currently Empty, Seat expires 2012
* At-Large Currently Empty, Seat expires annually
* At-Large Currently Empty, Seat expires annually

3 out of 8 are women! Great.

As far as I can tell they're all white people and with one exception they are all in the USA.

Danese and Mike are not Drupal people - this is a good thing. They'll bring a different perspective which is usually one of the aims of seeking diverse representation on the board. They've both worked for/with similar kinds of organisations and bring valuable expertise.

Dries, Angela, Jeff and Tiffany work for large successful Drupal companies, doing a lot of work for enterprise level customers. They're all fantastic, hard working, committed and passionate Drupal community members. I don't know Vesa, but I imagine he fits this profile too. Cary runs a small Drupal business and has also shown extraordinary commitment to the DA and the community as a board member, and as event manager.

So what's missing?

What do we really mean by "diverse and representative of the worldwide Drupal community"? What are we looking for?

Dries identified the DA is looking for a diverse board and will consider the following factors when selecting candidates:

  • Geographic diversity
  • Industry diversity: the perspectives of various sectors are valuable (government, publishing, education, not-for-profit, corporate, etc.)
  • Skill sets
  • Drupal Ecosystem: the board should reflect the various perspectives of the members of our community (volunteers, small shops, large shops, large integrators, in-house teams, designers, end-users, etc.)
  • Outside perspectives: FOSS at large, legal, CPA

Donna Benjamin
Former Board Member Drupal Association (2012-2018)
@kattekrab

Great questions

davideads's picture

If the need to meet 4 times a year in person is deemed more important than diversity, then that's fine. But it's disingenuous to state "We want a more diverse board" and commit to this kind of barrier.

Is it fair to say at this point there's a growing consensus that the DA should immediately consider ArianeK's 2 remote / 2 in-person meeting proposal as a step towards a more diverse DA board?

What do we really mean by "diverse and representative of the worldwide Drupal community"? What are we looking for?

These are really poignant questions. I'd add to the criteria you listed:

  • Industry diversity needs to include freelancers, and it would be nice to see design and UI/UX somehow represented in skill sets (along with a lot of other skills...).
  • Demographic diversity: Age, race, culture, gender, income-level, geography -- Drupal serves a very diverse community and the board should strive to be representative of the full range of the community, however imperfectly.

Perhaps the DA could consider hiring someone like Allen Gunn from Aspiration Tech to facilitate in-person meetings.

This is a really interesting

arianek's picture

This is a really interesting overview!

I think the list at the bottom is a good start, but that we might also add to "industry diversity" something like "end user diversity". What I mean by that is that we should think about whether we want to focus our "sectors" exclusively at big players, or also have representatives of developers who do sites for small businesses, for personal sites, etc.

How about representatives from various stakeholders within the community or the greater FOSS folk? Accessibility, security, communications, documentation, etc. seem to often lack a voice, maybe this is another aspect that should be considered?

It always comes back to the question: How can we enable anyone who wants to fill the role to participate? And maybe we don't even know who those people are because of the perceived and real barriers.

+1 to end-user diversity

davideads's picture

+1 to "end-user" as a framing. Your additional criteria are right on.

How can we enable anyone who wants to fill the role to participate?

Not everyone will be able to participate as a leader, but the requirements (like the travel expense discussion, one part of the cost of being a community leader) and support options should be sane enough to allow truly committed folks from all areas of the Drupal-verse a seat at the table.

The topic of legal and CPA

highermath's picture

The topic of legal and CPA resources on the board has come up in several discussions, so I would like to point out one significant caveat. While it is okay to have an attorney or a CPA on the board, in the U.S., professional standards make it problematic for them to give anything that can be construed as professional advice as board members in the context of a board meeting. These professions require a defined relationship as a context for giving advise.

The diversity goal really means that we want a board that together can represent all interests fairly. I don't think that it would be practical to attempt the construction of a board where every definable constituency had an individual representing them.

This goal cannot be applied as a stricture on the at-large board seats, which by definition represent the meta-constituency of the community at-large.