[IAEP] Executive Director

[Edward Cherlin]

Well, if it's Walter, no problems. He has done an amazing job so far,
and we all know that he has the right instincts.

Now we can discuss whom Walter needs to take care of making things
happen while he is setting directions and goals, raising money,
recruiting people and organizations, and such like. Ship's captain and
Exec, or University President and Provost sort of thing. And whatever
other staff can take over things that they know how to do, and let
Walter do what only Walter can do.

A question that we don't discuss much is, What else needs to happen
besides OLPC and Sugar Labs creating and selling the most insanely
great hardware and software in the world? You have heard my ideas on
this.

* Electricity and Internet for even the poorest and most remote villages
* Microfinance to place this equipment, based on projected income
increase because of it
* New curriculum, now that children learn differently and can take on
many concepts much earlier
* New textbooks incorporating available software, provided for free
* Further research in education, development, and other neglected subjects
* Social networking for students worldwide to connect in safety
* Support for graduates and students to create sustainable
international businesses together
* Funding XOs for all (~$25 billion annually when the price hits $75)

And probably one or more other organizations and Web sites to do all
of that. Should we ask Walter to help organize this?

On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 9:14 AM, David Farning <dfarning at sugarlabs.org> wrote:
> Roles and responsibilities of an Executive Director.
>
>
> Both Edward and Greg narrowed in on the key point to the cost benefit
> analysis regarding an Executive Director. It is not a yes no decision.
> We as a community must determine how to organize ourselves to maximize
> the reward of having an Executive Director while minimizing the risk.
>
>
> The general consensus among open source projects is to have the
> Executive Director focus his efforts on fostering the foundation, or
> infrastructure, which supports the development community. The Director
> focuses on building the tools which help the community build itself.
>
>
> In the case of Sugar Labs, the Executive Director is the Lab Director.
> The lab director creates a place into which he can attract smart people
> to solve the problems which the lab has accepted as challenges.
>
>
> Creating the space. 20 years ago, space meant physical space with desks
> and chairs and parking spots. Through the use of technology, today, a
> successful lab can exist in virtual space. Instead of office space,
> Sugar Labs will require the hardware, software, tools and processes to
> help our developers collaborate effectively while being separated by
> time and space.
>
>
> Attracting smart people. Smart people have choices. They chose what do
> do for a living and what to do with their free time. The traditional
> understanding of open source projects is that developers get involved to
> scratch an itch. At Sugar Labs we have the additional benefit of impact.
> Contributors are will to help if they know the work has a large positive
> effect. Our work goes directly into the hands of 100s of thousands of
> students. Sugar Labs will need to establish a reputation so that smart
> people will chose to give their time and money to us.
>
>
> The challenges. The challenges that Sugar Labs can accept are driven by
> the cost of failure. As a lab, the overall cost of failure is high. We
> are the only project focused on creating a software learning platform
> which helps kids learn. As individuals, the cost of failure is low.
> Individuals can take risks. By leveraging the open source development
> model, Sugar Labs can accept the good contributions and send the not so
> good contributions back for refinement. Sugar Labs will need to stay
> focused on the vision while allowing individual participants the freedom
> to explore.
>
>
> With this in mind, I would like to propose that the oversight board
> appoint Walter Bender to the position of Executive director for one
> year. Over the course of the year, Walter and the Board will work
> together to more formally set the roles and responsibilities of Sugar
> Lab's Director.
>
> thanks
> david
>
> _______________________________________________
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>



-- 
Don't panic.--HHGTTG, Douglas Adams
fivethirtyeight.com, 3bluedudes.com Obama still ahead in EC!
http://www.obamapedia.org/ Join us!
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/User:Mokurai For the children