[IAEP] quarterly or semiannual financials/vibrancy/transparency around Sugar Labs' 1st hire

[Chris Leonard]

On Sun, Apr 3, 2016 at 6:49 PM, Adam Holt <holt at laptop.org> wrote:
> Just a quick apology that I will be voting against the role as currently
> outlined at http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Translation_Community_Manager as it
> does not as of now
> contain quarterly or semiannual reporting structures with teeth, as Chris
> Leonard outlined to me during a more-than-hourlong telephone call on
> February 25th 2016, and as Walter Bender co-suggested during April 1st 2016
> Oversight Board meeting.  This is not to question the very hard work Tony
> Anderson put into the above page.  Tony is far from the only one who has
> worked very hard on this, but his work over more than a month stands out
> above all others.
>
> The reason for such quarterly or semiannual financial and community
> reporting would be to protect Sugar Labs from accidental drift, and
> accidental incommunicado, despite
> the absolute very best of intentions from all
> (http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Finance was not updated for 4 years, for
> reasons I still do not fully understand).  Such cultures can be exceedingly
> difficult to change, if they accidentally take root.  Far better to nip them
> in the bud in advance, with no-fault/no-blame rhythmic action.  Critically,
> this is completely distinct from monthly reporting on an
> informational/sociable level to http://planet.sugarlabs.org or similar,
> which I consider the fundamental nurturing foundation of this job -- but
> completely distinct from strategic/financial reporting Writ Large.

As you know I have no objection to regular reporting for the position.
I am not only sympathetic to the need for clear mutual obligations in
any contractual arrangement, I am more-or-less insistent that it is
essential.

An example might be made of my recent (unpaid) activity over the past
month (since March 1, 2016).

Pootle activity RSS feed
http://translate.sugarlabs.org/notices/rss.xml

Infrastructure-oriented work restoring dropped activities and their
already completed L10n work

New project Arithmetic created.04/03/2016 05:24 PM
New project PlayGo created.04/03/2016 04:33 PM
New project Convert created.04/03/2016 03:17 AM
New project SimpleGraph created.04/02/2016 08:12 PM
New project Slider-Puzzle created.04/02/2016 12:11 AM
New project Jigsaw-Puzzle created.04/01/2016 10:08 PM
New project Implode created.04/01/2016 07:54 PM
New project Distance created.04/01/2016 05:18 PM
New project Calendario created.04/01/2016 12:30 AM
New project Clock created.03/29/2016 07:37 PM
New project TamTamSuite created.03/27/2016 11:21 PM
New project StopWatch created.03/27/2016 08:39 PM
New project Moon created.03/27/2016 06:25 PM
New project OLPC_switch_desktop created.03/27/2016 02:06 AM
New project GCompris_temp created.03/04/2016 11:02 PM

Community-oriented work restoring dropped languages (or recruiting).

New language Kinyarwanda created.04/01/2016 01:24 AM
New language Kosraean (Kusaiean) created.03/01/2016 07:57 PM
New language Samoan (Gagana Sāmoa) created.03/01/2016 07:48 PM
New language Bislama created.03/01/2016 07:33 PM
New language Tagalog created.03/04/2016 10:45 PM


An Amharic (Ethiopian language) localizer recruited back to activity.
Work will probably be primarily off-line with periodic uploads.  I
will be facilitating by sharing PO files in converted CSV format.

New user dbekele registered.03/29/2016 10:08 AM

Other reportable activities might include pull requests for i18n improvement.

sugar-toolkit-gtk3 - Improve the i18n of speech strings with wiki links.
https://github.com/sugarlabs/sugar-toolkit-gtk3/pull/312

Improve the i18n of astronomy strings with wiki links.
https://github.com/walterbender/starchart/issues/1
minor fix - StarChart
https://github.com/walterbender/starchart/pull/2

Browse activity fix (someone else's catch, but changes also made in Pootle)
https://github.com/sugarlabs/browse-activity/pull/29

Not every month will necessarily be this busy, but I don't see a
near-term shortage of work to be done.

There are other reasonable (and fully verifiable) metrics of activity
that are not particularly burdensome to record or report.  Admittedly,
there will hopefully not be the level of activity recovery once I have
completed my review of dropped activiities, but other sorts of
activity can be identified.

Let's add reporting requirements, monthly and/or quarterly, no big deal to me.


> As Sugar Labs' liaison to the Software Freedom Conservancy monitoring
> accounting, financial and legal matters, I simply cannot in good conscience
> vote in favor of Sugar Labs' first hire as described to date, without
> binding quarterly or semiannual protections against accidental and
> unintended drift.  Noble intentions need to be backed up with
> trust-but-verify process (as Chris Leonard outlined to me very emphatically
> on February 26th) if in the end we believe in accountability at all.  While
> bashing bean-counters and lawyers is a perpetually entertaining hobby among
> engineers (the jokes never get old) in the end this gets us nowhere compared
> to the satisfaction of publishing our true accomplishments that our limited
> lives afford us.  Quarterly or semiannual involvement would secure the
> board's dynamic participation most important, as nobody likes an absentee
> boss, disconnected from ongoing priorities.

I agree that measurable outcomes must be tied to funding, for the
Translation Manager position, it is not always possible to define them
in advance to a high degree, but the activity can be recorded post-hoc
to justify the funding.


> I am hopeful that some such buck-stops-here reporting vibrancy will arrive
> in due course, either through a version of Caryl Bigenho's evolving
> Treasurer proposal
> (https://docs.google.com/document/d/16jIFuZ9bX-Bv675BpA1KmcEcRcX4PRCOUEX0ICRUkOc)
> and/or via an improved Translation Community Manager job description(*),
> that makes quaterly/semiannual reporting far more explicit, with a board
> vote affirming Chris Leonard's (or whoever's!) excellent ongoing work during
> each such emerging cycle.  Clearing bureaucracy out of the way for the sake
> of our legacy -- whether sandwiches are included or not, to properly
> celebrate Chris Leonard's great work every 3-to-6 months.
>
> I have not thought enough about Caryl's proposal, not talked to her to even
> understand it yet, but I am very interested in her suggestion that Sugar
> Labs decide what prompt financial transparency Actually Means -- at what
> granularity, and at what frequency.  Rather than having these core pieces
> decided for us by forces/externalities we regrettably still do not
> understand.  Thank you to Caryl for posed thos central/larger existential
> question that deserves both an immediate answer (if we choose to establish
> Sugar Lab's 1st hire this spring) and a more long-term inner-truth answer:
> how do we in fact regularly and promptly expose/organize finances,
> delivering material no-nonsense community trust, particularly if we expect
> others to do our work for us?
>
> Both the short-term and long-term question need a no-bullshit answer, and I
> hope Caryl who's been thinking about this very carefully can help us
> organize a
> ground-truthed solution.  As the time for blameful bickering is humbly over,
> as our Nigerian friend Mr Goddy gently reminded us today: if we each want to
> leave a legacy of judicious action through compromise -- standing up for the
> team and the principles that brought us together!  If so, this will bring
> Sugar Labs forward as a prominent and very proud player truly assisting
> several indigenous languages this shrinking earth greatly depends on...
> among many other things ;)
>
>
> (*) one possibility might be to add the following:
>
> 1) Translation Community Manager reports to SL Board + Community + Public on
> a fixed preset schedule of (specify quarterly or semiannual) renewable
> contract cycles.
>
> 2) Reports can be of any length and should be posted/archived together to a
> unique URL (http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Translation_Community_Manager ?)
> one month prior to the completion of each contract cycle, mentioning:
> (a) What actually happened over the current cycle and/or since the last
> report, including financial summary (fine if different from prior cycle's
> projections: we learn by doing!)
> (b) What can and should happen over the coming cycle.
> (c) Long-term strategic recommendations if he/she is hopefully so inclined!
>
> 3) The Board must affirm continuation or renewal of the contract before the
> end of each (quarterly or semiannual, pick one!) cycle.  This last part is
> largely a rubber-stamp, as the expectation is that the contract should
> renew, insofar as funds allow as the translation community strengthens --
> but at the same time it is an absolutely critical check and balance (Dead
> Man's Switch) to keep us each & all conscientiously engaged, accountable,
> and involved!
>
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