[ogb-discuss] Random thoughts on meetings

[Rich Teer]

Hi all,

I've been mulling over today's events and thought I'd post my $0.02.
In no particular order:

* The OGB needs to be as transparent as possible, where practical.

* The ability to hear *every single word* of a meeting isn't strictly
  necessary, though the public availability of meeting minutes is
  critical (many thanks to Glynn for publishing today's minutes in
  such a timely manner).

* Although rules are important, I think it's more important to not
  get bogged down with fine details, all the time.  The key to making
  progress, I think, is to mix qualified and well intentioned people
  (that'd be us!) with a healthy dose of pragmatism.  Sometimes the
  spirit of the law is more important than the letter, if progress to
  be made.

* I think that conference calls should be used (once we get the roles
  sorted out) when agreement on an issue can't be reached via email.
  (Sometimes an "in-person" conversation is better than an email one.)
  By conducting most of the OGB's business on ogb-discuss, we are
  fulfilling the transparancy aspect quite nicely: everyone who's
  interested can read and chime in, and a record of the conversation is
  kept in the archives.  This rather handily side-steps the "number of
  ports" issue!  :-)

* As well as the issues mentioned in the preceding paragraph, conf-calls,
  by their synchronous nature, are less convenient than asynchronous email
  discussions (though as I intimated above, sometimes (when an impasse is
  reached) a conf-call is very desirable).

* For the most part, we're all just getting to know each other, so there's
  bound to be a bit of an impedence mismatch at first.  But I'm sure that
  as time progresses, this'll sort itself out.  Personally, I'm looking
  forward to being able to recognise everyone by their voice!

Hope this has been useful,

-- 
Rich Teer, SCSA, SCNA, SCSECA, OGB member

CEO,
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