ODK 1 TSC Election - 2019-01-10

It's been a little over a year since the @PMC selected the initial members of the ODK 1 @TAB and per our governance, it's time to hold another election!

If you have a technical background, this is your chance to step up as a volunteer leader, help influence the direction of ODK 1 (Collect, Build, Aggregate, Briefcase, JavaRosa, XForms), and help us grow! If you are interested in this opportunity or the process, read on for more important information.

The TSC will solicit applications from now through Jan 31st with the web form below. On Feb 1st, the TSC will post the text of the applications on the ODK Forum so the community can ask public questions of the candidates until Feb 14th. On Feb 21st, the TSC will announce the new TSC members.

So to summarize:

  • Jan 10, 2019 - Jan 31, 2019: Call for applications
  • Feb 01, 2019 - Feb 14, 2019: Call for public questions
  • Feb 15, 2019 - Feb 20, 2019: Private TSC discussion
  • Feb 28, 2019: Results announced

There is a 2-year term for TSC members, and minimum time commitment is 2-4 hours per month for TSC meetings. Asynchronous discussions are also likely to consume a few hours a month.

An ideal candidate would spend more time than that consistently participating in the community to contextualize the technical decisions the committee has to make. Other than meetings, the specific activities you may perform as a TSC member will vary based upon your unique skills and interests.

The roles and responsibilities of the TSC are described in detail at TSC Governance. Please read the entire document before applying and if you have questions, put them below.

Action items:

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I can't remember whether all current members that want to continue being part of the TSC have to send their applications in, or just the ones from the first elections.

Only members from the first election have to send in their application.

@yanokwa I remember that from the meeting, but I'm confused by the 2-year term comment above. Hasn't it just been one year?

The inaugural term for the first TSC members was 1 year. It’s 2 years after that.

Applications for the TSC will close on Jan 31st! Consider this your four day reminder.

Quick note to say that I won't be running this time because although I do plan to be participating in the community again come mid-March, I will need to adjust my involvement as I get used to working and taking care of a baby! I will certainly consider running again in the future, time permitting.

I've looked forward to the TSC meetings every fortnight. Everyone serving is so thoughtful, caring, and genuinely fun to be on a call with. I hope you will all be running again if you can! And please do invite me to participate now and then. :wink:

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The call for applications is closed!

The text of the applications has been posted in the topics below. We will now have a two week period (Feb 01, 2019 - Feb 14, 2019) of public questions from the community.

Please click on the (randomized list of) topics below, read the applications, and post your questions to the candidates in the appropriate topic. The number next to the link is the number of times the link has been clicked.

The current TSC will take the questions and answers into consideration as they select new TSC members.

1 Like

Are there details on the logistics of voting beyond the Membership section of governance/TECHNICAL-STEERING-COMMITTEE.md? Such as the voting tool? Who counts the votes? etc.

@danbjoseph The voting happens in a private discussion with current members of the TSC. You'll see the post in a few minutes. We don't have a great process yet, so we should discuss that the next meeting.

As you may have noticed, we have not yet announced the results of the election. This is because we've had to make adjustments to the process to ensure that we comply with our governance and are transparent, but privacy preserving.

The process we'll be using is:

  1. A TSC member will send a link to a Google Forms ballot to all TSC members.
  2. All members will be asked to vote. They must enter a secret passphrase.
  3. The resulting spreadsheet from the form will be made public.
  4. The election will be valid only if we have the correct number of votes and all members can see their secret passphrase.

I will start that process now and I expect to have the results by Feb 28th. I have updated the initial post accordingly and will be documenting this process in our governance.

Thanks to everyone who applied to the TSC this round. And extra thanks for your patience while we figured out a good process for carrying out the election.

The applicants who've been elected to serve on the TSC are:

Thanks to Dickson, Adam, Aurelio, Shobhit, and Tom for continuing to serve on the TSC. And a warm welcome to Gareth (@Xiphware)!

I'd like to take this moment to publicly thank Alex (@alxndrsn) and Hélène (@LN) for their work on the TSC over the last year. Both decided not to run this election cycle and we'll miss their leadership!

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I figured you must've been busy counting hanging chads... :slight_smile:

Thank you. It is an honor and privilege to be able to serve on the TSC, and I will endeavor to contribute to the TSC in whatever capacity I can. The ODK Project is truly a worthy investment with ample returns!

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Thanks, @yanokwa! I hope ODK continues to go from strength to strength :slightly_smiling_face:

1 Like