[H-GEN] My points for the exec meeting on the 19/9/2009.

[Russell Stuart]

I will be adding the following agenda items for the exec meeting.

As you know, I am partial to crisp meetings where everyone has done
their thinking beforehand.  This requires everyone to know all the
proposals on the table before they come to the meeting.  So here are my
mine.


1.  Privacy Policy.

I have lumped this into one basket, although there are several issues.

Firstly, some people have object to certain details being put on the
Wiki.  I agree with them.  I don't actually think it is much of a risk,
but that is an entirely different issue.  The point is it is their data,
and we must respect their evaluation of the risks.  So I will be moving
a motion to the effect that the exec may not put the private information
of other individuals on the wiki without their express permission.  A
far better policy is to ask people to put whatever information they are
comfortable with on their wiki home page.

The second issue is correspondence to Humbug.  It is my firm belief that
correspondence with Humbug should be available in the public domain if
at all possible.  So will be proposing that we add words to this effect
on the, near the public email aliases and addresses:

"Humbug will treat all correspondence received as public domain, meaning
it can be copied and published freely, unless it has explicitly agreed
in writing to the sender to treat correspondence on a particular topic
as private."

The third issue is sending passwords in the clear to lists.  This has
been done a couple of times recently.  When you do that, the password
remains on the disk in the archives, in the clear, forever more.  I
don't think that is a wise thing to do.  In fact sending other peoples
private information to the lists should be avoided for the same reason.
If would want to send passwords, send directly to the persons email box,
ideally encrypted using their gpg key.


2.  Public SysAdmin list.

One of my election policies was to put end private lists - ie lists that
normal Humbug members are prohibited from joining.  This issue was
complicated by a motion put forward at the AGM to make all lists public
being defeated.  There has been some discussion on general at to what
that means.  What it means is this: when a motion is defeated, it is as
if it was not proposed at all.  In particular it does not mean you do
the reverse.  Thus if a motion to force the exec to eat fruit was put
and defeated, it does not mean the exec must not eat fruit.  It means
the exec can continue doing whatever they did before.

That said, the motion was defeated which indicated there is some feeling
on the matter.  But given I was elected with a large majority and I
clearly stated what I wanted to do, I am confused as to what that
feeling is.  I feel like I will be dammed if I do and dammed if don't,
so what the hell - I will proceed anyway, but cautiously.

So at the exec meeting I would like you to bring along two lists.  On
one list put how open the SysAdmin list might help Humbug, and on the
other put how you think it might be harmful to Humbug.  My proposal will
be the current list is closed/moved, and a new open one started.  It
will probably use the same email address as the old one to avoid
confusion.


3. Public exec list.

Unlike the SysAdmin list, I can see times when people would like for
whatever reason to contact the exec privately.  Whether we choose to
respect that is a different matter, but I can well imagine there are
times we might.  Right now this isn't a problem, as the exec list is
private.  So, I suggest we do two things:

  a.  If people want to contact the exec privately, they do so via
      secretary at humbug.org.au.  Note this is how most organisations
      work.

  b.  The exec list will be replaced by a public list, in the same
      manner as SysAdmin above.

Again, could people planning to attend the exec meeting compose two
lists - benefits and harms, just as for the SysAdmin list.


4.  Exec reports.

I would like to formalise the exec reports.  This will take the form an
email sent to the exec mailing list prior to the meeting.  This is the
format I will be asking you to vote on:

Vice President:

      For each of the following rosters/schedules/lists, provide a 
      list of changes made since the last exec meeting, and a 
      statement on the up-to-date'ness of the clubs records of the
      complete list (eg: "I, xxx, certify the clubs records are
      up-to-date).  The clubs records could be a wiki page, a spread
      sheet, or whatever.

      a.  Confirmed meeting room bookings.
      b.  Financial members.
      c.  Meeting open / close roster.
     
      For this meeting, just present the entire rosters/schedule/list.


Treasurer:

         Bank balance at last report
           + Itemised Income
           - Itemised Expenses
           = Bank balance now
           . Outstanding cheques and deposits
           = Clubs bottom line.

         The treasurer also has to maintain a schedule of the clubs
         assets.  Only major items, like the wireless router and
         camera.  We will decide on the list at the meeting.

Secretary:

         - Minutes from previous meeting, for approval.
         - Correspondence received and sent since the last exec meeting.
         - Outstanding items, and how long they have been outstanding.

Librarian:

         The following information on all machines Humbug controls:

         - Backups available (these must have been sighted).
         - Date a backup was tested by a complete restore 
           from backup only.
         - Percentage of disk space used.
         - Load average, or similar estimate of CPU utilisation.
         - List of packages that aren't up-to-date security wise.
         - Expected OS EOL (ie when security patches will no 
           longer be available).
         - Any major configuration changes since the last exec meeting.
         - Changes to schedule of people with access to the box.

President
         - A note on the completeness of the reports.



4.  SysAdmin organisation.

It you measure SysAdmin by things people requesting getting done fairly
quickly, it seems to be ticking along fairly well.  There are only two
issues I can see.

One is short term.  Organising a way of voting on decisions that
everybody is happy with is proving difficult.  My suggestion here is
that should a vote be required, the SysAdmin calls for a vote then
declares the outcome.  The criteria for the outcome (eg simple majority,
or 2/3's majority, or at least 4 votes ...)  should be made plain in
call for votes.

The other concern is long term.  That is allowing newbies to enter the
SysAdmin club.  Opening the SysAdmin list is one step.  Longer term, I
hope to make it easier for people to post patches.