[Osmf-talk] Conflict of Interest
Frederik Ramm
frederik at remote.org
Wed Jul 29 21:43:48 UTC 2009
Hi,
Gervase Markham wrote:
> Listening and serving is the essence of good leadership, in business or
> otherwise. (Mark 10:45; John 13:12-17.) There is no dichotomy between
> "good leadership skills" and "listening and serving".
Hm. Let me put it another way then: If someone asks the OSMF where they
are going with OSM and the answer is "we'll see where the community
takes us", I'd find that perfectly acceptable (even desirable). However
if the OSMF were a business giving me that answer, then I would
certainly not invest money in them!
It is a good discussion to have among us OSMF members but I do not view
the OSMF as having any "leadership" component. The OSMF is not expected
or required to have a vision, nor to provide any sort of guidance for
the project - just to assist the project where such assistance is asked for.
If, for example, there were a country where people are simply not
interested in OSM and no OSM community establishes itself, then that's
just fine, we'll wait until it eventually happens - I wouldn't expect
OSMF to compile a list of "problem regions" together with an action plan
on how to improve the map there. I wouldn't even expect OSMF to analyse
why OSM doesn't work in that country - if it doesn't then it doesn't, no
reason to get upset about it.
Of course if a community starts to form and people ask for help from the
OSMF then that should, and would, be granted - but I'd never expect OSMF
to be "proactive" about this. OSMF shouldn't be "driving" anything in
the project that doesn't drive itself.
Which is, in my eyes, completely different from what I'd expect from a
business.
But maybe I am mixing up the role of OSMF vis-a-vis the community and
the role of individuals inside the OSMF - perhaps it needs people with
strong leadership skills at the helm of OSMF to make sure that OSMF
doesn't start trying to lead OSM?
Bye
Frederik
--
Frederik Ramm ## eMail frederik at remote.org ## N49°00'09" E008°23'33"
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