[Osmf-talk] Funding of iD Development and Maintenance

[Allan Mustard]

A few comments below:

On 8/5/2020 8:55 AM, Andy Allan wrote:
> On Wed, 5 Aug 2020 at 14:17, Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> wrote:
>
>> Perhaps the OSMF could concentrate on the "operative business" - having
>> members, collecting money, running servers, employing staff, etc. - and
>> there could be a nondescript charity somewhere that holds domain names,
>> trademarks, and database rights.
>>
>> Or the other way round, possibly you meant that by "arms-length
>> organisations", that the OSMF becomes the nondescript charity that only
>> has a couple of trademarks and rights, and all the operative business is
>> run by the "OpenStreetMap Services Ltd." or whatever, which would be the
>> organisation that can fail without tearing down the project.
> As I said in my first email, I'm not advocating a bare-minimum
> do-nothing approach for the OSMF (nor achieving the same thing by
> switching the bare minimum to another organisation). There's room for
> OSMF to do plenty of things while balancing the risks.
>
> But I haven't seen anything to suggest these risks are being balanced,
> or even assessed. None of the proposals have even hinted that there
> might be downsides, or alternative approaches, that the members should
> consider. They've just been presented as an unequivocal good thing,
> leaving many of the responses with "sounds good" and little more than
> that.
In fact the Board has examined the risks of which it is aware, and they
are implicit in the way the hiring proposal was presented for community
consultation
(https://wiki.osmfoundation.org/w/index.php?title=Hiring_Framework&oldid=7348). 
However, the Board seeks not to "lead the witness" in these
consultations, and so presents proposals as neutrally as possible with
the intent of eliciting unbiased assessments from knowledgeable
community members.
> Two small examples might illustrate my point:
>
> 1) The decision was made to make the SSRE job permanent from the
> get-go, rather than other options such as a fixed-term contract. But
> there's nothing to indicate that the Board have considered or
> mitigated any risks, like around terminating the contract if we decide
> that something different is required. Perhaps those risks were
> discussed? But they haven't been shared.
No decision has been made.  A proposal has been submitted for community
consultation.  The Board is interested in hearing from the community how
it views the pros and cons.  I refer you back to the proposed hiring
framework (link above).
> 2) The iD contract will be funded by "earmarked donations from
> companies, chapters and organisations", which notably leaves out
> individuals. It's a marked shift from our previous approach to
> fundraising, and risks a disconnect between members and what the OSMF
> spends money on, and also increases the risks of large-company
> capture. We've spent many years working on the principle that we
> should fundraise from individuals to ensure our ongoing independence.
> Again, nothing showing consideration of these risks have been shared.
This actually is a marked shift from iD's prior funding model, which was
direct hiring of maintainers by two third parties (Mapbox and Critigen,
to be specific).  The intent here is to shift away from corporate
capture of our technologies, not toward it.  That risk is in fact firmly
in the forefront of the Board's thinking.
> 3) The board is going to appoint members of the new dispute resolution
> committee. This is again a significant departure from what we normally
> do in OSMF, where few (if any?) groups have ever been appointed like
> this. Maybe it's a better way? I dont' have a strong opinion. But we
> have nothing showing that the risks have been considered.
The Board appointed members of the DISC and the Microgrants Committee. 
These were not controversial, and drew on the volunteer do-ocracy. 
>
> Thanks,
> Andy
>
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