Re: [boost] RFC.. Steering Committee Bylaws Proposal

Subject: Re: [boost] RFC.. Steering Committee Bylaws Proposal
From: Niall Douglas (s_sourceforge_at_[hidden])
Date: 2017-10-17 04:00:35

On 16/10/2017 12:35, Rene Rivera via Boost wrote:
> It has become clear to me, and some others, that the recent decisions of
> the Steering Committee have exposed various problems with how the Steering
> Committee operates. At CppCon I met with some of the Steering Committee and
> expressed the concerns with them. I also explained, from my experience in
> other organizations, how such issues are managed. The result of that is
> that I will be proposing the Steering Committee adopt operating Bylaws. But
> before formally presenting them to the Steering Committee I'd like get
> feedback on them <http://bit.ly/2hI22DN>[1].

I dislike the proposed structure. It has no separation of powers. I also
believe it is impossible under charity regulations, though the SFC
lawyers can say for sure.

If you're going to propose bylaws, my original proposal whereby the
existing Steering Committee becomes a "Board of Directors" and a new
Steering Committee made up of elected library authors is far more
conventional.

The Board of Directors would be limited to managing the finances, but
can also dissolve the Steering Committee and call for a new election
(one would expect this only to occur if the Steering Committee did
something illegal like embezzle money). The new Steering Committee takes
on all other responsibilities apart from the finances, and is elected
from here on two year terms. This new Steering Committee would "run"
Boost on a day to day basis. The Board of Directors runs BoostCon and
the other "once off" stuff, and continues to deliberately be made up of
mostly *non* Boost library authors.

This separation of powers is how most charity based orgs are run. I'd
strongly recommend you don't innovate on that. I also think that despite
my many run-ins with the Steering Committee over the years, having not
library authors in control of the money is a wise idea.

Niall

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