<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
</head>
<body>
<p>Hello all,<br>
<br>
Please see the summary of the Thunderbird Council meeting from
January 9, 2020 below.
</p>
<p>----</p>
<pre style="background-color:#ffffff;color:#000000;font-family:'Menlo';font-size:9.0pt;">Thunderbird Project Council Meeting 2020-01-09
Call Summary
Date: Thursday, January 9, 2020
Keeper of the minutes: Ryan
In the call: Ryan, Jorg, Patrick, Berna, Wayne, Magnus, Philipp
Regrets: None
The meeting commences at 2:00 PM CEST.
Agenda:
Financial:
* Ryan noted that EOY donations looked good, met expectations for the year.
* Overall the predicted revenue for the year matched what was predicted in the 2019 budget, leaving Thunderbird with a surplus.
* Ryan shared 2020 revenue and spending expectations and wanted to present a budget to be ratified before next Council (but will be up to their discretion to change if they see fit).
Hiring:
* New positions: Thunderbird Release Engineer / Web Infra Engineer, Senior Software Engineers, Software Engineers, Enterprise Support Engineer, and Add-ons Coordinator have gone through approval process, to be posted soon.
* Renewed a contract for an existing staff member.
* Jorg noted that the roles he raised: Test/Analysis Engineer, Code/Repository Manager, and QA Manager needed to be discussed and decided on. Ryan, Magnus, and Jorg set a time to review those.
* Jorg raised that we need to plan for his duties in the event that his work is no longer sponsored by pEp this year, and that the project needs a larger plan for QA.
* Berna asked if other entities should pay for core TB resources. Philipp and Ryan raised this was a unique situation and that while it was very helpful, it also creates issues. Berna thought key people should be paid by Thunderbird.
* Council seemed to agree that under normal circumstances would not have another company employ key roles.
Governance:
* Wayne contacted Don Marti about helping with the election this year.
* Patrick e-mailed out a summary of how last year's election was run, raised that there were some open questions around what should change for this one.
* Magnus has offered some feedback about handling multiple people from the same organization, waiting on feedback from rest of Council
* Council has received feedback about wanting a longer discussion period.
* Patrick would like to publicly release the full rules of the election.
* Patrick will ensure there is a proposed timeline for the election
* Patrick noted that immediately following the holidays is a frustrating/stressful time to hold an election. Maybe consider extending the terms?
* Philipp raised concerns about the structure, while maintaining community - such as having an executive, finance person, etc. - versus having Council members volunteer to fill those roles.
* Council agreed it would be good to discuss this.
* Berna said there was a need for a more corporate structure, not sure how that should look with both community and corporate parallel structures in place.
* Was raised that it might be good to extend the current Council term to figure out these questions.
* Patrick thought it made sense to have a more corporate structure.
* Patrick also raised that budget should be passed by "department" rather than on individual items.
* Patrick noted that those changes would remove Council from day-to-day management and allow more to get done.
* Berna noted that she suggested budgeting by department in her proposed new Thunderbird bylaws.
* Philipp raised that given the plans for 2020 and beyond, some guaranteed consistency in Council direction and Thunderbird leadership could be important.
* Philipp shared a need for consistency in the project over time.
* Magnus agreed that potentially removing all the leadership at once could be bad, not sure what solution would be best.
* Ryan concerned about partnerships and other business relationships if there is not consistency.
* Patrick pointed out some solutions to this, such as 2 year terms and having parts of the Council elected at different times.
The meeting ended after 3:00 PM CEST.
</pre>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Ryan Sipes
<br>
<small>Community and Business Development Manager</small>
<br>
<a href="https://thunderbird.net">Thunderbird</a><br>
<br>
</div>
</body>
</html>