[Ksummit-discuss] [Tech-board] Linux Foundation Technical Advisory Board Elections and Nomination process

[Jonathan Corbet]

On Sat, 24 Oct 2015 11:28:19 +0100
Grant Likely <glikely at secretlab.ca> wrote:

> I've been asked several versions of the same question, and also the
> annual "what does the TAB actually do?" question, so I'm going to try
> and answer them all in one email:

Great summary, Grant, thanks.

A few additions of my own...

- The Linux Foundation tends to ask TAB members if they can give talks at
  events.  Even more than free software development in general, TAB
  membership can be good if you don't like buying your own T-shirts!

- The TAB has been named in the kernel's "code of conflict" as the body
  that will receive complaints about harassment or other untoward
  behavior in our community and try to resolve them.  Thus far, no such
  complaints have been presented, but TAB members need to be prepared for
  that to happen.

- It has been my feeling for a fair while that the LF could make more use
  of the TAB and its expertise than happens currently.  Good TAB members
  might be those who are willing to let the LF know when they have an
  opinion on what the LF should be doing with and for the community.  As
  an example, some of us have been pushing for the TAB to help with the
  selection of technical talks at LF conferences; I *think* that we
  provided useful input for LCE this year.

That ties in to my last thought...in my time on the TAB, I've noticed
that most of the work tends to be done by a relatively small subset of
the members.  Perhaps every committee is like that, in the end.  A
successful TAB member, IMO, is one who is willing to make the time to not
just attend attend the meetings (which may be at less-than-convenient
times depending on where you live and travel), but also to commit to
putting some time into helping out when there's something to be done.

jon