[ripe-chair-discuss] Chair nomination process

I hear various voices.

I hear people saying, sometimes gently, always I feel sincerely, that they are unhappy with where we find ourselves.

I hear people saying that a lot of work has gone into this process over a considerable period of time and that it should be allowed to play out.

I heard Randy and Liman mention Rob. I smiled at that, not least because the younger folk and the new-comers obviously cannot relate to that idea. In any case what did Rob do? He did not get involved in setting up a procedure. He did not initiate a selection process. He sort of picked a “random member of the audience” and said it was now their task. Maybe he was just being pragmatic in the circumstances.

So I hear different things. They are not always necessarily in contradiction.

I do not think we should ignore the people who have indicated they are unhappy. I think many people thought that, in this setting, good people following an agreed process would just work. And if it risked not working a degree pf pragmatism would come in.

I recognise the hard work that has gone in. Let me say, thank you. And it would indeed be nice if significant effort always ensured acceptable outcomes. But am i the only one who has had a project cancelled or had to stop a project? Whatever. Sunk costs, in whatever form, do not represent the best argument.

Of course the question has been rightly put: so what do we do? Pragmatically...

I think Hans-Petter should carry on as interim chair. I think he should be supported in this by Mirjam. That should be straightforward. He is her boss! This continues until we get ourselves sorted. I trust that that should not take much longer!

I think collectively though we need to get at least some some inkling to the answers to certain questions that cannot perhaps be fully answered publicly. Who else thought about putting their name forward? Who else was approached? Why did people in the end decide against?

To end on lighter note, I was asked by somebody, not on the noncom, if I was interested. I laughed! I am enjoying my freedom too much. But I also had in mind a number of other people - I had not made  a list - that I thought who would be very good.

Gordon