I’ve been appointed to the PASS (Professional Association for SQL Server) Nominations Committee for the 2010 Elections for Board of Directors; as one of two volunteer (non-Board) members, my job is to provide some feedback to the other members on the pulse of the community. While I am deeply honored, I can’t help but feel a smidge like Tom from Office Space.
The good news is that one of the main goals of this committee is to provide transparency into the electoral process of PASS; much of the information regarding why candidates were chosen (or not) will be provided throughout the process (barring any personal information) in order to create a dialogue between the community and the board. I think this is a good thing, even though it’s not always easy to implement. There are three board positions open this year, and I hope we get a slew of excellent candidates from which to pick.
Anyway, stick around for more news about the election; every year gets a little more exciting, and I hope that this year proves to be no different. PASS is a community-driven organization; it should represent the ideals of the SQL Server community. In other words, if you are a database professional, PASS should represent your interests, and be a useful mechanism for furthering your professional development. That only works when people get involved, mmmK? Oh and remember, next Friday is Hawaiian shirt day.
Stuart,
Hope to see more transparency, last year I voted but had no idea how the committee picked the 4 people who were on the ballot. Apparently 11 people submitted their names but only 4 made the ballot and no one could/would explain why the other 7 were not included.
I’m hoping for more people to vote for and more transparency in the whole process.
Also only about 500 people voted lat year which seems low. Hopefully we can get more people involved this year. Maybe let them know why it is important to vote.
Thanks
Dave,
I can’t go into all of the details just yet, but I do know that we as a committee are trying to figure out a way that the public can see why certain individuals will be chosen for candidacy and why other applicants won’t. I can tell you that the nomination process is very in-depth, and I’m sure that many will apply, but only a certain subset will be qualified. Of course, it’s an election, and not everyone will be happy with the decisions we make; additionally, there’s not enough time to perfect the process before the next election. We can only hope to use the experience as a learning one, and just make sure that we follow the rules fairly for all involved, including the applicants and the candidates.
I promise, more details will follow, and I too hope that more people will get involved and vote. That’s probably the most important role in the election process.
today somebody had a case of the mondays!
oh, wait, that was me.
i look forward to your election reports.
Congrats, Stuart!