November 25, the first day of the meeting was completely taken up with the topic of the 2014 budget. The board determined the available budget, while the EAB prorated the funds according to the member votes and the strategic decisions of the association bodies.
About three years ago, the TYPO3 Association started the process of democratising. During the past years we managed to set up a transparent budgeting process and have the bodies of the TYPO3 Association (Board, EAB and BCC) elected in a democratic way. Implementing these processes was a major burden on the shoulders of the TYPO3 Association. In the meantime, the TYPO3 Association has grown - latest membership statistics indicate more than 800 members. This presents us with the following new challenges:
- Improving the workflow inside the bodies: in the last two years we were very busy with internal processes like budgeting. In these areas we were able to gain some experience and aim to make processes as simple and transparent as possible whilst being as formal as necessary. For 2014 we found a solution, to allocate funds to projects in a more flexible way. If a budget isn’t used, the money will be allocated to other projects.
At the same time the Association bodies’ workflow needs to be more efficient with more target-oriented discussions, using opportunities instead of endlessly discussing risks. In our goal to support the TYPO3 community, we want to focus on better results. - Direction of the TYPO3 Association: We want to work out a precise strategy for the Association from the aims of the bylaws of the TYPO3 Association, concerning the best way to reach these goals. Currently many people mix up the terms “TYPO3 Association” and “TYPO3 Community / Project”. We are aiming for the recognition of the Association as an integral part of the community.
- Professionalising the membership-support: The administration processes and most of all the necessary software have grown into systems that are hard to manage and to maintain. We want to introduce apt processes and software, to be able to react faster and scale more efficiently in the future.
In addition, we also discussed the following other topics:
Preparations for elections in January: same as in 2013, half of all committee positions will be replaced. It is imperative here to find potential candidates as early as possible and motivate them to apply. We also made some changes to the voting system, in order to simplify using the tool and improving the election procedure.
The future of community management has been discussed with Ben van ‘t Ende. Community management shall be supported by a team, to preserve scalability. Executive work that is currently done by the community manager will be transferred to an Executive Secretary leaving room for actual community management. The person to fill this position will be chosen by the members of EAB, Board and BCC.
The Business Control Committee has worked out a list of improvement suggestions, e.g.: how the budgeting process could be improved and simplified in the future.
Conclusion: The meeting at the end of November has been very productive and took place in a constructive environment. We think, the course for 2014 is sell set. By focussing on the projects “Aim of the Association” and “Improvement of processes” we set a clear focus and are looking forward to realising these changes. Our mission is: Stop starting, start finishing!