2019 Election Campaign: Jeremy Abbott

Foundation
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Vote for Jeremy (he/him/his)

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I’m a senior software engineer at InComm Digital Solutions. I’ve been working with F# since 2014, and have given numerous talks on F# at user groups, conferences (.NET Fringe, Open FSharp, Code on the Beach, Little Rock Tech Fest, F# Conf), and contributed to open source F# projects like Saturn.

At my day job I work on the DevOps team enabling continuous deployment of .NET Core based microservices. I also mentor the team on using functional programming methodologies to write safe, testable, composable software.

You can find me on Twitter at @mrjabbott.

Why I’d Like to be Considered

I’m enthusiastic about promoting F# both as a language, and as an open, welcoming community of programmers. I’ve really appreciated the many outreach efforts supported by the F# Foundation. In particular The FSSF’s mentorship program is incredible as is their partnership with Outreachy.

I am an advocate for making F# accessible to developers of all experience levels. I like to challenge the stereotype that functional programming is only for academics.

I have past experience as an active board member for 501(c)(3) non-profit that focused on advancing equality for LGBT people. During that time I worked in various roles to increase organization visibility, raise awareness about issues important to the organization, and oversee important projects that not only received national attention, but also broke organization fundraising records.

If elected I would like to find more opportunities for the FSSF to support diversity and inclusion efforts. Through these efforts we can find new perspectives on how to increase awareness and adoption of F#.

Thank You for Considering Me

If you have any questions about my experience with non-profits, adopting F#, LGBT activism or anything else, hit me up here, on the F# Foundation slack, or on Twitter.

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I have 2 questions I’m going to ask each Board candidate to begin - but first, a little background:

Historically, the programs managed by the F# Software Foundation have been managed and operated by a Board member. While it’s great to see Board members be actively involved and hands-on (something I highly encourage!), the downside to this is that sustainability of programs has suffered at times. For example, the Diversity Program has been very quiet over the last year, as none of the current Board members have “stepped up” into that role and taken it over since the previous member decided not to run in 2018. We run the risk of this again this year - Gien, who has been the core enabler of the Mentorship Program, has decided not to run for the Board this year, which will leave that program in limbo until somebody is setup to run it or a new approach is devised.

  1. Are there any programs, either existing or new that’d you’d like to see formed, where you would like to take an active role in helping coordinate or enable?
  2. Given the sustainability concern mentioned above, do you have any ideas for ways to try to keep more consistency in programs moving forward, particularly as Board members come and go?
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  1. Are there any programs, either existing or new that’d you’d like to see formed, where you would like to take an active role in helping coordinate or enable?

I would be interested in helping to coordinate the diversity program. I would also be open to helping with the mentorship program.

  1. Given the sustainability concern mentioned above, do you have any ideas for ways to try to keep more consistency in programs moving forward, particularly as Board members come and go?

When I was on the board for PACE (People Acting for Change and Equality) we amended the bylaws so that some board positions had longer terms. This was done specifically to address continuity concerns. This enabled long term programs and recurring programs to continue without interruption and helped ensure consistency executing the goals of those programs. The problem with this approach is that it is harder to find people willing to serve for longer terms.

An alternative approach would be to stagger board member elections. Limit terms to 12 months (e.g. no change), but only half the board turns over at a time. This would mean that at least half (could be more a nominee is already a board member and is re-elected) of the board remains the same across elections. This would mean having elections twice a year, which adds more work for the board to coordinate, communicate, and onboard new board members.

In addition to staggering board member elections, programs could be coordinated by board members with staggered terms. That way at most only 1 board member would cycle out within a 12 month time span.

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The staggered election idea is interesting! Now the mathematical part of my brain is wondering how you make that work with an odd number of board members :slight_smile:
Follow-up question: another direction to address continuity concerns would be to make the programs less dependent from the board, and perhaps have them mainly run by members, with one or more board members taking more of an oversight role. Do you have thoughts on that?

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That is actually how PACE does it. Kind of. Specifically the “president” or executive directory appoints “focus group leaders” as non-voting board members to represent each of the “focus groups”. In the FSSF case that would probably be the executive director and program leaders. However, since the executive director can cycle as well, the question becomes wether or not program leaders would also cycle at that time. It’s something we’d have to decide on if we wanted to explore it further.

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You have my vote, Jeremy! I think your experience with non-profits, meetup organization, and diversity, are a great combination, which would make you an awesome addition to the board.

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Yes - That was the idea with Working Groups, btw. Executive Director can cycle, but that’s typically less frequent (and not necessarily at same time as Board, since Board can fire me anytime they feel like it :grin: , not just at Election cycle).

That being said, you definitely have my vote - I’d love to see you on the Board - the experience in other non profits would be an extremely valuable addition.