2010 PASS Board Applicants Summarized

Introduction

I emailed seven interview questions to the 2010 PASS Board Nominee Applicants listed on the PASS Board Elections site. You can read my interviews here:

• Allen Kinsel
• Andy Warren
• Denny Cherry
• Douglas McDowell
• Geoff Hiten
• Jack Corbett
• Mark Ginnebaugh
• Markus Sprenger
• Steve Jones

I asked everyone the same questions and blogged the responses in the order received, giving each applicant a day.

“Why Andy?”

I’m glad you asked. There are a couple/three reasons.

1. I whined.

I complained last year about some things that happened around the PASS Board election process. One theme in my complaints was PASS needs more transparency in the election process. This year I see more transparency in the process.

PASS included a 10-page PDF (PASS Elections Procedure: Overview) describing the elections process, which documents and information will be published and which will be considered confidential, and a detailed calendar of events for the NomCom (PASS Nominating Committee).

This is good work and I commend PASS for opening this process to such transparency.

2. It Ain’t Over.

There are at least five ways someone may not make it onto the PASS Board of Directors:

1. Not apply. Like me – I didn’t apply to run for the PASS Board.
2. Apply, but not be Interviewed. After the applications deadline passes applications are reviewed by the NomCom. They determine which applicants they want to interview. There are any number of confidential reasons why the NomCom may decide to not interview an applicant. I support this confidentiality.
3. Apply, Interview, but not be selected for the Slate. Again, this part is confidential and (again) I support it.
4. Apply, Interview, be selected for the Slate, and not be Elected.
5. Withdraw. Things change all the time. Circumstances may change for someone during the nominations process. Or someone may realize they are not willing, ready, and able to commit to two years of service on the PASS Board.

I know some PASS Board members ran in the past and were not elected, only to be elected later. The reason why they were not elected or not presented on the slate of candidates doesn’t matter to me. I vote for the candidates I believe will move PASS in the direction I believe it should go for the next two years. This is important to me. You should vote according to what you believe is important.

Some of the applicants I interviewed in this series will not appear on the slate of candidates for one of the reasons listed above or some other reason. But I bet this will not be the last you hear from these people. They have demonstrated the have enough gumption to try to make an impact on our community. Today may not be their day, but I believe their day will come.

3. They Deserve an Opportunity to Share Their Passion.

Due to #2 above, this may be the last thing the public hears from some of these applicants this election cycle. I think they deserve a shot at telling you why they believe they can make a difference in the SQL Server community and PASS. I put on my Journalist Hat, perhaps too tightly, and thought up some good questions I believed you would want to ask these folks if you could.

Conclusion

Thanks to all the PASS Board applicants! First for applying to volunteer to lead our community; second for answering my questions!

It’s good to see PASS taking these steps towards more transparency. Kudos to PASS for this. I see this as a step on the path of continuous improvement and I would like to see PASS become more agile and take similar steps (for other processes) in the future.

:{> Andy