I have had the great pleasure and fortune of working with Mauro through his deep involvement in the community. He is an incredibly compassionate and sensible contributor (with a great sense of humor), working to understand the wider impact of decisions, both his own and those of others, as they are made. As a valuable coordinator of both Ubuntu Summits and the regular Flavor syncs, Mauro is not only a strong leader, he is a shining beacon of light, striving to create a cohesive and passionate community. To directly quote the Ubuntu Code of Conduct:
We value discussion, data and decisiveness
We gather opinions, data and commitments from concerned parties before taking a decision. We expect leaders to help teams come to a decision in a reasonable time, to seek guidance or be willing to take the decision themselves when consensus is lacking, and to take responsibility for implementation.
The poorest decision of all is no decision: clarity of direction has value in itself. Sometimes all the data are not available, or consensus is elusive. A decision must still be made. There is no guarantee of a perfect decision every time - we prefer to err, learn, and err less in future than to postpone action indefinitely.
We recognise that the project works better when we trust the teams closest to a problem to make the decision for the project. If we learn of a decision that we disagree with, we can engage the relevant team to find common ground, and failing that, we have a governance structure that can review the decision. Ultimately, if a decision has been taken by the people responsible for it, and is supported by the project governance, it will stand. None of us expects to agree with every decision, and we value highly the willingness to stand by the project and help it deliver even on the occasions when we ourselves may prefer a different route.
To quote my endorsement of Aaron Prisk’s membership application (and this also strongly applies here):
If you ever have doubts as to the depth of his contributions, let me assure you, the countless hours (and straight days) of behind-the-scenes work and sleepless nights, and the tough conversations and decisions required to maintain a resilient community, are taxing, but hold the community up in ways you would not even imagine.
Mauro’s work outside of his direct professional work may also be profound, but his professional work (which carries over into a deep, personal passion for community, or maybe it’s the other way around?) is absolutely resounding and exceptional. We would be incredibly fortunate to welcome Mauro to the official Ubuntu Member ranks; regardless of the decision, I would encourage us all to continue to support and guide Mauro, as he continues in his Ubuntu journey.