The PSF Board came together September 12th-15th, 2024, for our annual board retreat. This year we met in Lisbon, Portugal. We used the opportunity to work together in person to discuss high-level strategic planning for the future of the PSF. This year, we moved the retreat from January to September. We aimed to meet as a new board in person as soon as possible to build our trust and communication earlier- which has been working well!
Our retreat
After traveling in on 12th September, we shared a meal together and it was a great chance for some board members to meet our newly elected board member Cristián Maureira-Fredes. There was no “ice-breaking” needed– the ice already melted immediately (maybe due to the heat in Lisbon) that evening! We were sure that it would be a productive weekend going ahead.
In the following two days, the board sat together (except for a “walk and talk” session which we will explain in a bit) to go through all the topics on our agenda and lay down some strategies that the board will follow up in the coming year. On the first day before we jumped into strategies, we agreed on our values and behavioral norms for the meetings. We adopted a “jazz hands” gesture to show agreement and it turned out to be a very effective communication method.
We identified our relationships with various parts of the community and documented some of our long-term goals. We also identified our relationships with other entities and our grant program strategies (more on that later!).
On the second day, as we had been sitting down for most of the time during our meeting (there was no time to waste as the discussion was very intense), we got to do a “walk and talk” session. We broke into two groups to discuss some of the strategies regarding supporting PSF workgroups and mentoring future board members.
The last day was a travel day home, and everyone left Lisbon safely. It was an intense but productive weekend!
What we discussed
There are a multitude of things that we discussed- and many more that we would love to discuss but ran out of time to do so. Here are summaries of some of the topics.
Long term goals
Regarding our vision for where we want to be in 5 years, it can be summarized as:
- financially sustainable
- more support for the community, and
- amplifying Python’s impact around the world
Workings within PSF
We reviewed our meetings structure and process, as well as our relationships with different working groups within the PSF. We also looked at what challenges we may have in our grants program, PyPI, fundraising, and the developer-in-residence program.
Relationship with other organizations
We identified some non-profit organizations that align with our values and which we feel we could benefit from more communication. Those also include some of the local communities that we would like to work closer with.
Fundraising
We explored new fundraising opportunities and brainstormed some ways to diversify the income source of funds.
Grants Program
The board members also reviewed the current PSF grant strategies. We brainstormed ways to make the PSF grants program more efficient and to prioritize where it makes the most impact.
Communication
We talked about continuing to improve communication with our community.
Sustainability
One of the topics that we spent a lot of time talking about was how to help future board members, provide more information about the work of PSF in advance, and how to mentor the next generation of board members.
Continue to support us
The work of the PSF Board and Staff does not stop here. We have another year ahead to keep on supporting Python and the community! If you have any feedback or suggestions to give us, we welcome you to drop by our PSF Board Office Hours or write to us at psf@python.org. We also encourage you to join in our end-of-year fundraiser, and consider becoming a PSF member or making a donation. Check out the 2024 fundraiser landing page to learn about how you can help power Python and the PSF!
