Make de-RSE e.V. more functionable and future proof by improving bus factors

de-RSE e.V. - Society for Research Software is the community-run scholarly society for Research Software Engineering and research software engineers in Germany. It has been modeled as a national charitable association and is governed by a board. The structure of the board reflects that of a typical German association, i.e., it has 6 seats: 2 chairs, 2 treasurers, 2 secretaries.

It is in the remit of de-RSE to provide technical infrastructure for the community, including a messageboard, mailing list, community call, website, as well as templates for other groups. It publicizes and communicates topics relevant for the community (job ads, events, relevant research, etc.) and further organizes national RSE events, e.g., an (annual) conference of research software engineering in Germany (deRSE19, rSE22, deRSE23), and the de-RSE unconference 2023. Furthermore, de-RSE develops positions and policies w.r.t. research software engineering in Germany, cooperates with relevant initiatives (Gesellschaft für Informatik, NFDI, German Reproducibility Network, etc.), and lobbies for Research Software Engineering.

For the first years of its existence, much of these activities have been initiated by the board, and have been supported by the community on a per-event or ad-hoc basis. While this modus operandi has proved bootstrappable to get started, and safeguarded the existence of a continuum over the pandemic, it is not future proof: the community is growing, the tasks expanding, and a board of six individuals with day jobs and other responsibilities cannot sustainably stay on top of everything while running the society and its day-to-day business.

In this breakout group, we will discuss an extended model of governance for the society that is compatible with the charter while at the same time distributing tasks over more shoulders, thereby reducing the generally very low bus factors. We will also receive input from the board w.r.t. to existing technical infrastructure and how it shuold be developed to better support the community within the constraints of the society's finances, capabilities, and legal framework. The developed model will be put to the board and the community for discussion, decision and implementation at the earliest possible time. Such a new governance will strengthen de-RSE and the community to become more able to act on the tasks at hand, and the challenges of the future.

As a starting point, we will present a similar model, employed by the Society for Research Software Engineering in the UK. Very briefly, the SocRSE has a board of (potentially 12, currently 11) trustees. All trustees have different tasks, distributed over 8 "committees": 1) Governance; 2) Communications & Publicity; 3) Conference and Events; 4) Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility; 5) Finance; 6) Web & Infrastructure; 7) Membership; 8) Code of Conduct. All trustees are expected to work in multiple groups, depending on their preference. In addition, there are "official" Working Groups for "structural" issues (e.g., for mentoring programme and regional RSE groups) and community-run Special Interest Groups that work on specific topics. SocRSE supports these groups with infrastructure at different levels.

A similar structure could be adopted for de-RSE, thereby multiplying the number of shoulders the society rests upon. In this context, it is key to define incentives for becoming part of this new governance structure, i.e., how the work will be supported, and the personal advantages of doing the work.

Session chair(s)

• Stephan Janosch, de-RSE e.V.
• Frank Löffler, de-RSE e.V.
• Stephan Druskat, SSI

Time

Wed., Sep. 27 09:00 - 18:00

Thu., Sep. 28 13:30 - 15:00

Room

Workshop B