GNOME loses another executive director

[Posted September 1, 2025 by corbet]

The GNOME Foundation has announced that Steven Deobald will be leaving the position of Executive Director after just four months.

We are extremely grateful to Steven for all this and more. Despite these many positive achievements, Steven and the board have come to the conclusion that Steven is not the right fit for the Executive Director role at this time. We are therefore bidding Steven a fond farewell.

Better communication

Posted Sep 1, 2025 20:23 UTC (Mon) by cypherpunks2 (guest, #152408) [Link]

I hate the corporate speak. I get that GNOME Foundation is a private entity and that it has the legal right to write vague non-explanations, but I wish we could be privy to at least the very basic decision making process involving the executive director of a foundation that is so heavily-intermixed with the community. The direction that GNOME Foundation is going is something that is relevant to all of us. Can't there be better communication?

The first comment on the blog's article sums up my opinion nicely:

> We’re not disappointed, we’re worried and confused.

Steven Deobald's blog post about the departure

Posted Sep 2, 2025 9:23 UTC (Tue) by gherkin (guest, #177675) [Link] (6 responses)

It seems reasonable to also note the post by the person departing.

https://blogs.gnome.org/steven/2025/08/29/so-short-and-th...

Steven Deobald's blog post about the departure

Posted Sep 2, 2025 12:17 UTC (Tue) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link] (5 responses)

(But, to save others the time: it adds no info.)

Steven Deobald's blog post about the departure

Posted Sep 2, 2025 14:29 UTC (Tue) by hailfinger (subscriber, #76962) [Link] (4 responses)

Hm. Possibly significant additional info in that blog post is the title "Thanks for all the flinch", implying lots of painful surprises. The previous director signed off with the familiar "Thanks for all the fish", which implies a similar quick exit before impending destruction.

Steven Deobald's blog post about the departure

Posted Sep 2, 2025 14:37 UTC (Tue) by paulj (subscriber, #341) [Link]

To lose one... misfortune. To lose two.... ?

Steven Deobald's blog post about the departure

Posted Sep 2, 2025 14:44 UTC (Tue) by jzb (editor, #7867) [Link] (2 responses)

which implies a similar quick exit before impending destruction.

I don't know the circumstances of Deobald's departure, but Littauer was hired as a temporary ED to fill the gap and always planned to leave quickly. "Thanks for all the fish" is pretty neutral, coming from Douglas Adams/Hitchhiker's Guide—I've lost count of how many times I've seen it used by others in tech when announcing their departure from a job.

If you read his blog post, he explains that he had previously applied for the role, then (after not getting it) signed on to do PhD studies in New Zealand. He agreed to do it part-time, after Million left, until they found a new ED. (And all that matches what he said to me in person at GUADEC last year.) Originally it was meant to be a two-month contract, which turned into a longer stint until they found Deobald.

Steven Deobald's blog post about the departure

Posted Sep 2, 2025 19:57 UTC (Tue) by MortenSickel (subscriber, #3238) [Link] (1 responses)

I have not read HHGTTG for a long time, but if I remember correctly, '(so long and) Thanks for all the fish' is the dolphins last message to man when leaving the earth that is to be destroyed, so to me, a director leaving with that message either do not know the conotation or is definately not leaving a neutral message.

Steven Deobald's blog post about the departure

Posted Sep 2, 2025 22:58 UTC (Tue) by coriordan (guest, #7544) [Link]

I think the reference nowadays just means "thanks for everything" and it's used as a geeky wink to say "I know who Douglas Adams is". Nothing more.

Paradise Lost

Posted Sep 2, 2025 10:48 UTC (Tue) by grmnsftphr (subscriber, #178591) [Link] (2 responses)

It was so beautiful, friendly and nice, and we felt so guilty of our paradise, so we abruptly ended it.

Paradise Lost

Posted Sep 3, 2025 8:33 UTC (Wed) by qwertyface (subscriber, #84167) [Link] (1 responses)

Is that a quotation? If so, from what? I Googled, but didn't find anything. It definitely speaks to a feeling I've had often!

Paradise Lost

Posted Sep 7, 2025 20:04 UTC (Sun) by grmnsftphr (subscriber, #178591) [Link]

It's a quote from a defective HR LLM bot.