OpenSSL Foundation in Dublin

Earlier this month the OpenSSL Foundation management team gathered in Dublin. Our primary purpose was discussing strategy for the upcoming year. We have a broad mission and limited staff so working on the right things makes a huge difference. From three packed days of meetings, we created a list of action items ranging from updating our strategic plan to fixing some links in the OpenSSL documentation. 

Our fully-remote team treasures opportunities to get to know each other. Learning seemingly trivial things -- like dessert orders and physical height -- helps us interact with each other when we return to working from home. It’s not entirely rational, but it’s part of what makes us human. 

Especially important this meeting was connecting with the newest addition to the team, Sherry S. Handel. During the interview process, I gathered Sherry is a kind and generous person. That impression became tangible as the team worked together in person. And nothing can replace gathering for meals when it comes to connecting with others.

When we planned our trip to Dublin, it was before we knew Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) would be available in OpenSSL 4.0. As it turns out, the location and timing could not have been better. Ireland is the home of Tolerant Networks, which did much of the work on implementing ECH. The OpenSSL Foundation hosted a dinner with founders Dr. Stephen Farrell and Kerry Hartnett, along with Dr. Niall O’Reilly, who joined them in 2015. Along with work conversations, we talked about the beautiful country of Ireland.

To top off the trip, Stephen invited us to see the Old Library and Book of Kells at Trinity College. It was a poignant reminder that even a long-running open source project such as OpenSSL is but a moment in the long run of history. The Foundation’s scope goes beyond the next quarter or the next fiscal year to preserve private and secure communication for future generations.

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