[CHAOSS] How decisions are made (was: Opening discussion on using Discourse Forum for CHAOSS)

[dmg]

> I don't think this has always being the case, but I would say 
> that
> usually people argue in favor or against, and propose different
> decisions, in the mailing list, and then during the calls, 
> consensus
> areas are explored until a decision is perceived to have 
> consensus. But
> other people who has participated in these processes may say too 
> if
> this matches their experience.

hi Jesus

with all due respect, I think most decisions are not 
reached. Simply, the people who are in charge of them
enact them according to the input of others.

In other words: the doers control what gets done and how, with the 
possibility that they take into
consideration the input of others.

there have been some decisions (few) that require a vote of the 
board. But in general,
we have silent consent.

I think this is perfectly fine. It is just the way that most open 
source projects work.

perhaps at some point, the board might get the ability to veto 
actions by CHAOSS members via a majority
vote.

> Up to now, my feeling is this worked well. But maybe it is not 
> scaling
> up as we have more people involved in general, people active in 
> working
> groups, the set of people attending all calls, and participating 
> in all
> mailing lists, is getting shorter and shorter (as a fraction of 
> the
> total people involved in CHAOSS as a whole).

I think we all have our opinions on what needs/should be done. But 
unless we are willing to do it,
we should not get on the way of those doing it.

There are situations where actions of CHAOSS members on behalf of 
CHAOSS might veer outside the goals of the project (which is 
subjective---I grant, personally
I have see at least one instance of this happening). This might 
require a process to bring a vote to the validity of those 
actions.

>
> * First, comment on your feelings about the decision making 
> process, in
> this specific case and in general. If many of us think that we 
> need to
> decide more formally on a process, we can work on having one. If 
> not,
> we can stick to the current way.
>
> * Second, if somebody feels that in this specific case we don't 
> have a
> consensus, we can either talk it more broadly, or raising it to 
> the
> CHAOSS Board. We have a meeting in a week, so this would be 
> timely.
>
> What do you think?
>

see above. I have addressed both points.

> 	Jesus.
>
> --


--
Daniel M. German                  "Language alone protects us from 
the scariness
                                   of things with no names.
   Toni Morrison ->                Language alone is meditation. "
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dmg (at) uvic (dot) ca
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