governance/operations proposal - fast decision making

[fkiraly]

for consideration, for temporary (transition council) and permanent adoption (post-election, tbc)

high-level principles

• asynchronous participation
  • full participation with 30min weekly input possible
• timely action
  • autonomy/risk trade-off
• transparency
  • via GitHub and/or public minutes
• community respresentation
  • final voting rule tbd later
  • temp: equal vote (weighted per org)

decision making

template procedure

Abtract design - maps onto different processes.

1. decision proposed in transparent channel
   • 5 working days discussion, Q&A time
2. decision made in transparent channel
   • 5 working days decision
3. result publicized
   • 5 working days confirmation

"transparent":

• usually means public
• easily findable

Appropriate channel:

• code change - GitHub PR tracker
• policy decision - gov meetings (in-person or async)
• financial - gov meetings (in-person or async)
• gov rules - gov meetings

Note: GitHub PR tracker is not the correct channel for gov/policy!

default: code

1. PR is opened. May require STEP.
   • should be open 5 days and visible
   • PR review should happen
2. PR reviews available
   • lazy consensus or move to stage 2
   • early merge
3. result publicized
   • automatic on the tracker

5 working days with lazy consensus, early merge

default: gov

1. decision/motion proposed
   • no decision at this stage
   • published in minutes, should be visible at least 5 days
2. decision making
   • by appropriate committee
   • in meeting and/or in async decision making channel
   • async remains 5 days open
3. result publicized
   • in weekly minutes, 5 days open for comments
   • decision ratified only once minutes confirmed

In total, requres at least 15 working days to ratified (minute confirmed) decision

risk matrix

for expediated decision making cases

impact classes for risks

Impact	Examples
trivial	typo in documentation; linting failure in release code
minor	release with bug in rarely used estimator; punctually incorrect docstring or API reference
major	release with breaking bug in advanced framework vignettes; hours of digital asset downtime; > 1 week gap in mentoring; all CI failing on primary repo
substantial	release with breaking bug in standard vignettes; wks of digital asset downtime; loss/win of >10k USD; miss important grant deadline
existential	catastrophic security incident; project falls apart; irreversible loss of key digital infrastructure

urgency classes for risks

Timeline	Definition
imminent	events or consequence within the day or hours, suggests action asap
acute	events or consequence within days or week, suggests action within days
short-term	events or consequence within months or weeks, suggests action within week(s)
mid-term	events or consequence within few months
long-term	events or consequence within years

risk matrix

maps classes on four decision making pathways (see below). That is, if risk with timeline emerges or becomes known, details suggested decision making pathways.

time/risk	trivial	minor	major	substantial	existential
imminent	uni-exp	uni-exp	uni-exp	uni-exp	uni-exp
acute	uni-exp	fast	fast	uni-p	uni-exp
short-term	uni-exp	fast	fast	fast	uni-p
mid-term	uni-p	fast	std	std	fast
long-term	uni-p	fast	std	std	std

std = standard decision making pathways (ca 10 days)
fast = fast-track decision making (few days) suggested
uni-p = unilateral action is possible; fast-track or unilateral suggested
uni-exp = unilateral action is expected

see below on details for these

fast-track decision pathways

unilateral action

Examples:

• merging PR immediately after opening
• changing discord security settings
• banning from GitHub/discord without being on the CoC commmittee
• submitting to conference without final review round
• communicating on behalf of the council without authorization

Procedure:

1. take unilateral action
2. report asap to council or relevant committee
3. 10 workday period in which council member can propose motion that action was unsanctioned
   • subject to standard decision making
   • if unsanctioned, actions to revert should be taken (if possible)

fast-track action

principle: incremental, time-boxed vote

• time-box to 3 working days
• vote count at end of time box
• if no vote, counts as lazy consensus

1. announce proposal in relevant channel
2. take action at end of time-box or at determinant outcome
3. 10 workday period from start of announcement in which council meber can propose motion that unsanctioned
   • subject to standard decision making
   • if unsanctioned, actions to revert should be taken (if possible)

Example:

1. open PR in final form (risk matrix -> suggested default is fast-track if does not require STEP!)
2. wait for reviews for 3 days
   -> if lazy consensus
   -> if no reviews, can merge
3. community member who sees the merged PR can open "unsanctioned" motion
   (if this goes back/forth, stage 2 conflict resolution should start)