[Date Prev][Date Next] [Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]

Re: Maximum term for tech ctte members



On Fri, May 23, 2014 at 06:58:36PM +0200, Tollef Fog Heen wrote:
> ]] Anthony Towns 
> > Would anyone else be supportive of a proposal to set a term for tech
> > ctte membership?

Seconded as well.

I've a couple of contributions I wanted to make to this thread, even
though they've largely been superseded by Russ' comments :-). But
anyway:

- in this kind of "reform" discussions I find generally useful to
  distinguish two aspects: 1) the ideal model we want to have, 2) how to
  migrate from the current model to that. Entangling the two aspects
  usually make the status quo win over everything else, just because
  migration is hard.

  For the migration in this specific case, random assigning start term
  dates as suggested by Russ seems to be a brilliant idea.

- continuity is valuable in a body like the tech-ctte, where there
  aren't that many decisions on a yearly basis (and hence, for instance,
  it takes time to get new members up to speed). There might have been
  too much continuity in the current tech-ctte membership, but that's no
  reason to exaggerate in the opposite direction when introducing a
  turnover process.

  Based on examples I've recently witnessed in other organizations, I
  agree that a good model for the tech-ctte would be the one already
  mentioned by Russ (consecutive year limit + minimum suspension time),
  but with less stringent durations. I believe a maximum of 5 years in a
  row with a minimum 1-year suspension before being able to join again
  would work well for our tech-ctte.

- more generally, I think that all Debian "core" teams (if not *all*
  teams...) would benefit from a turnover process that requires
  individual members to reaffirm, on a yearly basis, their continued
  interest in keeping the role. This is to avoid that people remain on
  the team simply for inertia, even though they have no more
  time/interest for the corresponding tasks. It will also help
  developers in periodically reassessing/retargeting their Debian
  involvement, reducing the burnout risk.

  This is nothing specific to the tech-ctte, but they could probably
  benefit from it too.

My 2 cents,
Cheers.
-- 
Stefano Zacchiroli  . . . . . . .  zack@upsilon.cc . . . . o . . . o . o
Maître de conférences . . . . . http://upsilon.cc/zack . . . o . . . o o
Former Debian Project Leader  . . @zack on identi.ca . . o o o . . . o .
« the first rule of tautology club is the first rule of tautology club »

Attachment: signature.asc
Description: Digital signature


Reply to: