[Request for Comments] Governance change for Fedora Project

[Haïkel]

2014-08-17 16:53 GMT+02:00 inode0 <inode0 at gmail.com>:
> On Sun, Aug 17, 2014 at 9:08 AM, Ben Cotton <bcotton at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
>>
>> On Aug 17, 2014 5:01 AM, "Haïkel" <hguemar at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> Yes, FESCo is the actual technical leadership body, it functions but
>>> sometimes, it had to take decisions that has technical/legal/ethical
>>> issues requiring the board to step in.
>>> That's what is preventing Fedora to have a proper strategic vision and
>>> implementing it.
>>>
>> This is what I'm having a hard time understanding. My reading of the above
>> is that the existence of FESCo prevents the Board from making strategic
>> decisions (the alternate view, that the existence of the board prevents
>> FESCo from making strategic decisions, runs counter to what you say later in
>> your response so I discount it). If FESCo's existence is the problem, why
>> doesn't the proposal dissolve FESCo? If FESCo's existence isn't the problem,
>> then what does the quoted paragraph mean?
>
> I really don't understand this either. FESCo from time to time asks
> the Board for guidance especially when proposals fall near the edges
> of Fedora's core values. I don't really see how that has any direct
> connection to strategic vision. And I don't see any reason to think
> they won't still have the same sorts of questions in the future.
>
> John
>

It is difficult to do strategic planning when you don't have the
capacity of implementing your decisions.
While FESCo has that capacity, it's not representative of the
non-technical contributors, its scope is limited to technical
decisions. I think that the board shied away from strategic planning
because it couldn't do much and we don't want to force things upon our
fellow contributors. By having a council made of doers and leaders, we
may be able to overcome this hurdle.

I agree, that FESCo or any technical committee will keep requesting
guidance from the governance body. The only change is that the council
will be able to take technical decisions according the project agenda
and implement them.
The council is not intended to replace FESCo -technical leadership is
a full-time job, we'll certainly always need a technical committee-,
there might need some adjustments between these two bodies but we need
get there before discussing theoretical issues that may (or may not
arise).

H.