propsal summaries, moving forward [was Re: [Request for Comments] Governance change for Fedora Project]

[inode0]

On Wed, Sep 3, 2014 at 1:57 PM, Matthew Miller <mattdm at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 27, 2014 at 06:58:55AM -0700, inode0 wrote:
>> I don't like calling it the supreme court but if that really is the
>> model people want then having a single individual have veto power over
>> its decisions makes it not so supreme.
>
> "Supreme court" is just kind of a analogy I came up with and not meant to be
> a permanent label. If you've got a better name, I'd love to hear it. I think
> part of the current people are having is over different conceptions of what
> a "board" ought to do, so maybe better terminology will help.
>
> Terminology can't solve everything (what a world that would be!). My main
> concern here is blurred lines and a lot of possible back and forth as people
> are unclear where to go for what. If you've got some suggestions for making
> the delineation sharp, I think that would really help.

I would call what we have now and what I would like to retain a
governance board and I would call the new body a leadership council.

>> Like FESCo does now, any time the Council chooses to consult the board
>> it can. I would expect this to normally only happen when some Council
>> members are concerned about whether something being considered is
>> inconsistent with Fedora's core values.
>
> This comes back to sounding like "court" to me, although maybe there's
> something loaded in that term that doesn't sit right.

It bothers me because courts conjure up criminal behavior and
punishments and such. We often don't even have strong advocacy
involved. We are asked questions where sometimes the people asking
might not have thought it through entirely themselves but just want
something clarified before investing a lot of their energy going down
an alley. In this role I see the board up to now as one giving
guidance when asked (and anyone could ask including board members).
Since the board has never had any ability to enforce its guidance it
really is just guidance that hopefully more often than not folks pay
attention to.

John