[Numpy-discussion] composition of the steering council (was Re: Governance model request)

[Travis Oliphant]

Thanks for the candid discussion and for expressing concerns freely.

I think Nathaniel's "parenting" characterization of NumPy from me is pretty
accurate.    I do feel a responsibility for the *stuff* that's out there,
and that is what drives me.   I do see the many contributions from others
and really learn from them as well.

I have seen conversations on this list and others have characterizations of
history that I don't agree with which affects decisions that are being made
--- and so I feel compelled to try and share my view.

I'm in a situation now where at least for 6 months or so I can help with
NumPy more than I have been able to for 7 years.

Focusing on the initial governance text, my issues are that

1) 1 year of inactivity to be removed from the council is too little for a
long-running project like NumPy --- somewhere between 2 and 4 years would
be more appropriate.   I suppose 1 year of inactivity is fine if that is
defined only as "failure to vote on matters before the council"

2) The seed council should not just be recent contributors but should
include as many people as are willing to help who have a long history with
the project.

3) I think people who contribute significantly generally should be able to
re-join the steering council more easily than "going through the 1-year
vetting process" again --- they would have to be approved by the current
steering council but it should not be automatically disallowed (thus
requiring the equivalent of an amendment to change it).

I applaud the fact that the steering council will not be and should not be
used except when absolutely necessary and for limited functions.

Thanks,

-Travis




On Tue, Sep 29, 2015 at 4:06 AM, Nathaniel Smith <njs at pobox.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Sep 25, 2015 at 7:15 AM, Thomas Caswell <tcaswell at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > To respond to the devils advocate:
> >
> >  Creating this organizational framework is a one time boot-strapping
> event.
> > You could use wording like "The initial council will include those who
> have
> > made significant contributions to numpy in the past and want to be on
> it" or
> > "The initial council will be constructed by invitation by Nathaniel and
> > Chuck".  More objective criteria should be used going forward, but in
> terms
> > of getting things spun up quickly doing things by fiat is probably ok.
> I am
> > not even sure that the method by which the initial group is formed needs
> to
> > go into the governing document.
>
> The problem is that according to the current text, not only is Travis
> ineligible to join the council (it's a little weird to put people on
> the seed council who wouldn't be eligible to join it normally, but
> okay, sure) -- he's not even eligible to stay on the council once he
> joins. So we would need to change the text no matter what.
>
> Which we can do, if we decide that that's what we need to do to
> accomplish what we want. It's our text, after all. I think it's
> extremely important though that what we actually do, and what we write
> down saying we will do, somehow match. Otherwise this whole exercise
> has no point.
>
> -n
>
> --
> Nathaniel J. Smith -- http://vorpus.org
> _______________________________________________
> NumPy-Discussion mailing list
> NumPy-Discussion at scipy.org
> https://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/numpy-discussion
>



-- 

*Travis Oliphant*
*Co-founder and CEO*


@teoliphant
512-222-5440
http://www.continuum.io
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