[Python-Dev] Interested in serving on Steering Council

[Antoine Pitrou]

On Fri, 4 Jan 2019 14:27:10 +1100
Steve Dower <steve.dower at python.org> wrote:
> 
> We now have a new job on offer. Exactly what that job involves isn't
> quite defined yet, but it will certainly include some amount of
> project/program/process management, likely some customer/user engagement
> (or relationship management, if you prefer), and potentially some
> independent decision making.
> 
> Guido is the only core developer who has previously contributed to
> Python in this way (whatever "this way" turns out to mean).

Not exactly.  Nick's role on packaging comes to mind.  More modestly,
several of us have served as BDFL delegates, have steered various
processes (such as VCS migration), and/or have been responsible
(officially or not) for subparts of the project (such as documentation,
buildbots, version control...).

> In the PEP 8016 discussions (pre vote), we agreed that if we chose to
> elect someone who is not currently a core developer, we would also
> probably vote to make them a core developer, so there is no harm in
> allowing externals to be nominated.

The Council is going to be a 5-person body, some some amount of
involvement and dedication is expected from each of the Council's
members if we want it to function correctly (it's probably not just a
supervision body where you can participate in a meeting every 3 months,
answer a couple e-mails and call it done).

I already have a hard time imagining my level of involvement being
enough for candidating on the Council.  So I would be skeptical of
voting for someone who hasn't submitted a single patch to the codebase
in 10+ years, for example.

Moreover, someone who has never contributed to the codebase hasn't
really experienced how contributing works, which doesn't make them a
very good candidate for managing contributors, IMHO.

Regards

Antoine.