[Starlingx-discuss] StarlingX Initial Governance

[Claire Massey]

Hi all,

I agree with Thierry and think that in order to encourage growth for the project, the first election period should to be adjusted. 

The next several months will be a critical time for StarlingX to welcome diverse engagement. From what we’ve experienced while launching other projects, like Kata Containers for example, new companies that are interested in engaging with the project for the first time are also very interested in having the opportunity to be elected to the technical leadership body within a reasonable amount of time. The opportunity to contribute to the project and possibly earn an elected seat early on in the life of the project can be very motivating for new companies that want to get involved. 

Based on the current StarlingX election timeline shown in the governance documentation[1], September 2019 is the soonest date when a new person would be able to be elected to the TSC. I personally think that waiting an entire year is just too long and may discourage new contributors from getting involved in the short-term. I recommend that instead of waiting a full year to hold the first election, that it's held sooner, in *May 2019*, which is eight months from now. The planned StarlingX release cadence and schedule[2] shows that the next two releases are timed to happen in March and July 2019, so hosting the first election between those two releases, in May 2019, could work well. 

[1] https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Starlingx/Initial_Governance#Technical_Steering_Committee

[2] https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/StarlingX/Release_Plan#Release_Cadence_and_Schedule

Thanks,
Claire

> On Sep 27, 2018, at 10:13 AM, Thierry Carrez <thierry at openstack.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I reread the Governance document[1] and found an inconsistency we'll likely want to address before the initial TSC formally blesses it:
> 
> In "Technical Steering Committee":
>> It will be comprised of 7 members who will be appointed at Launch but fully elected by the Contributors within the first year
> 
> then:
>> In April 2020, the remaining 4 seats are up for election
> 
> "appointed at Launch" is a bit vague, I would use "initially appointed" (which would start the clock to when the TSC is fully formed). But more importantly, "fully elected by the Contributors within the first year" is at odds with still having appointed members around in March, 2020. The date or the period needs to be adjusted to match.
> 
> We'll also likely want to clarify initial terms for the non-WR and non-Intel initial TSC members. One option is to appoint one of them with a short term, and the other two with long terms. Another option would be to randomly select the short one (like for the WR and Intel initially-appointed seats)
> 
> Finally, I would suggest saying that if somone steps down from their TSC seat, their seat should automatically be up for election at the next round. So imagine someone that is initially appointed for a year, stepping down after 4 months: their seat would be up for reelection, which would make the first election determine 4 seats instead of just 3. That will facilitate keeping an active TSC with a limited number of stale members.
> 
> That level of subtlety could be conveyed through a separate document that details the corner cases of the election process, if you find it too distracting for the Governance document.
> 
> [1] https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Starlingx/Initial_Governance
> 
> -- 
> Thierry Carrez (ttx)
> 
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