Feedback on Decision-Making process #168

circlebuilder commented 2023年02月23日 06:47:30 +01:00

@fr33domlover in Forge Federation chat asked feedback on Decision Making process:

I'd like to hear your thoughts about a fundamental question about decision-making in Forgejo!

Assume a process where anyone can (1) open an issue about a decision, (2) collect advice from the community via issue coments, and (3) take the advice into serious consideration, make a final decision on behalf of the community (4) open any follow-up issues e.g. implementing the decision

This allows efficient smooth collaboration, because for whole-project-scope decisions, we don't have to wait to get active consensus from the whole organization/community/universe :P but this process requires personal responsibility to care for the needs of the project, which means we trust each other to make decisions with care

Question: Do we want to allow only Forgejo Organization members to use this process, i.e. to collect advice and make a decision? Or do we want to allow anyone to do that?

• If we allow only the Org members, there's more trust that decisions are made with care, but it creates a feeling of hierarchy where there's a selected small group that has more power than other people, and there's a tech challenge because anyone can close an issue they opened and Idk if Gitea/Forgejo has a setting to change that
• If we allow anyone to use that process, there's a chance that "random people from out there" make a decision without responsible gathering of advice and/or without seriously considering the advice, which might sound scary, but (1) it can happen to us too (2) it allows a welcoming, smooth and supportive environment for people to get involved or increase their involvement and feel empowered and trusted; it can help create trust in the community (3) we can watch the issues board - which we probably do anyway - for closed issues with surprising or controversial decisions and processes - and talk to those people as needed and help them learn the decision process if they did something like deciding without taking advice etc. etc. (4) it can be an experiment for a month or few months and then we see how it goes (5) The decision-making guide can have a paragraph about self-selection, i.e. for people in the community to self-assess whether they're capable of doing the advice process, and ask for support/mentorship if they need

Thoughts about which path to take? ❤️

@fr33domlover in [Forge Federation chat](https://matrix.to/#/!qjPHwFPdxhpLkXMkyP:matrix.org/$h0mYjXQ9xaTxhhnuG6Eco8Xne0F_VrLDIY-fkp9CFdc?via=matrix.org&via=envs.net&via=tchncs.de) asked feedback on Decision Making process: >I'd like to hear your thoughts about a fundamental question about decision-making in Forgejo! > > Assume a process where anyone can (1) open an issue about a decision, (2) collect advice from the community via issue coments, and (3) take the advice into serious consideration, make a final decision on behalf of the community (4) open any follow-up issues e.g. implementing the decision > > This allows efficient smooth collaboration, because for whole-project-scope decisions, we don't have to wait to get active consensus from the whole organization/community/universe :P but this process requires **personal responsibility** to care for the needs of the project, which means we **trust** each other to make decisions with care > > Question: Do we want to allow only Forgejo Organization members to use this process, i.e. to collect advice and make a decision? Or do we want to allow _anyone_ to do that? > > - If we allow only the Org members, there's more trust that decisions are made with care, **but** it creates a feeling of hierarchy where there's a selected small group that has more power than other people, **and** there's a tech challenge because anyone can close an issue they opened and Idk if Gitea/Forgejo has a setting to change that > - If we allow _anyone_ to use that process, there's a chance that "random people from out there" make a decision without responsible gathering of advice and/or without seriously considering the advice, which might sound scary, **but** (1) it can happen to us too (2) it allows a welcoming, smooth and supportive environment for people to get involved or increase their involvement and feel empowered and trusted; it can help create trust in the community (3) we can watch the issues board - which we probably do anyway - for closed issues with surprising or controversial decisions and processes - and talk to those people as needed and help them learn the decision process if they did something like deciding without taking advice etc. etc. (4) it can be an experiment for a month or few months and then we see how it goes (5) The decision-making guide can have a paragraph about self-selection, i.e. for people in the community to self-assess whether they're capable of doing the advice process, and ask for support/mentorship if they need > > Thoughts about which path to take? ❤️

circlebuilder commented 2023年02月23日 06:51:35 +01:00

I created this issue to record my feedback, since I am unavailable next week:

Thinking of a combination of 1) and 2) whereby..

• Anyone can raise issues.
  • Either the person raising or people from a team mark the issue as a Decision (with a label).
• Once a Decision is proposed a process starts.
  • There must be someone responsible for preparing/elaborating the Decision issue. This either includes the person who raised the issue, or this person should find one or more people to assign this to.
  • This implies a certain commitment / obligation. If the person or other people are interested in the subject they must do some work to carry things further.
  • If no one picks up the glove, the Decision issue is 'just-an-idea' and sits on the backlog, until a team member might groom it by asking "Are you interested to take this further?". If not, it is closed.
• Furthering the issue may involve filling in a template:
  • Background and description (clarify the need and nature of the decision)
  • Impact (what are the consequences and changes to the project?)
  • Who is affected? (which persons/roles will be impacted most?)
  • Work items (bullet list with things-to-do if the decision is positive and/or negative)
  • Who can vote? (varies based nature of decision + impact + people affected)
• The template is turned into a comprehensive doc by following the Advice process, collect feedback.
• Once ready actual decision can be made:
  • "Ready for decision" consent is sought by team members.
  • Designated voters vote.
  • Follow-up actions (outlined in Work Items) are set in motion.
  • Decision doc is archived / remains in decision log.

I created this issue to record [my feedback](https://matrix.to/#/!qjPHwFPdxhpLkXMkyP:matrix.org/$ZPJhfRz2UswQiEBrooi62WA6PXRAC5BUZ6Q0GahXCxA?via=matrix.org&via=envs.net&via=tchncs.de), since I am unavailable next week: > Thinking of a combination of 1) and 2) whereby.. > > - Anyone can raise issues. > - Either the person raising or people from a team mark the issue as a Decision (with a label). > - Once a Decision is proposed a process starts. > - There must be someone responsible for preparing/elaborating the Decision issue. This either includes the person who raised the issue, or this person should find one or more people to assign this to. > - This implies a certain commitment / obligation. If the person or other people are interested in the subject they must do some work to carry things further. > - If no one picks up the glove, the Decision issue is 'just-an-idea' and sits on the backlog, until a team member might groom it by asking "Are you interested to take this further?". If not, it is closed. > - Furthering the issue may involve filling in a template: > - Background and description (clarify the need and nature of the decision) > - Impact (what are the consequences and changes to the project?) > - Who is affected? (which persons/roles will be impacted most?) > - Work items (bullet list with things-to-do if the decision is positive and/or negative) > - Who can vote? (varies based nature of decision + impact + people affected) > - The template is turned into a comprehensive doc by following the Advice process, collect feedback. > - Once ready actual decision can be made: > - "Ready for decision" consent is sought by team members. > - Designated voters vote. > - Follow-up actions (outlined in Work Items) are set in motion. > - Decision doc is archived / remains in decision log.

tallship commented 2023年02月23日 08:12:47 +01:00

Ref: here and here

Ref: [here](https://codeberg.org/forgejo/meta/issues/166) and [here](https://codeberg.org/forgejo/meta/issues/167)