[Community] summary of today's (10/11) phone call

[Dick Hardt]

Good summary Eugene

You missed the nomination for you as chair!

I am in agreement with all the conclusions below and that voting is a  
majority of stewards.

If we cannot muster a majority to vote, then either we have the wrong  
people or we are not doing something meaningful. :-)

-- Dick

On 11-Oct-06, at 10:38 AM, Eugene Eric Kim wrote:

> Thanks to all who participated on the call today.  Attending were:  
> Owen
> Davis, Victor Grey, Kaliya Hamlin, Dick Hardt, Joaquin Miller, Dale  
> Olds,
> Dan Perry, Jon Ramer, Drummond Reed, Mary Ruddy, Gabe Wachob, Bill  
> Washburn.
>
> First, I clarified that many of the items in the notes from last  
> week were
> ideas rather than proposals:
>
>   http://mail.idcommons.net/pipermail/community/2006-October/ 
> 000761.html
>
> = VOTING =
>
> We reviewed the voting discussion from last week.  Folks agreed  
> that voting
> on the mailing list in an open, transparent way was a good idea.  Gabe
> observed that even an open phone call is biased towards a particular
> geographical region.  Bill noted that while a mailing list has its
> benefits, efficiency and expediency of the vote are also important  
> principles.
>
> I clarified that while everyone will be allowed to participate in
> discussions, only Stewards Council members can vote.
>
> Dale threw out the possibility of allowing alternates to vote.  People
> raised concerns about giving certain Working Groups additional
> representation.  We decided that it would be cleaner to only have an
> alternate vote when the Working Group's Steward is unable to vote.
>
> Dan raised issues with how we were using the term "quorum."  He's  
> going to
> work with us to determine the right wording once we agree on what the
> procedure should be.
>
> Dick suggested that rather than accept a majority of those who  
> vote, we
> should require a majority of the Stewards Council in order for  
> something to
> pass.  Dale, while not objecting, noted that not requiring a  
> majority of
> the Council prevented individual inaction from slowing down the entire
> group, and compared that principle to how IETF works.
>
> We will require a 72-hour period for a vote to occur.
>
> Dick and Bill stressed that, as a best practice, if we're divided  
> on an
> issue, then we probably need more discussion in order to reach  
> rough consensus.
>
> = CHAIR =
>
> We discussed Brett's proposal from last week that the Stewards Council
> select a chair.  Several people suggested that the chair's role be
> facilitative; make sure the meetings happen and run smoothly, and  
> make that
> the Stewards Council does its business.  Everyone seemed in favor  
> of this idea.
>
> = STEWARDS COUNCIL MEETINGS =
>
> We agreed that a quarterly Stewards Council telephone call is a  
> good thing.
>  This does not prevent us from having other phone calls, but it's  
> something
> that we can all schedule around and can make strong efforts to attend.
>
> = WORKING GROUPS =
>
> We agreed that an alternate Steward should be optional.  Bill  
> emphasized
> that we should frame things positively; i.e. "We welcome the  
> appointment of
> an alternate, should you decide to appoint one."
>
> We agreed that an individual can be the Steward for multiple Working
> Groups.  In these situations, an individual will only have one vote.
>
> = NEXT STEPS =
>
> The points on which we agreed are all on our Wiki.  You are  
> encouraged to
> continue the conversation there or on the mailing list.  Once we've  
> reached
> rough consensus over these policies, we will have a vote (per the  
> process
> we've defined).
>
> We plan on organizing at least one more Stewards-wide phone call to  
> resolve
> issues regarding our process.  The main outstanding issues are:
>
>   * mandated discussion period before a call for vote
>   * procedure for dissolving Working Groups
>
> Feel free to add to or correct these notes.  Questions and comments  
> are
> encouraged.
>
> =Eugene
>
> -- 
> ======================================================================
> Eugene Eric Kim ................................ http://xri.net/=eekim
> Blue Oxen Associates ........................ http://www.blueoxen.com/
> ======================================================================
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