The project governance document will be amended to include a new process for electing the membership of the project Steering Committee.
The Paketo Steering Committee is the set of individuals who are responsible and accountable for guiding the Paketo project in a holistic manner towards achieving its goals. It currently consists of three members who help to administer the project and provide feedback and guidance on proposals that have project-wide impact.
In the early years of the project, this group of individuals was composed of the project founders and then by engineers with significant experience with or contributions to the project. The technical process for voting in committee members is outlined in the Paketo Governance RFC, but it is missing crucial detail on when and how these choices are made.
As the project has evolved to support an ever growing number of users and contributors, it has become necessary to reassess this process and propose an alternative that will bring in a more diverse set of experiences and perspectives.
The composition of the Steering Committee will align to the specifications, with some modifications, outlined in the Cloud Foundry Foundation Charter Section 7.b. The modified contents are outlined below.
- The Steering Committee will be composed of three (3) members.
- Each Steering Committee member will be elected to a two-year term.
- There will be an annual election to determine the composition of the Steering Committee for the following year. Two seats will be up for election in one year and one will be up for election the following year.
- Employees from the same company or Related Companies (as defined in CFF Charter Section 9) should not hold more than one Steering Committee seat. a. During any Steering Committee election, if the Steering Committee membership would exceed this limit even after the natural cycle of Steering Committee seat term expirations, enough Steering Committee members must resign for it to be possible for the election to yield a diverse enough Steering Committee. b. If a Steering Committee election cannot produce a diverse enough Steering Committee, the limit will not apply until the next election cycle. c. When a change in employment of a Steering Committee member causes the Steering Committee membership to exceed this limit, that Steering Committee member will NOT be required to resign their Steering Committee membership.
- One Steering Committee seat is reserved for a “community champion”, defined as a person NOT working for a corporation that is a paying member of the Cloud Foundry Foundation. If there is no champion candidate in a given election, this requirement is nullified.
Eligibility to participate in the Steering Committee elections process will align to the rules, with some modifications, outlined in the Cloud Foundry Foundation Charter Sections 7.e.i and 7.e.ii. Their modified contents are outlined below.
- Current Paketo Buildpacks Steering Committee members, Subteam Maintainers or Contributors who have maintained that status for at least 3 months immediately preceding the voting.
- If a community member is nominated as a candidate but does not meet these requirements, they may petition the Steering Committee for eligibility. In a case where the Steering Committee declines an eligibility request, the requestor may appeal that decision to the Cloud Foundry Governing Board.
- Candidates, if eligible, may self-nominate or be nominated by an individual who is qualified as a Steering Committee voter as outlined in that section.
- Any individual who has contributed to Paketo Buildpacks in the twelve months prior to the election is eligible to vote in the Steering Committee election.
- Contributions include, but are not limited to, opening PRs, reviewing and commenting on PRs, opening and commenting on issues, writing design docs, commenting on design docs, participating in mailing list discussions and participating in working groups.
- Each election cycle, an initial set of voters will be identified through automated reporting. Any individual who has at least 10 measurable contributions in the last 12 months will be automatically added to the eligible voter list.
- If a community member has contributed over the past year but is not captured in automated reporting, they will be able to submit an eligibility form to the current Steering Committee who will then determine whether this member will be eligible. In a case where the Steering Committee declines an eligibility request, the requestor may appeal that decision to the Cloud Foundry Governing Board.
The election will follow a modified version of the existing Cloud Foundry TOC Election process and implementation outlined in the Cloud Foundry Foundation Charter Section 7.e.iii. The modified process is outlined below.
- If the number of candidates is equal to or less than the number of Steering Committee seats available to be elected, the candidates shall be approved after the nomination period has closed.
- If there are more Qualified Nominees than open Steering Committee seats available for election, all eligible voters shall elect the Steering Committee members using a time-limited Condorcet ranking using the Schulze method.
- Elections may be run either via the Condorcet Internet Voting Service or via a deployment of Elekto administered by the CFF staff.
The process for handling Steering Committee member resignations or removal will align to the rules, with some modifications, outlined in the Cloud Foundry Foundation Charter Sections 7.f. Their modified contents are outlined below.
- In the case where a Steering Committee member resigns or is removed from the Steering Committee by the Governing Board, the remaining members of the Steering Committee will work with the Governing Board to determine whether the vacant seat either will remain vacant until the next annual election cycle, or will be filled by using the results of the latest election.
- When making this decision, the remaining members of the Steering Committee should consider whether too much time has elapsed since the latest election cycle for its results to represent the community adequately.
The current Steering Committee membership has been stable for a long period of time. As the project and its participants evolves, the Steering Committee membership should evolve to better represent the participants. The current process for choosing new Steering Committee members is opaque and closed to external participants. Establishing an open process will help to further involve the Paketo community in the governance of their project.
Alternatively, the project could choose to keep their current processes for choosing new Steering Committee membership. However, elections provide a much more egalitarian process.
The changes outlined in the Detailed Explanation section will be included
into the existing governance document.