15:03:02 RRSAgent has joined #w3process 15:03:06 logging to https://www.w3.org/2023/02/08-w3process-irc 15:03:06 present+ 15:03:06 present+ 15:03:07 present+ 15:03:11 Meeting: Process CG meeting 15:03:13 Chair: plh 15:03:16 present+ 15:03:25 present+ 15:03:34 Agenda: https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-w3process/2023Feb/0002.html 15:03:35 wendyreid has joined #w3process 15:03:42 present+ 15:04:14 TallTed has joined #w3process 15:04:51 scribe+ 15:04:56 Dingwei__ has joined #w3process 15:04:59 present+ 15:05:16 plh: Anything else that people would like to talk about? 15:05:28 florian: We have new participants, we should remind ourselves where we are 15:05:37 ... we are in the wrap-up phase of the current process cycle 15:05:46 ... two themes, new process compatible with W3C Inc 15:06:01 present+ 15:06:01 ... and second, phase out the dependency on the director 15:06:05 ... focus was on that 15:06:15 ... and there are some pending PRs to review today 15:06:27 ... today is the time to look at everything, have we done something good enough to launch 15:06:39 ... do we have any showstoppers to deal with 15:06:43 zakim, who's here? 15:06:43 Present: florian, cwilso, npd, plh, tzviya, wendyreid, Dingwei__, TallTed 15:06:45 ... are there any issues we need to address later? 15:06:46 On IRC I see Dingwei__, TallTed, wendyreid, RRSAgent, Zakim, tzviya, github-bot, Mike5Matrix, npd, fantasai, csarven, florian, cwilso, Mek, astearns, tink, timeless, plh 15:06:55 florian: Anything else? 15:07:00 present+ Chris_O'Brien 15:07:23 plh: Wendy, do you want us to touch on your issue? 15:07:43 wendyreid: No it's ok 15:07:47 Topic: Pull Requests to Review 15:07:55 plh: let's look at the work in PRs 15:07:57 TallTed has changed the topic to: W3C Process CG -- 2023-02-08 Agenda: https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-w3process/2023Feb/0002.html 15:08:00 ... 701 15:08:04 Github: https://github.com/w3c/w3process/pull/701 15:08:16 ... clarify the role of the team contact and define the term 15:08:25 florian: I will introduce 15:08:39 ... this is an editorial PR, we define who and what the team contact is 15:08:51 ... mention they are there to support the council 15:08:57 ... they are there to help 15:09:02 ... stepping stone to the next PR 15:09:25 plh: I approved, but previously, the team was not participating in the council, it's hard to assist when you are out of the loop 15:09:33 ... it's important to introduce the definition 15:09:36 ... any objections? 15:09:52 ... going... going... merge! 15:10:01 Github: https://github.com/w3c/w3process/pull/702 15:10:04 ... for PR 702, using the definition 15:10:23 florian: This one is to define how the team contact can participate, they can participate in the council 15:10:38 ... due to confidentiality, they could not previously. This was preventing team contacts from helping 15:10:45 q+ 15:10:50 ... includes the Team Contact as a particpant, but a non-voting one 15:11:14 plh: As part of the consideration for nominating the team contact, we want to avoid conflict of interest 15:11:34 ... the team contact of the group under formal objection would not be the team contact for the council 15:11:41 ... to avoid conflict 15:11:46 ack plh 15:11:49 q+ 15:11:55 florian: This question was raised to the AB directly, and the AB resolved to do this 15:12:03 ... it's less should we do it, and more how to phrase it 15:12:19 ... Ted has mentioned a broader problem about mentioning the council, when there could be several 15:12:23 ... he logged a new issue 15:12:26 ... we should deal with that 15:12:36 ... aside from that, my take is that this PR is ok 15:12:41 ack Dingwei__ 15:12:49 Dingwei__: In my experience in the FO council 15:12:56 +1 for confidentiality including team contact 15:13:04 ... I get a feeling sometimes, we don't have all of the people who can answer 15:13:23 ... we might want to propose that the body raising the FO participate to help with explaining the facts 15:13:26 q+ to respond to dingwei 15:13:33 q+ 15:13:38 ack florian 15:13:38 florian, you wanted to respond to dingwei 15:13:39 ... would be helpful to have that information 15:13:54 florian: This is deliberate but, the current situation is not that the council cannot hear from them 15:14:01 ... they can invite anyone they need details from 15:14:08 ... anyone they find important to listen to 15:14:12 q+ 15:14:17 ... if the council feels they know enough, they don't have to 15:14:23 q- later 15:14:27 ... having the team contact will help with some of this too 15:14:34 ... may be able to share facts 15:14:37 ack Dingwei__ 15:14:44 ... still have the ability to hear from anyone 15:15:04 q+ to talk about guidelines for FO Council 15:15:12 Dingwei__: Florian you are speaking from a process perspective, but when we are organizing an FO council, the invitations do not go out to all of these parties 15:15:19 q+ 15:15:22 ack tzviya 15:15:22 tzviya, you wanted to talk about guidelines for FO Council 15:15:31 q- 15:15:43 tzviya: I jut wanted to mention what goes in the process is not what will go in the documentation for the chair council 15:16:00 ... more detailed information for what will happen will go there, does not need to be in the process 15:16:04 q+ 15:16:18 ... Dingwei__ I think you are right, but that is documentation for the council and Yves is working on it 15:16:25 ack florian 15:16:29 plh: We have flexibility to put things in the guide to make it operational 15:16:47 florian: In the first council we did invite the objector and WG, as we had questions, we didn't do it for the most recent one 15:16:56 ... initial invites go to the council, but we can invite others 15:16:58 ack TallTed 15:17:14 TallTed: It seems that it would make sense to refer to that other guide in the process document 15:17:23 ... to make it clear not all the details are there 15:17:39 plh: Agreed, once that documentation appears, we will link to it 15:17:59 TallTed: Suggesting a handwave reference now, since several of us are not aware of it 15:18:05 plh: How should we handle that? 15:18:28 florian: hand-wavy references already exist, but one that goes to a document that doesn't exist yet is more challenging 15:18:40 +1 for issue as placeholder 15:18:43 plh: Maybe one that reminds us we need to add the reference once available 15:18:51 TallTed: Works for me 15:19:04 plh: Any objections to merging 702? 15:19:13 ... will pen a seperate issue for a reference 15:19:15 is there an issue already for the Guide on best practice for running a Council? 15:19:17 ... let's merge 702 15:19:20 ... 709! 15:19:24 Github: https://github.com/w3c/w3process/pull/709 15:19:26 florian: Another one the AB has approved 15:19:47 ... looking to check if the wording is fine, it may be necessary to replace a chair of the council 15:20:20 ... due to time, or other reasons, request from the AB is that we enable the team contact to relaunch chair selection if suggested by the chair or the group 15:20:42 q? 15:20:44 plh: With the expectation that it should not be a surprise to the council 15:20:49 florian: Yes 15:21:10 q+ 15:21:12 npd: I'm confused by this, I understand if the chair has to step down, but this text doesn't suggest that 15:21:19 ... this seems like if the team contact wants a new chair 15:21:23 ack npd 15:21:26 ... they can iniate the change 15:21:41 florian: If that happens, the council can reselect the same chair 15:21:51 ... but it should not be a surprise 15:21:52 q+ 15:22:13 ... we didn't give them the ability to pick a chair, only initiate the process 15:22:21 q+ 15:22:44 plh: Let me add, the phrasing is "oh the team can do whatever they want", but that can also be clarified in the guide 15:22:53 ... we already get criticism on the length of the guide 15:23:00 ... focus on implementation of the process 15:23:07 ... as long as they are checks in the process 15:23:14 ack plh 15:23:21 ack tzviya 15:23:34 tzviya: I think the wording is clunky, doesn't read like checks and balances 15:23:48 ... chair selection is done by the council 15:24:02 florian: The wording is that the team contact can initiate the chair selection 15:24:08 plh: Members of the AB are here 15:24:27 tzviya: We were focused on the resolution, not the wording, leaving it to process 15:24:39 plh: Do we have enough information to proceed? 15:24:48 florian: It does not highlight the checks and balance 15:25:00 ... a guide article that explains everything would help 15:25:19 plh: How many people think we need to reword this? 15:25:31 s/does not highlight the checks and balance/does not highlight the checks and balance, but they're there/ 15:25:32 joshco has joined #w3process 15:25:43 q+ 15:25:48 tzviya: Maybe end the sentence earlier 15:25:54 npd: This seems more confusing 15:26:02 ack ted 15:26:08 TallTed: Threw a small tweak in 15:26:20 ... "or by the chair" 15:26:24 q? 15:26:28 ack TallTed 15:26:31 florian: I think it's friendlier, but makes no difference to the process 15:26:45 ... maybe that is making the process longer, or friendlier 15:26:56 TallTed: Here is where I don't think 4 words adds to the length 15:27:07 plh: Ok, are we ok with the new wording? 15:27:10 florian: works for me 15:27:15 I can live with that 15:27:22 plh: Ok! Merge once the tweak is added 15:27:37 npd: It would be good to have more in the guide, are we tracking issues for the guide 15:28:11 plh: We agreed to create an issue to add the link for the documentation, we can include that, we're aware of everything needing to go in the documentation 15:28:29 florian: This is not the guide CG, the guide is mostly done by the team, but in the open 15:28:42 plh: If anyone here would like to review the guide, it is more than welcome 15:28:54 sure, I just wanted to have a place to track suggestions and contributions, even if a separate group (the Team) handles it 15:28:55 Github: https://github.com/w3c/w3process/pull/703 15:28:59 plh: To 703 15:29:05 florian: This one is a little longer 15:29:12 ... also backed by an AB resolution 15:29:32 ... how to deal with hypothetical cases of running into a formal objection where it's obvious to everyone what needs to be done 15:29:45 ... do we need to do the whole process of forming a council to just do the obvious thing 15:29:50 ... this forms a shortcut 15:30:11 q+ 15:30:28 ... when the team writes the report, it can provide a recommendation, the new thing is if the entire possible council agrees on the recommendation, we go ahead with that 15:30:36 ... if there is any opposition, we proceed with the council 15:31:14 ... aside from people renouncing their seat, where people are forbidden from participating in the council for legal reasons or ther 15:31:20 ... questions? 15:31:36 q+ 15:31:44 ack TallTed 15:31:47 ack plh 15:31:51 plh: The comment is on Github, can we please drop the word "absurd" 15:32:03 TallTed: Added a comment to address that 15:32:14 plh: Florian are you ok to change that? 15:32:17 florian: Yes 15:32:33 plh: If we take Ted's suggestion in, any other objections to merge 703? 15:32:44 ... then we can reuse precedence 15:32:49 thanks for addressing that wording change, +1 15:32:58 florian: I don't suspect this will be used often, but will save time in the cases it applies to 15:33:05 plh: going going merge! 15:33:09 ... 704 15:33:13 Github: https://github.com/w3c/w3process/pull/704 15:33:18 florian: This one is probably more subtle 15:33:33 ... the process has had this notion of a memorandum of understanding 15:33:37 ... a contract-like thing 15:33:57 ... it's a particular class of agreements between W3C and others to understand what W3C does 15:34:18 ... when we partner up with groups like WHATWG, or merge with IDPF 15:34:36 ... we make contract-like things, MoUs, this was previously dealt with by the director 15:34:38 q+ 15:34:55 ... we'd like to move this to the team and CEO, but when they want to sign such a thing 15:35:05 ... they need to get the approval of the AC 15:35:10 ... and the AC could appeal 15:35:20 ... mightthat interfere with the role of the board? 15:35:52 ... this PR tries to clarify that the team may negotiate these things, and AC review can happen, AC can appeal, this can be overridden by the board 15:36:15 ... the team on its own cannot sign an MoU where a successful appeal is present, but the Board can 15:36:26 ... especially in cases of urgency 15:36:48 ... if something happens where the membership and Board disagree, Board overrides 15:37:00 plh: This is the first time in the process where we link to the board? 15:37:11 q+ 15:37:12 florian: No, there's another mention for AB liaisons 15:37:20 plh: I think the team and the board need to figure this out 15:37:24 q+ 15:37:40 ... my concern is that this is a slippery slope 15:37:47 ... encourage the board to step into process 15:37:51 ... it could bite us 15:37:54 ack plh 15:37:58 ack npd 15:38:11 gtalbot has joined #w3process 15:38:15 npd: I got on the queue to talk separately about the review and appeal process could be a delay 15:38:22 ... I don't know every case of an MoU 15:38:41 q+ 15:38:43 ... but if the team needs to operate using these MoUs, with the review process it might prevent signing 15:38:55 plh: This doesn't change having an AC review and appeal 15:38:56 ack florian 15:39:24 florian: Yes, you're right npd that is why this is a SHOULD not MUST. Sometimes there is a need for a rush and there is the possibility of that 15:39:34 ... to PLH's point, we might want counsel advice 15:39:44 ... the process is a normative reference of the member agreement 15:39:52 ... it has contractural value 15:40:09 gtalbot has left #w3process 15:40:16 ... the board can weigh that in, the Board could instruct the team to sign a contract that fails appeal 15:40:30 ... but it might violate the member agreement without a clause like this 15:40:45 ... in every case they can do it, but one involves contract violation 15:40:52 plh: I worry we're opening pandora's box 15:41:11 florian: My alternative worry, the Board may say contracts are not a concern of the AC 15:41:27 ... the MoU about the WHATWG should not be a board matter, for example 15:41:51 plh: I was talking with dsinger about this, difference between an MoU and an agreement 15:41:59 ... not going to object to the changes 15:42:10 ... but not surprised when the board asks for revisions 15:42:20 florian: We should inform the board of this change 15:42:29 ... if it seems reasonable to us, we should get their feedback 15:42:42 plh: Action item to review with the board 15:42:58 would we want to say the Board can override in cases of operational necessity for the organization? 15:43:02 ... let's not merge this one today 15:43:17 ... let's get feedback from at least the interim CEO 15:43:33 florian: Note to the AB chairs, this is also tagged as getting AB feedback 15:43:44 ... if we think its plausible, we should get feedback 15:43:49 plh: Let's move on 15:43:55 ... we are now on 705 15:44:02 GitHub: https://github.com/w3c/w3process/pull/705 15:44:26 florian: Proposed by Ian Jacobs, per the membership agreement but a phrase that doesn't live in the agreement 15:44:37 ... it's more accurate to say per the IPR process 15:44:56 ... we can drop the reference, it can be found in the document we are actually pointing to 15:45:04 plh: Any objection? Ok let's merge 705 15:45:08 ... last one for today 15:45:10 GitHub: https://github.com/w3c/w3process/pull/706 15:45:11 ... 706 15:45:16 florian: Very editorial 15:45:26 ... we had a sentence at the beginning of the council composition 15:45:40 ... more of the sentence was dedicated to exceptions than the detail 15:45:48 ... this PR modifies that to make it easier to read 15:46:00 ... we have been iterating on variants 15:46:18 plh: There were some suggestions 15:46:33 florian: I looked at some and agree with some parts 15:46:39 plh: What's the proposal at this point? 15:46:51 florian: I agree with parts 15:46:58 plh: I don't see a change in the proposal 15:47:03 florian: I am asking for help 15:47:23 ... I was fine with the initial one, but Elika had comments 15:47:41 ... if it's necessary to modify the langage of the section 15:47:57 ... suggestion to say members of the council are selected from, suggests a large pool 15:48:03 ... but then we are back 15:48:16 ... maybe we can keep the long one, or short with "each" instead of "the" 15:48:42 plh: Let's not take this PR, look at Ted's issue (710), and address this as part of that 15:48:56 florian: We don't seem to have reached consensus 15:49:05 plh: We are not merging 706 15:49:13 ... do we want to send this for review? 15:49:27 ... I am reluctant to make changes while the AB is reviewing it 15:49:44 ... understanding we won't allow ourselves to make substantive changes during AB review 15:49:55 q+ on next steps for review 15:49:56 ... are there any other issues we think need addressing? 15:50:13 ... if no, let's start the 2 week review period 15:50:20 ... decide in 2 weeks to send to AB 15:50:21 ack npd 15:50:21 npd, you wanted to comment on next steps for review 15:51:16 npd: That answers my question, we're taking a hard look before AB or AC? 15:51:20 plh: The way we're going to work, we're working under the authority of the AB for this editorial work, in order for us to make decisions, we need 2 weeks to review the document and the issues, let's move forward 15:51:40 ... we've been asking people to review for a few weeks, but today I am asking formally for 2 weeks of review 15:51:42 q+ 15:51:45 ... to send to the AB 15:52:03 ... once we make the decision, the bar to accept a change is much higher 15:52:13 florian: We can open a new branch 15:52:28 plh: For any changes beyond editorial, we would need to cycle back 15:52:40 ack florian 15:52:43 npd: Process CG will have it's last review now, but AB can contribute 15:53:02 florian: Since we didn't merge the PR on MoU's, we could say "we're done aside from this PR" 15:53:07 ... then ask for advice 15:53:18 plh: I'm fine with asking as part of that 15:53:28 ... it's fair game 15:53:56 ... so you've been warned, please review the process and issues in the next 2 weeks 15:54:13 ... congrats everyone 15:54:30 ... lot of issues on the process, plenty to do 15:54:32 q+ 15:54:38 ... pressure to dive into other topics 15:54:51 npd: Can't stop people from commenting 15:54:52 ack florian 15:54:58 florian: I want to switch topics for the last 2 minutes 15:55:07 ... introduce the council/guide review 15:55:12 Topic: Council / Guide Review 15:55:21 ... worked with Elika on this, there are multiple pieces in /guide that need to exist 15:55:28 ... we probably need a council chair guide 15:55:36 ... we probably need a guide for the team on the mechanics 15:55:53 ... this one is a general intro for the general public on what a council is and what it does 15:56:02 ... this derives from an article written by Jeff early on 15:56:25 ... some of the opinions did not pan out and have been removed, and we've recycled other parts 15:56:32 ... that's the article 15:56:56 ... we'll need something for team and running council 15:57:15 plh: The team may take an action to work on this, and Tzviya said she'd have a discussion with Yves 15:57:22 florian: Guide article for council chairs 15:57:37 plh: I don't think we meant to limit it 15:57:39 ... glad we are working on it 15:58:07 florian: This is not meant to be decision 15:58:13 ... but this group wants a guide 15:58:22 ... a first draft of one of the pieces that must exist 15:58:28 ... I think it's one of three pieces 15:58:39 plh: Not sure it needs to be member-only 15:58:47 florian: It could be in member-visible too 15:58:55 plh: Could be in guide 15:59:09 florian: We didn't write it from scratch from where Jeff created it 15:59:19 plh: Glad to see the work 15:59:28 ... FYI for folks here 15:59:36 ... no time to talk about the upcoming issues 15:59:43 ... 700 from Wendy 15:59:59 ... I'm getting criticism on the length and complexity of the process 16:00:11 ... not something we can address in this revision possibly 16:00:18 ... one of the challenge is that the process is too complex 16:00:36 ... even though we're adding more with director-free 16:00:42 florian: Making it easier will not be easy 16:00:47 plh: Thanks everyone! 16:00:53 ... next meeting in 2 weeks 16:01:34 [adjourned] 16:02:55 rrsagent, please draft minutes 16:02:56 I have made the request to generate https://www.w3.org/2023/02/08-w3process-minutes.html wendyreid 16:03:04 rrsagent, make logs public 16:05:10 dsinger has joined #w3process 16:07:03 minutes are now out 16:53:51 gtalbot has joined #w3process 16:54:05 gtalbot has left #w3process 17:24:35 wendyreid, thanks for minuting everything! the one thing I'd request is, if we resolve on anything, mark it RESOLVED: [summary] in the minutes so it's clear! 17:24:56 and if the chair isn't being clear, hassle them about it 18:02:20 Zakim has left #w3process 19:00:03 dsinger has joined #w3process