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GOV Propose 3 Basic Roles #25670

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GOV propose 3 basic roles
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169 changes: 84 additions & 85 deletions doc/governance.rst
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
.. _governance:

===========================================
Scikit-learn governance and decision-making
Scikit-learn Governance and Decision-Making
===========================================

The purpose of this document is to formalize the governance process used by the
Expand All @@ -11,101 +11,100 @@ This document establishes a decision-making structure that takes into account
feedback from all members of the community and strives to find consensus, while
avoiding any deadlocks.

This is a meritocratic, consensus-based community project. Anyone with an
interest in the project can join the community, contribute to the project
design and participate in the decision making process. This document describes
This is a meritocratic, consensus-based community project with democratic elements.
Anyone with an interest in the project can join the community, contribute to the
project design and participate in the decision-making process. This document describes
how that participation takes place and how to set about earning merit within
the project community.
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What do you think?

Suggested change
how that participation takes place and how to set about earning merit within
the project community.
how that participation takes place and how to set about earning merit within
and participating democratically to the project community.


Roles And Responsibilities
==========================

There are three basic roles.

Contributors
------------

Contributors are community members who contribute in concrete ways to the
project. Anyone can become a contributor, and contributions can take many forms
– not only code – as detailed in the :ref:`contributors guide <contributing>`.

Contributor Experience Team
---------------------------

The contributor experience team is composed of community members who have permission on
github to label and close issues. :ref:`Their work <bug_triaging>` is
crucial to improve the communication in the project and limit the crowding
of the issue tracker.

Similarly to what has been decided in the `python project
<https://devguide.python.org/triage/triage-team/#becoming-a-member-of-the-python-triage-team>`_,
any contributor may become a member of the scikit-learn contributor experience team,
after showing some continuity in participating to scikit-learn
development (with pull requests and reviews).
Any core developer or member of the contributor experience team is welcome to propose a
scikit-learn contributor to join the contributor experience team. Other core developers
are then consulted: while it is expected that most acceptances will be
unanimous, a two-thirds majority is enough.
Every new member of the contributor experience team will be announced in the mailing
list. Members of the team are welcome to participate in `monthly core developer meetings
<https://github.com/scikit-learn/administrative/tree/master/meeting_notes>`_.

.. _communication_team:

Communication team
-------------------

Members of the communication team help with outreach and communication
for scikit-learn. The goal of the team is to develop public awareness of
scikit-learn, of its features and usage, as well as branding.

For this, they can operate the scikit-learn accounts on various social
networks and produce materials.

Every new communicator will be announced in the mailing list.
Communicators are welcome to participate in `monthly core developer meetings
Contributors are persons who contribute in concrete ways to the project, i.e. they
invest time and energy to improve the project for the greater community.
Anyone can become a contributor, and contributions can take many forms:
coding, reviewing pull request, communications, organization, triaging, replying
to mails in the mailing list, etc.
Every contributor is welcome to participate in `monthly core contributor meetings
<https://github.com/scikit-learn/administrative/tree/master/meeting_notes>`_.

Core developers
---------------

Core developers are community members who have shown that they are dedicated to
the continued development of the project through ongoing engagement with the
community. They have shown they can be trusted to maintain scikit-learn with
care. Being a core developer allows contributors to more easily carry on
with their project related activities by giving them direct access to the
project's repository and is represented as being an organization member on the
scikit-learn `GitHub organization <https://github.com/orgs/scikit-learn/people>`_.
Core developers are expected to review code
contributions, can merge approved pull requests, can cast votes for and against
merging a pull-request, and can be involved in deciding major changes to the
API.

New core developers can be nominated by any existing core developers. Once they
have been nominated, there will be a vote by the current core developers.
Voting on new core developers is one of the few activities that takes place on
the project's private management list. While it is expected that most votes
will be unanimous, a two-thirds majority of the cast votes is enough. The vote
needs to be open for at least 1 week.

Core developers that have not contributed to the project (commits or GitHub
comments) in the past 12 months will be asked if they want to become emeritus
core developers and recant their commit and voting rights until they become
active again. The list of core developers, active and emeritus (with dates at
More details can be found in the :ref:`contributors guide <contributing>`.

Core Contributors
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Should we update the rest documentation in other PRs to use Contributor and Core Contributor everywhere?

-----------------

Core contributors are persons who have shown that they are dedicated to the continued
development of the project through ongoing engagement with the community.
They have shown that they can be trusted to maintain scikit-learn with care.
Core contributors are expected to invest continued time and energy in the project.
This includes selectively (not cumulatively):

- Ensure the maintenance of scikit-learn
- Help other contributors to engage in the project and to carry on with their project
related activities.
- Conduct public relations work
- Fundraising
- Triage github issues and pull requests
- Review code
- Contribute code
- Create a common development roadmap
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I think it would be appropriate precising the goal of a development roadmap and its enforcement (I do not think everyone agrees on the relevance of a roadmap).


Therefore, core contributors are given the following rights:

- Call for votes and cast votes according to the decision-making process as detailed
below.
- Be involved in deciding major changes to the API and the governance.
- Direct access to the project's GitHub repository and joining as organization member
in the scikit-learn `GitHub organization
<https://github.com/orgs/scikit-learn/people>`_.
This right might not be exercised for security reasons, but it may be claimed at
any time.
- Cast a vote for, i.e. approve, or cast a vote against pull-requests.
- Merge pull-requests.

New core contributors can be nominated by any existing core contributor.
Once they have been nominated, there will be a vote by the current core contributors.
Voting on new core contributors is one of the few activities that takes place on the
project's private management list.
While it is expected that most votes will be unanimous, a two-thirds majority of the
cast votes is needed for acceptance of the candidate as new core contributor.
The vote needs to be open for at least 2 and at most 4 weeks.

Core contributors can step back from their role and privileges at any time.
If they have not reasonably contributed to the project in the past 12 months, they will
be kindly asked to step back by the technical committee.
As *ultima ratio*, the technical committee is allowed to call for a vote to withdraw
the core contributor role from a current member.
A 3/4 majority of all current core contributors is needed that this vote passes.
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Suggested change
A 3/4 majority of all current core contributors is needed that this vote passes.
A 3/4 majority of all current core contributors is needed for this vote to pass.

It is open for exactly 4 weeks and is done on a private list.
Core contributors that step back can, if they want to, be listed as emeritus core
contributors on the public website.

The list of core contributors, active and emeritus (with dates at
which they became active) is public on the scikit-learn website.

# TODO: remove/replace .. _communication_team:
# TODO: replace core developer by core contributor in all files.
# TODO: what to do with members of the contributor experience team, communication team?
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The "merge pull-requests" right require write permissions, which allows one to control the secrets in the repo: github/docs#1087. Because of the expanded permissions, I prefer to have a nomination + vote for each member of the contributor experience team + communication team to be a part of the Core Contributor Team.

The alternative is to invite everyone to join the Core Contributor Team, but that almost doubles the number of people with write permission.

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I agree with @thomasjpfan, and I think it might be better to perform change indicated by such TODOs in a second PR. What do you think?


Technical Committee
-------------------
The Technical Committee (TC) members are core developers who have additional
The Technical Committee (TC) members are core contributors who have additional
responsibilities to ensure the smooth running of the project. TC members are expected to
participate in strategic planning, and approve changes to the governance model.
The purpose of the TC is to ensure a smooth progress from the big-picture
perspective. Indeed changes that impact the full project require a synthetic
analysis and a consensus that is both explicit and informed. In cases that the
core developer community (which includes the TC members) fails to reach such a
core contributor community (which includes the TC members) fails to reach such a
consensus in the required time frame, the TC is the entity to resolve the
issue.
Membership of the TC is by nomination by a core developer. A nomination will
Membership of the TC is by nomination by a core contributor. A nomination will
result in discussion which cannot take more than a month and then a vote by
the core developers which will stay open for a week. TC membership votes are
the core contributors which will stay open for a week. TC membership votes are
subject to a two-third majority of all cast votes as well as a simple majority
approval of all the current TC members. TC members who do not actively engage
with the TC duties are expected to resign.
Expand All @@ -116,7 +115,7 @@ The Technical Committee of scikit-learn consists of :user:`Thomas Fan
<amueller>`, :user:`Joel Nothman <jnothman>` and :user:`Gaël Varoquaux
<GaelVaroquaux>`.

Decision Making Process
Decision-Making Process
=======================
Decisions about the future of the project are made through discussion with all
members of the community. All non-sensitive project management discussion takes
Expand All @@ -125,35 +124,35 @@ and the `issue tracker <https://github.com/scikit-learn/scikit-learn/issues>`_.
Occasionally, sensitive discussion occurs on a private list.

Scikit-learn uses a "consensus seeking" process for making decisions. The group
tries to find a resolution that has no open objections among core developers.
At any point during the discussion, any core-developer can call for a vote, which will
conclude one month from the call for the vote. Any vote must be backed by a
tries to find a resolution that has no open objections among core contributors.
At any point during the discussion, any core contributor can call for a vote, which
will conclude one month from the call for the vote. Any vote must be backed by a
:ref:`SLEP <slep>`. If no option can gather two thirds of the votes cast, the
decision is escalated to the TC, which in turn will use consensus seeking with
the fallback option of a simple majority vote if no consensus can be found
within a month. This is what we hereafter may refer to as "**the decision making
within a month. This is what we hereafter may refer to as "**the decision-making
process**".

Decisions (in addition to adding core developers and TC membership as above)
Decisions (in addition to adding core contributors and TC membership as above)
are made according to the following rules:

* **Minor Documentation changes**, such as typo fixes, or addition / correction of a
sentence, but no change of the scikit-learn.org landing page or the “about”
page: Requires +1 by a core developer, no -1 by a core developer (lazy
consensus), happens on the issue or pull request page. Core developers are
page: Requires +1 by a core contributor, no -1 by a core contributor (lazy
consensus), happens on the issue or pull request page. Core contributors are
expected to give “reasonable time” to others to give their opinion on the pull
request if they're not confident others would agree.

* **Code changes and major documentation changes**
require +1 by two core developers, no -1 by a core developer (lazy
require +1 by two core contributors, no -1 by a core contributor (lazy
consensus), happens on the issue of pull-request page.

* **Changes to the API principles and changes to dependencies or supported
versions** happen via a :ref:`slep` and follows the decision-making process outlined above.

If a veto -1 vote is cast on a lazy consensus, the proposer can appeal to the
community and core developers and the change can be approved or rejected using
the decision making procedure outlined above.
community and core contributors and the change can be approved or rejected using
the decision-making procedure outlined above.

Governance Model Changes
------------------------
Expand Down