Decision Making, Voting, and Elections
This section describes the decision-making process, voting, and elections for the CF.
General Decision Making
In general, the CF adopts the Lazy Consensus model, as defined by the Apache Foundation, combined with Martha's Rules adapted for our context.
Expectations for Consensus Decision Making
Consensus is about finding a workable compromise:
- Early dissent is encouraged to facilitate productive dialog.
- Every member, regardless of their role, has an equal opportunity to contribute.
Proposal Development and Review Process
Proposals typically begin as GitHub Discussions for collaborative refinement.
Architecture Decision Definition of Done or Y-statements can be useful for framing proposals or summarizing outcomes, though they are not mandatory.
Sense Vote
Members indicate their level of comfort or agreement with a proposal using reactions.
Sense votes typically use the following reactions, though alternatives may be suggested for specific proposals:
- 👍 (:+1:): Indicates strong support or agreement with the proposal.
- 👀 (:eyes:): Suggests acceptance or willingness to go along with the proposal, even if it's not the preferred choice.
- 👎 (:-1:): Signifies discomfort or disagreement with the proposal, requiring further discussion.
Discussion of the proposal should occur in comments on the PR or GitHub Discussion. If conversations happen elsewhere (in chat, for example), a summary of the conversation should be added as a comment if the discussion helped clarify the proposal or resolve a concern.
If significant revisions are necessary, the current proposal should be closed as outdated and replaced with a new proposal. The new proposal has revised content to maintain focus on the most current version and simplify navigation for members.
In all instances, efforts should be made to address concerns and objections constructively.
Moving forward
A proposal moves forward if it receives sufficient support and meets applicable participation thresholds defined in the CFC/EGC voting rules.
Handling Unresolved Issues
If consensus cannot be reached:
- A member of the CFC will arrange a meeting with all relevant parties to discuss the proposal.
- The meeting will use a structured, time-boxed format to allow the proposal and objections to be presented and discussed.
- The meeting will conclude with a vote, subject to voting rules, that will decide whether to proceed despite unresolved objections.
- The outcome will be documented in the discussion thread and the proposal will be marked as resolved.
Elections
CF uses an electronic, asychronous, preference-based voting system through Elekto.