Team Meetings

The postmarketOS Core Contributors and Trusted Contributors meet regularly on conference audio or video call to discuss topics relevant to the project and make related decisions.

You can find public meeting notes here

Moderation

The Team meetings are moderated by the Chair. The Chair is responsible for:

  • Following the meeting process established in this document

  • Calling for the beginning and end of discussion topics

  • Calling for votes

  • Establishing the agenda, including prioritizing topics and postponing discussion points if the time limit is exceeded

  • When relevant, inviting third-parties to the meeting take part in some or all of the discussion points

Current Chair: @ollieparanoid

First Vice-Chair: @pabloyoyoista

Second Vice-Chair: @lucaweiss

Chair selection

The Chair and Vice-Chairs must be part of the Core Contributors, and elected by them by unanimity.

The terms of the Chair and Vice-Chairs are currently not specified, given the lack of a process to become a Core Contributor. The Chair terms should be specified after PMCR!12 or equivalent process is in place.

Meeting process

Before the meeting

Any team member can add topics to the agenda by creating bullet points under the corresponding document in the postmarketOS notes service. Non-team members that wish to have something discussed can ask any of the team members to add a topic.

During the meeting

The meeting follows the format of informal discussion around the agenda topics. All attendants are requested to use the “hand raise” feature available in the conference application used.

The meeting notes are taken collaboratively by all parties in a collaborative text editing tool, and should reflect important discussion points, ideas raised, decisions taken, and follow-up actions.

For every discussion point that requires follow-up action, one or more people are assigned to work on it. Actions will be reviewed as the first thing in the next team meeting.

Typically these meetings have sections dedicated to:

  • Discussing PMCRs, when ongoing ones are opened.

  • Reports on progress for all projects paid from own funds.

After the meeting

  • Create note document for the next meeting agenda

    • Fill in the Previous meetings follow-ups section actions tasked in current meeting.

  • Update public meeting notes

Making decisions

In the Team Meeting, decisions are made in two ways: lazy approval for basic decisions, and qualified majority for more important decisions. Some decisions about specific topics, like finances or PMCRs have their own decision-making process established in their corresponding sections.

Lazy Approval

Lazy approval is used for many basic decisions. In this process, it is assumed that everyone agrees. This is true unless someone objects. The team uses this process for decisions that:

  • Have short-term effects.

  • Can be easily reversed.

Any member can request for more time or for the decision to be made according to the qualified majority decision. The Chair can grant or reject such request.

Qualified Majority

Qualified Majority is used for more important decisions. In case of decisions that are being brought to the Meeting for the first time, the voting can also happen at the beginning of next meeting, to let everybody have time to look at the proposal. Such votes require the approval of 70% of the present people. No quorum requirements are currently set, given that trusted contributors make a majority of the current team, and have no obligation or responsibility to attend the meeting. Further requirements might be set after our governance structures are better developed (see PMCR#9) for more details.

The voting is started by the Chair writing out the vote in the meeting notes, and reading it out-loud. Afterwards, participants in the meeting have two minutes to write down their name with a +1 (yes), 0 (abstain), or -1 (no) in the location where meeting notes are being taken. At the end of the two minutes, the Chair counts the votes and announces the results.

Meeting notes

Meeting notes use the following template:

* How's everybody doing?
  * Attendants:

* Previous meetings' follow-ups:
  * Action: Done
  * Action: In progress
  * Action: To do

* Topic (Presenter)
  * Notes
  * -> Person: Action

* PMCRs
* Project reports

* After the meeting:
  * -> Chair: update public meeting notes