doc: expections on leadership committees #339
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Document expectations on members of the TSC and CommComm beyond following the Code of Conduct.
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Based on discussion in #311 |
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@nodejs/tsc @nodejs/community-committee, please review/comment and make suggestions. I know from past issues/discussion we don't yet have consensus on setting a higher standard for members of the TSC and community-committee but hopefully this is something concrete so we can discuss specific parts that may be of concern. |
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(note: I am not in either of those groups, so I am unsure if my input is valid or wanted)
Speaking as someone who contacted (and was contacted by) both TSC & CommComm members over the past month: any 'assumed negativity/trolling' was diffused by polite 1:1 discussion. I also felt that both parties left with a better understanding of where the other was coming from. I think this is a critical thing for internet strangers working together to acknowledge. Public criticism is too often misinterpreted as ` This feels like a breath of fresh air after a trying month of uncertainty. I look forward to seeing what others think. |
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| set of standards. Everyone gets to speak up. | ||
| - Deal with issues directly with the person in question. Resist complaining | ||
| about others in the project in a public sphere. | ||
| - Keep your promises. Your word is your bond. Commit to anything you can |
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The second sentence doesn't parse too well for me. Commit only to things you can deliver upon?
More generally, I am not sure if this one really fits in here. Is this a statement about deliverables (concrete work)? If so, given that many/most are working on a volunteer basis, this is basically encouraging people to not sign up for anything unless they can guarantee they will come through.
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I did not read it as meaning concrete deliverables, but I can see how that it could be read this way. I'll think about it and @hackygolucky might have suggestions for better wording as well.
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Maybe If you commit to something, deliver it.
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This is not about deliverables though (but I am not entirely what a promise in a non-deliverable sense would mean).
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| It is important that members of our leadership groups (TSC, CommComm) act | |||
| in a way that not only complies with the code of conduct but that supports | |||
| the vision, mission and operating principles of the Node.js project. | |||
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Do we have all these documented somewhere?
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It might also be helpful if those were links to the supporting documents, eg:
in a way that not only complies with the code of conduct but that supports the vision, mission and operating principles of the Node.js project.
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I'm up for putting together a first pass on a values document
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| the vision, mission and operating principles of the Node.js project. | ||
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| While members have the right and responsibility to exercise independent | ||
| judgment and to express dissenting opinions during discussions within |
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judgement is the British spelling, but Americans prefer judgment. In the main repo, the style guide indicates that American spellings are preferred, so if that applies here, judgment is the better choice. There's also a behaviour later in the doc that should be changed to behavior if the American English thing applies to all our docs.
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agreed, spelling was never my strong point and I often mix Canadian and US spelling, will fix up.
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| or current team value may express the member's opposition within | ||
| the team in an appropriate manner, but must not take actions publicly | ||
| that have the purpose or result of undermining the decisions, values | ||
| or actions of the team. Accordingly, a member who itends to publicly |
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| - Serve as ambassadors of the vision, mission and operating | ||
| principles of the Node.js project. | ||
| - Treat all community members as professionals. with respect, consideration, |
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Comma after professionals?
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Or maybe a colon?:
Treat all community members as professionals: with respect, consideration, and using the highest standards of ethical conduct.
Another option is to simplify it:
Treat all community members with respect, consideration, and the utmost ethical conduct.
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| the highest standards of ethical conduct. | ||
| - Remediate quickly when you realize you made a mistake. Leaders are human, | ||
| and they will make mistakes - however they should act swiftly to | ||
| acknowlege mistakes and correct them. Most often this can mitigate |
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I'm glad somebody runs a spell checker on these docs. :-D
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I could use a spellchecker for markdown :)
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There is a trick which I use. Whenever I read a sentence, I'll read it forward once and backward once. When I read it backwards I catch most of the spelling mistakes. Reading forward is to understand what is written :D
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On Fri, Sep 8, 2017 at 4:34 PM, Michael Dawson ***@***.***> wrote:
Document expectations on members of the TSC and CommComm beyond
following the Code of Conduct.
Likely to be lots of discussion and differing views, but some initial text
that can be refined.
A follow on step would be to define/document the process for
reporting/remediation
when members don't meet this standard.
Should these ideas be proposed to the upstream CoC sources as well?
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| While members have the right and responsibility to exercise independent | ||
| judgment and to express dissenting opinions during discussions within | ||
| the organization, members also have the obligation outside the | ||
| organization (twitter, reddit, etc.) to respect and support decisions |
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twitter, reddit, etc. → social media?
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| or current team value may express the member's opposition within | ||
| the team in an appropriate manner, but must not take actions publicly | ||
| that have the purpose or result of undermining the decisions, values | ||
| or actions of the team. Accordingly, a member who itends to publicly |
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I think this casts a very wide net, and we should be more specific as to what decisions we refer to. I don’t think anybody should resign because they had a different opinion on what we should do with the Buffer constructor, for example.
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I agree with @addaleax here.This is beginning to read like a general gag order on discourse, which I don't think is the exact intention.
Expressing disagreement when done in a respectful way that doesn't undermine the project should be possible.
I am also not super keen on the choice of the term dissenting. Here is an alternative pass to this paragraph, feel free to cherry pick bits you like or take it wholesale
Members are encouraged to have individual opinions and are encouraged
to express those opinions during discussions within the organization. While
discourse is encouraged internally members also have the obligation outside
of the organization (social media) to be respectful of the decisions and values
of the majority. A member who does not support a team decision or current
team value may express the member's opposition within the team in an appropriate manner, but must be extremely careful when expressing the opinion externally.
External communication must not be done with the intent of undermining a decision, project values, or actions of the team. If another team member expresses that they believe
external communications appear to have the intent to undermine the committee
it is the responsibility of the individual expressing their opinions to rectify
the situation immedietely. If a member feels that there is no recourse aside
from going publicly regarding extremely contentious issue they should
resign from the team before doing so.
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Seems reasonable to me will incorporate in next pass.
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| @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ | |||
| It is important that members of our leadership groups (TSC, CommComm) act | |||
| in a way that not only complies with the code of conduct but that supports | |||
| the vision, mission and operating principles of the Node.js project. | |||
There was a problem hiding this comment.
I'm up for putting together a first pass on a values document
MemberExpectations.md
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| While members have the right and responsibility to exercise independent | ||
| judgment and to express dissenting opinions during discussions within | ||
| the organization, members also have the obligation outside the | ||
| organization (twitter, reddit, etc.) to respect and support decisions |
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| ownership and stewardship that everyone can follow to success. | ||
| - Commit to ongoing development and learning best practices for governing. | ||
| - Critique ideas rather than individuals, discussing any concerns in person | ||
| whenever possible, and taking responsibility for our statements by |
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seems to be two spaces after and
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| - Remediate quickly when you realize you made a mistake. Leaders are human, | ||
| and they will make mistakes - however they should act swiftly to | ||
| acknowlege mistakes and correct them. Most often this can mitigate | ||
| any damage done. |
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This point should be at the top of the list imho
| - Aim to remediate first and then discuss. If other members of the | ||
| team express concerns about actions, acknowledge their concerns by | ||
| stopping the actions in question and then discuss within the team | ||
| to come to a common agreement. |
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This one should be at the top as well
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Moved,although I'm a bit worried it leads off with a bit of a negative tone.
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| or current team value may express the member's opposition within | ||
| the team in an appropriate manner, but must not take actions publicly | ||
| that have the purpose or result of undermining the decisions, values | ||
| or actions of the team. Accordingly, a member who itends to publicly |
There was a problem hiding this comment.
I agree with @addaleax here.This is beginning to read like a general gag order on discourse, which I don't think is the exact intention.
Expressing disagreement when done in a respectful way that doesn't undermine the project should be possible.
I am also not super keen on the choice of the term dissenting. Here is an alternative pass to this paragraph, feel free to cherry pick bits you like or take it wholesale
Members are encouraged to have individual opinions and are encouraged
to express those opinions during discussions within the organization. While
discourse is encouraged internally members also have the obligation outside
of the organization (social media) to be respectful of the decisions and values
of the majority. A member who does not support a team decision or current
team value may express the member's opposition within the team in an appropriate manner, but must be extremely careful when expressing the opinion externally.
External communication must not be done with the intent of undermining a decision, project values, or actions of the team. If another team member expresses that they believe
external communications appear to have the intent to undermine the committee
it is the responsibility of the individual expressing their opinions to rectify
the situation immedietely. If a member feels that there is no recourse aside
from going publicly regarding extremely contentious issue they should
resign from the team before doing so.
MemberExpectations.md
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| @@ -0,0 +1,58 @@ | |||
| It is important that members of our leadership groups (TSC, CommComm) act | |||
| in a way that not only complies with the code of conduct but that supports | |||
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s/code of conduct/Code of Conduct, and make this a link to the doc
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| judgment and to express dissenting opinions during discussions within | ||
| the organization, members also have the obligation outside the | ||
| organization (twitter, reddit, etc.) to respect and support decisions | ||
| and values of the majority, even when a member dissented from |
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This respect and support decisions of the majority view is problematic. Perhaps respect and support decisions made within the project's documented processes or something similar.
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This is a good start. My overall feedback is that it seems to emphasize publicly supporting the decisions of the teams/project and only mentions upholding @MylesBorins volunteered (TY!) to create something outlining those |
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Also: Should this be a Community Committee document as this covers more than just the technical aspects of the project? Should this and the |
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Pushed update to address initial comments. |
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@williamkapke I believe this needs to apply across at least the TSC and CommComm just did not want to wait to figure out where it should go to do that before starting the discussion. |
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| set of standards. Everyone gets to speak up. | ||
| - Deal with issues directly with the person in question. Resist complaining | ||
| about others in the project in a public sphere. | ||
| - Built trust by keeping your promises. |
| team express concerns about actions, acknowledge their concerns by | ||
| stopping the actions in question and then discuss within the team | ||
| to come to a common agreement. | ||
| - Treat all community members with respect, consideration, and highest |
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I 100% agree with this line, but it's a highly subjective and abstract statement. My idea of respect, consideration, and ethical conduct may vary from yours. Should this line mention something to this effect?
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perhaps explicit language that you are expected to correct if others feel behavior falls outside that norm
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I think we already have this covered in the bullet about about remediate first.
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| speaking as much as possible | ||
| in the first person (.I. statements) rather than in the third person. | ||
| - Collectively and as an individual serve as a role model to demonstrate | ||
| the highest standards of ethical conduct. |
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Collectively and as an individual serve as a role model to demonstrate the highest standards of ethical conduct.
is a double of
Treat all community members with respect, consideration, and highest standards of ethical conduct.
I prefer putting the focus of treating everyone with high respect is more important than (aspiring) to be role models. I do not think one can decide to be "a role model", it's the action of others that decide that you are.
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| it is the responsibility of the individual expressing their opinions to rectify | ||
| the situation immediately. If a member feels that there is no recourse aside | ||
| from going public regarding an extremely contentious issue then they should | ||
| resign from the team before doing so. |
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I think we should note that is fine in disagreeing.
One can be 100% against promises, say it publicly and still respect the decision-making process.
| It is important that members of our leadership groups (TSC, CommComm) act | ||
| in a way that not only complies with the | ||
| [Code of Conduct](https://github.com/nodejs/TSC/blob/master/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) | ||
| but that supports the vision, mission and operating principles of the Node.js project. |
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Is the vision, mission and operating principles something that is going to be written down?
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It would be a good idea, but I think in order to avoid delaying this too long they could come afterwards.
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| but that supports the vision, mission and operating principles of the Node.js project. | ||
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| Members are encouraged to have individual opinions and are encouraged | ||
| to express those opinions during discussions within the organization. While |
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It's not so much that we are "encouraged" to have individual opinions, it's more that we recognize that each of us has individual opinions and will express those. It's a subtle but important difference. I do not need the projects permission or encouragement to bring my own point of view.
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| to express those opinions during discussions within the organization. While | ||
| discourse is encouraged internally, members also have the obligation outside | ||
| of the organization (for example in social media) to be respectful of the | ||
| decisions made within the projects's documented processes. A member who does |
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I would put this differently: Members have an obligation to be respectful of the documented processes they voluntarily agreed to follow, including the results of those processes even (and especially) if the results run counter to their personal point of view. In other words, if you've agreed in advance to the process, you have an obligation to abide by it.
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| from going public regarding an extremely contentious issue then they should | ||
| resign from the team before doing so. | ||
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| In addition to being willing to act as a team player, members of our |
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Ugh... can we not use the "team player" terminology.
I don't believe it should, but it would be good for CommComm to adopt a similar document. |
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@jasnell @williamkapke I think this is a perfect fit for the nodejs/admin repo since that is a jointly bound repo in responsibilities and we should be united in the expectations of leaders across the project. |
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should we close this and open a new PR with the current content over on admin? |
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So long as the feedback raised here still gets addressed, I'm ok with that. |
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I don't really this has significant value at the current time because neither of the following things actually exist...
IMO, it would be useful to actually have "Node values" first. |
Cool. Do you have an initial draft or starting point? A PR would definitely be most helpful. |
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@hackygolucky ... I'm +1 for moving this over to the admin repo if the commcomm wants to adopt this also. |
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Ok, I'll incorporate the feedback and open a new PR in the admin repo in the next day or so. |
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Pushed updates and the moved over to nodejs/admin#12 |
Document expectations on members of the TSC and CommComm beyond
following the Code of Conduct.
Likely to be lots of discussion and differing views, but some initial text that can be refined.
A follow on step would be to define/document the process for reporting/remediation
when members don't meet this standard.