What is a PMC Chair?

[Ross Gardler <rg...@opendirective.com>]

Since discussion has turned to graduation I'd like to invite people to
consider who they would like to have as PMC chair. The first part of
this is understanding what the role of a PMC chair is.

First and foremost the position of chair does not bring any additional
authority over the project, at least not in normal circumstances. It
is true that in the event of a deadlock the chair has a casting vote,
however I have never seen this happen. In reality the chair is just
the same as any other PMC member except that they are expected to do a
certain amount of "paperwork" for the PMC and, more importantly, they
are a community facilitator. You can find a full description of the
responsibilities at [1]. In summary they are:

  - Subscribe to and monitor board@ (and board meeting minutes) and
infrastructure@ at lists, ensuring the community takes any necessary
actions

  - Submit quarterly reports

  - Maintain PMC membership records

  - Ensure everyones voice is heard

Before calling for nominations (and people can self-nominate if they
so desire) I would like to take a few days to allow people to ask any
questions about the role and the type of individual that is best
suited to be a chair.

Ross

[1] http://www.apache.org/dev/pmc.html#chair






-- 
Ross Gardler (@rgardler)
Programme Leader (Open Development)
OpenDirective http://opendirective.com

Re: What is a PMC Chair?

[Shane Curcuru <as...@shanecurcuru.org>]

Excellent points from the project perspective.  Note that PMC chairs are 
also made officers - Vice Presidents - of the ASF.

 From the larger organizational perspective, the most important duty of 
a PMC chair is ensuring that:

- The project's status is accurately reported to the board.

- Any feedback or questions from the board are communicated to the PMC 
and an answer (if required) is provided back to the board in a timely 
manner.

For those interested in the subject of governance at the ASF, I 
recommend these pages (which while listed as DRAFT are really just about 
done already):

   http://www.apache.org/foundation/governance/
   http://www.apache.org/foundation/governance/orgchart.html

- Shane

On 2012-05-31 9:56 AM, Ross Gardler wrote:
> Since discussion has turned to graduation I'd like to invite people to
> consider who they would like to have as PMC chair. The first part of
> this is understanding what the role of a PMC chair is.
>
> First and foremost the position of chair does not bring any additional
> authority over the project, at least not in normal circumstances. It
> is true that in the event of a deadlock the chair has a casting vote,
> however I have never seen this happen. In reality the chair is just
> the same as any other PMC member except that they are expected to do a
> certain amount of "paperwork" for the PMC and, more importantly, they
> are a community facilitator. You can find a full description of the
> responsibilities at [1]. In summary they are:
>
>    - Subscribe to and monitor board@ (and board meeting minutes) and
> infrastructure@ at lists, ensuring the community takes any necessary
> actions
>
>    - Submit quarterly reports
>
>    - Maintain PMC membership records
>
>    - Ensure everyones voice is heard
>
> Before calling for nominations (and people can self-nominate if they
> so desire) I would like to take a few days to allow people to ask any
> questions about the role and the type of individual that is best
> suited to be a chair.
>
> Ross
>
> [1] http://www.apache.org/dev/pmc.html#chair
>
>
>
>
>
>

Re: What is a PMC Chair?

[Ross Gardler <rg...@opendirective.com>]

Typical time commitment, over and above normal PMC duties and in a healthy
community, would be an average of 3-10 hours a month. The range is pretty
much dependent on how involved one is with the broader ASF issues, e.g.
read all board and infra mail or just the essential stuff.

There is a danger that one gets sucked in even further to other projects
and foundation activities. At this point there really is no upper limit,
but it is all voluntary.

Of course if there is an issue to resolve you can add any number of
additional hours to that.

Ross

>From a mobile device - forgive errors and terseness
On May 31, 2012 8:52 PM, "Rob Weir" <ro...@apache.org> wrote:

> On Thu, May 31, 2012 at 9:56 AM, Ross Gardler
> <rg...@opendirective.com> wrote:
> > Since discussion has turned to graduation I'd like to invite people to
> > consider who they would like to have as PMC chair. The first part of
> > this is understanding what the role of a PMC chair is.
> >
> > First and foremost the position of chair does not bring any additional
> > authority over the project, at least not in normal circumstances. It
> > is true that in the event of a deadlock the chair has a casting vote,
> > however I have never seen this happen. In reality the chair is just
> > the same as any other PMC member except that they are expected to do a
> > certain amount of "paperwork" for the PMC and, more importantly, they
> > are a community facilitator. You can find a full description of the
> > responsibilities at [1]. In summary they are:
> >
> >  - Subscribe to and monitor board@ (and board meeting minutes) and
> > infrastructure@ at lists, ensuring the community takes any necessary
> > actions
> >
> >  - Submit quarterly reports
> >
> >  - Maintain PMC membership records
> >
> >  - Ensure everyones voice is heard
> >
> > Before calling for nominations (and people can self-nominate if they
> > so desire) I would like to take a few days to allow people to ask any
> > questions about the role and the type of individual that is best
> > suited to be a chair.
> >
>
> Typical time commitment? And how does the size of this project impact that?
>
>
> > Ross
> >
> > [1] http://www.apache.org/dev/pmc.html#chair
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Ross Gardler (@rgardler)
> > Programme Leader (Open Development)
> > OpenDirective http://opendirective.com
>

Re: What is a PMC Chair?

[Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>]

On Thu, May 31, 2012 at 9:56 AM, Ross Gardler
<rg...@opendirective.com> wrote:
> Since discussion has turned to graduation I'd like to invite people to
> consider who they would like to have as PMC chair. The first part of
> this is understanding what the role of a PMC chair is.
>
> First and foremost the position of chair does not bring any additional
> authority over the project, at least not in normal circumstances. It
> is true that in the event of a deadlock the chair has a casting vote,
> however I have never seen this happen. In reality the chair is just
> the same as any other PMC member except that they are expected to do a
> certain amount of "paperwork" for the PMC and, more importantly, they
> are a community facilitator. You can find a full description of the
> responsibilities at [1]. In summary they are:
>
>  - Subscribe to and monitor board@ (and board meeting minutes) and
> infrastructure@ at lists, ensuring the community takes any necessary
> actions
>
>  - Submit quarterly reports
>
>  - Maintain PMC membership records
>
>  - Ensure everyones voice is heard
>
> Before calling for nominations (and people can self-nominate if they
> so desire) I would like to take a few days to allow people to ask any
> questions about the role and the type of individual that is best
> suited to be a chair.
>

Typical time commitment? And how does the size of this project impact that?


> Ross
>
> [1] http://www.apache.org/dev/pmc.html#chair
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Ross Gardler (@rgardler)
> Programme Leader (Open Development)
> OpenDirective http://opendirective.com

Re: What is a PMC Chair?

[Rob Weir <ro...@apache.org>]

On Thu, May 31, 2012 at 9:56 AM, Ross Gardler
<rg...@opendirective.com> wrote:
> Since discussion has turned to graduation I'd like to invite people to
> consider who they would like to have as PMC chair. The first part of
> this is understanding what the role of a PMC chair is.
>

Since someone contacted me off-list regarding this I think it would be
useful for me to make it clear up front that I have no interest in,
and would not accept a nomination for PMC Chair.

As many of you know, I am Chair of the OASIS Open Document Format
Technical Committee, the standards committee that controls the ODF
standard.  As part of that role I need to neutrally chair a committee
with participants from a wide range of implementors, open source and
commercial, including Microsoft, LibreOffice, Calligra, Gnumeric,
Symphony and OpenOffice.  It would be problematic if I there was a
perception that I had that degree of formal influence over both the
standard and its most prominent implementation.

Hopefully this clears the air a little.  I believe we have several
members of our community who would be excellent PMC Chairs, should
they chose to serve us in that role.  The main difficulty will be for
us to pick only one from this abundance.

Regards,

-Rob

> First and foremost the position of chair does not bring any additional
> authority over the project, at least not in normal circumstances. It
> is true that in the event of a deadlock the chair has a casting vote,
> however I have never seen this happen. In reality the chair is just
> the same as any other PMC member except that they are expected to do a
> certain amount of "paperwork" for the PMC and, more importantly, they
> are a community facilitator. You can find a full description of the
> responsibilities at [1]. In summary they are:
>
>  - Subscribe to and monitor board@ (and board meeting minutes) and
> infrastructure@ at lists, ensuring the community takes any necessary
> actions
>
>  - Submit quarterly reports
>
>  - Maintain PMC membership records
>
>  - Ensure everyones voice is heard
>
> Before calling for nominations (and people can self-nominate if they
> so desire) I would like to take a few days to allow people to ask any
> questions about the role and the type of individual that is best
> suited to be a chair.
>
> Ross
>
> [1] http://www.apache.org/dev/pmc.html#chair
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Ross Gardler (@rgardler)
> Programme Leader (Open Development)
> OpenDirective http://opendirective.com

Re: What is a PMC Chair?

[Ross Gardler <rg...@opendirective.com>]

There is no score for an official co-chair. That is the board delegates to
a single individual and that individual must take full responsibility.
However, there is nothing stopping the chair sharing tasks or delegating
someone to cover a board report whilst on holiday etc.

Ross

>From a mobile device - forgive errors and terseness
On May 31, 2012 8:45 PM, "Kazunari Hirano" <kh...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> Can we have a co-chair or a sub-chair?
> Or we select a new chair immediately when the chair can't do his/her job?
>
> Thanks,
> khirano
>

Re: What is a PMC Chair?

[Kazunari Hirano <kh...@gmail.com>]

Hi all,

Can we have a co-chair or a sub-chair?
Or we select a new chair immediately when the chair can't do his/her job?

Thanks,
khirano

Re: What is a PMC Chair?

[Ross Gardler <rg...@opendirective.com>]

On 31 May 2012 15:40, Shane Curcuru <as...@shanecurcuru.org> wrote:
> On 2012-05-31 10:31 AM, Yong Lin Ma wrote:
>>
>> How often a new chair will be selected? Yearly or depends on ...

...

> For a project like AOO, I personally think it would be valuable to have an
> expectation of an annual nomination/vote process for the chair.

Just want to highlight a nuance in Shanes recommendation (which I support).

This is an "annual nomination/vote process", that does not necessarily
mean the chair will change annually.

It is also worth noting that the community can vote to remove a chair
at any time.

Ross

Re: What is a PMC Chair?

[Shane Curcuru <as...@shanecurcuru.org>]

On 2012-05-31 10:31 AM, Yong Lin Ma wrote:
> How often a new chair will be selected? Yearly or depends on ...

Up to the project.

Many TLPs have bylaws that state they'll have an annual election, 
although in many cases this is ignored (or forgotten, more likely), and 
PMC chairs sit for... however long the project wants them.  In many 
cases, the existing chair either gets overloaded (typically with 
real-life changes outside the project) or simply wants to give someone 
else a chance, and they call for nominations themselves.

It's really up to the PMC to decide this, and then submit resolutions to 
the board (which are required to change chairs).  Presuming the PMC is 
acting in a healthy manner, the board simply passes the resolution at 
the next meeting.

For a project like AOO, I personally think it would be valuable to have 
an expectation of an annual nomination/vote process for the chair.

- Shane
>
>
> On Thu, May 31, 2012 at 9:56 PM, Ross Gardler
> <rg...@opendirective.com>  wrote:
>> Since discussion has turned to graduation I'd like to invite people to
>> consider who they would like to have as PMC chair. The first part of
>> this is understanding what the role of a PMC chair is.
>>
>> First and foremost the position of chair does not bring any additional
>> authority over the project, at least not in normal circumstances. It
>> is true that in the event of a deadlock the chair has a casting vote,
>> however I have never seen this happen. In reality the chair is just
>> the same as any other PMC member except that they are expected to do a
>> certain amount of "paperwork" for the PMC and, more importantly, they
>> are a community facilitator. You can find a full description of the
>> responsibilities at [1]. In summary they are:
>>
>>   - Subscribe to and monitor board@ (and board meeting minutes) and
>> infrastructure@ at lists, ensuring the community takes any necessary
>> actions
>>
>>   - Submit quarterly reports
>>
>>   - Maintain PMC membership records
>>
>>   - Ensure everyones voice is heard
>>
>> Before calling for nominations (and people can self-nominate if they
>> so desire) I would like to take a few days to allow people to ask any
>> questions about the role and the type of individual that is best
>> suited to be a chair.
>>
>> Ross
>>
>> [1] http://www.apache.org/dev/pmc.html#chair
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Ross Gardler (@rgardler)
>> Programme Leader (Open Development)
>> OpenDirective http://opendirective.com

Re: What is a PMC Chair?

[Yong Lin Ma <ma...@apache.org>]

How often a new chair will be selected? Yearly or depends on ...


On Thu, May 31, 2012 at 9:56 PM, Ross Gardler
<rg...@opendirective.com> wrote:
> Since discussion has turned to graduation I'd like to invite people to
> consider who they would like to have as PMC chair. The first part of
> this is understanding what the role of a PMC chair is.
>
> First and foremost the position of chair does not bring any additional
> authority over the project, at least not in normal circumstances. It
> is true that in the event of a deadlock the chair has a casting vote,
> however I have never seen this happen. In reality the chair is just
> the same as any other PMC member except that they are expected to do a
> certain amount of "paperwork" for the PMC and, more importantly, they
> are a community facilitator. You can find a full description of the
> responsibilities at [1]. In summary they are:
>
>  - Subscribe to and monitor board@ (and board meeting minutes) and
> infrastructure@ at lists, ensuring the community takes any necessary
> actions
>
>  - Submit quarterly reports
>
>  - Maintain PMC membership records
>
>  - Ensure everyones voice is heard
>
> Before calling for nominations (and people can self-nominate if they
> so desire) I would like to take a few days to allow people to ask any
> questions about the role and the type of individual that is best
> suited to be a chair.
>
> Ross
>
> [1] http://www.apache.org/dev/pmc.html#chair
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> Ross Gardler (@rgardler)
> Programme Leader (Open Development)
> OpenDirective http://opendirective.com