source: locker/doc/scripts-decision-policy @ 1053

                                                                      2007-07-07
The Decision-Making Policy of the scripts.mit.edu Project:

We, the creators of the scripts.mit.edu infrastructure, wish to define a
policy for how decisions of the scripts.mit.edu project will be reached in
order to avoid confusion on this subject among future contributors to the
project.  We particularly want to avoid a situation in which the
leadership of the project is unclear after we leave MIT.

In general, we believe that all contributors to the project should have a
say in how the service is run in approximate proportion to their
contributions.  We furthermore believe that strong agreement among the
project's principal contributors is highly important to the project's
future, and so, whenever possible, the project's principal contributors
should reach near-unanimous agreement about how the project should
proceed.  Ultimately, the decisions of a project of this nature need to be
made by the people who are making the project happen.

Unfortunately, reaching unanimous agreement among all of the contributors
to the project might not always be possible.  This document establishes
two leadership positions for the scripts.mit.edu project in order to
entrust decision-making authority to specific individuals.  These leaders
are ultimately entrusted with the project, although they are expected to
take significant pause before using their authority to end a disagreement
before consensus of the principal contributors has been reached.  These
leadership positions are based in part on the roles of "producer" and
"director" described in Frederick P. Brooks' _The Mythical Man-Month_.

The "scripts team leader" is an MIT student who:
- "assembles the team, divides the work, and establishes the schedule"
- "acquires and keeps on acquiring the necessary resources"
- "establishes the pattern of communication and reporting within the team"
- "ensures that the schedule is met, shifting resources and organization
  in order to respond to changing circumstances"

The team leader is responsible for ensuring that the project continues to
make regular progress.  The team leader is entrusted with arbitrating
decisions regarding the organization of the scripts team and the focus of
its ongoing development efforts.  For example, the team leader may remove
individuals from the project who are deemed to be having an overall
negative influence on the project.

The "scripts architect" is an MIT student who:
- "provides unity and conceptual integrity to the whole design"
- "serves as a limit to system complexity"
- "invents solutions for [large-scale technical problems] or shifts the
  system design as required"

The architect is responsible for ensuring the technical quality of the
scripts.mit.edu service.  The architect is entrusted with arbitrating
decisions regarding the scope, design, and operation of the service.  As
the guardian of the technical integrity of the service, the architect may
arbitrate all decisions regarding the project's production hardware and
software.

Both positions may select their own replacement, and, in the case of a
vacancy, either position may select a replacement for the other position.
Before an individual assumes either position as a replacement, that
individual should be confirmed for that position by the SIPB Executive
Committee.  A single individual may hold both positions simultaneously if
every individual who has significantly contributed to the project within
the last one calendar year agrees.  Any objections must occur before the
Executive Committee has confirmed the appointment.

The creator of the scripts.mit.edu project, Jeff Arnold, will serve as the
first team leader and architect.

Any part of the scripts.mit.edu decision-making policy may be modified as
necessary by agreement between the scripts team leader and the scripts
architect.  When changing the scripts.mit.edu decision-making policy, as
with any major decision, near-unanimous agreement among the project's
principal contributors should ideally be reached.

The scripts.mit.edu project is affiliated with SIPB, and while the project
remains affiliated with SIPB, the project will follow appropriate SIPB
procedures for projects.

This policy should be distributed to contributors to the project so that
they may decide not to contribute if they are dissatisfied with it.






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                                                                        jbarnold






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                                                                        presbrey






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                                                                        hartmans


As contributors to the scripts.mit.edu project, we have contributed to
the creation of this written decision-making policy and we fully support it.






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                                                                         tabbott






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                                                                         andersk






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                                                                          geofft