[1026] | 1 | 2007-07-07 |
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| 2 | The Decision-Making Policy of the scripts.mit.edu Project: |
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| 3 | |
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| 4 | We, the creators of the scripts.mit.edu infrastructure, wish to define a |
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| 5 | policy for how decisions of the scripts.mit.edu project will be reached in |
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| 6 | order to avoid confusion on this subject among future contributors to the |
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| 7 | project. We particularly want to avoid a situation in which the |
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| 8 | leadership of the project is unclear after we leave MIT. |
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| 9 | |
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| 10 | In general, we believe that all contributors to the project should have a |
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| 11 | say in how the service is run in approximate proportion to their |
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| 12 | contributions. We furthermore believe that strong agreement among the |
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| 13 | project's principal contributors is highly important to the project's |
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| 14 | future, and so, whenever possible, the project's principal contributors |
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| 15 | should reach near-unanimous agreement about how the project should |
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| 16 | proceed. Ultimately, the decisions of a project of this nature need to be |
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| 17 | made by the people who are making the project happen. |
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| 18 | |
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| 19 | Unfortunately, reaching unanimous agreement among all of the contributors |
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| 20 | to the project might not always be possible. This document establishes |
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| 21 | two leadership positions for the scripts.mit.edu project in order to |
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| 22 | entrust decision-making authority to specific individuals. These leaders |
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| 23 | are ultimately entrusted with the project, although they are expected to |
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| 24 | take significant pause before using their authority to end a disagreement |
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| 25 | before consensus of the principal contributors has been reached. These |
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| 26 | leadership positions are based in part on the roles of "producer" and |
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| 27 | "director" described in Frederick P. Brooks' _The Mythical Man-Month_. |
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| 28 | |
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| 29 | The "scripts team leader" is an MIT student who: |
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| 30 | - "assembles the team, divides the work, and establishes the schedule" |
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| 31 | - "acquires and keeps on acquiring the necessary resources" |
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| 32 | - "establishes the pattern of communication and reporting within the team" |
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| 33 | - "ensures that the schedule is met, shifting resources and organization |
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| 34 | in order to respond to changing circumstances" |
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| 35 | |
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| 36 | The team leader is responsible for ensuring that the project continues to |
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| 37 | make regular progress. The team leader is entrusted with arbitrating |
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| 38 | decisions regarding the organization of the scripts team and the focus of |
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| 39 | its ongoing development efforts. For example, the team leader may remove |
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| 40 | individuals from the project who are deemed to be having an overall |
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| 41 | negative influence on the project. |
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| 42 | |
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| 43 | The "scripts architect" is an MIT student who: |
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| 44 | - "provides unity and conceptual integrity to the whole design" |
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| 45 | - "serves as a limit to system complexity" |
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| 46 | - "invents solutions for [large-scale technical problems] or shifts the |
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| 47 | system design as required" |
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| 48 | |
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| 49 | The architect is responsible for ensuring the technical quality of the |
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| 50 | scripts.mit.edu service. The architect is entrusted with arbitrating |
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| 51 | decisions regarding the scope, design, and operation of the service. As |
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| 52 | the guardian of the technical integrity of the service, the architect may |
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| 53 | arbitrate all decisions regarding the project's production hardware and |
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| 54 | software. |
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| 55 | |
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| 56 | Both positions may select their own replacement, and, in the case of a |
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| 57 | vacancy, either position may select a replacement for the other position. |
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| 58 | Before an individual assumes either position as a replacement, that |
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| 59 | individual should be confirmed for that position by the SIPB Executive |
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| 60 | Committee. A single individual may hold both positions simultaneously if |
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| 61 | every individual who has significantly contributed to the project within |
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| 62 | the last one calendar year agrees. Any objections must occur before the |
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| 63 | Executive Committee has confirmed the appointment. |
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| 64 | |
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| 65 | The creator of the scripts.mit.edu project, Jeff Arnold, will serve as the |
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| 66 | first team leader and architect. |
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| 67 | |
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| 68 | Any part of the scripts.mit.edu decision-making policy may be modified as |
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| 69 | necessary by agreement between the scripts team leader and the scripts |
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| 70 | architect. When changing the scripts.mit.edu decision-making policy, as |
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| 71 | with any major decision, near-unanimous agreement among the project's |
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| 72 | principal contributors should ideally be reached. |
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| 73 | |
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| 74 | The scripts.mit.edu project is affiliated with SIPB, and while the project |
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| 75 | remains affiliated with SIPB, the project will follow appropriate SIPB |
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| 76 | procedures for projects. |
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| 77 | |
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| 78 | This policy should be distributed to contributors to the project so that |
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| 79 | they may decide not to contribute if they are dissatisfied with it. |
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| 85 | |
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| 86 | ____________________________________ |
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| 87 | jbarnold |
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| 94 | ____________________________________ |
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| 95 | presbrey |
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| 101 | |
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| 102 | ____________________________________ |
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| 103 | hartmans |
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| 104 | |
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| 105 | |
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| 106 | As contributors to the scripts.mit.edu project, we have contributed to |
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| 107 | the creation of this written decision-making policy and we fully support it. |
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| 114 | ____________________________________ |
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| 115 | tabbott |
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| 122 | ____________________________________ |
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| 123 | andersk |
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| 129 | |
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| 130 | ____________________________________ |
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| 131 | geofft |
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