Proposal for Planning and Operations (Ops) Forum

Summary

Proposal for Planning and Operations (Ops) Forum

Description

Objectives

Provide a regularly scheduled forum where contributors can interactively discuss and co-ordinate long-term planning and operational issues that require broader input. Note discussion is still intended to take place before and after the forum in a similar fashion as now. The forum just provides a regular appointment at which discussion can take place, and a way to establish a common understanding of any opposing viewpoints to use as a basis for further discussion.

For long-term issues, the focus is to obtain broad input to be used by contributors (including task forces) to generate proposals that satisfy as many people as possible. Key decisions may be best made through a formal decision-making process rather than in the forum itself.

For operational issues, decisions can be made in the forum if it is deemed sufficiently important or time-sensitive. The agenda should clearly specify the desired outcome of the agenda item (such as if a decision needs to be urgently made).

Mode of operation

Roles

Moderator

A moderator shall be in charge of running the forum. Before the meeting, the moderator accepts proposed agenda items, and issues the final agenda at least three days prior to the meeting.

The moderator shall have the responsibility of summarizing the discussion generated by the meeting, including any discussion based on the agenda that takes place prior to the meeting.

Attendees

Contributors shall inform the moderator of their planned attendance.

Timing

Hold forum monthly. If proposal for task force status reports is enacted, then the forum shall be at least five days after the reports are issued. The agenda for the forum is made available at least three days prior to the meeting. The agenda will have an associated discussion page on which contributors are encouraged to provide input.

The forum will consist of two meetings of one hour each on the designated day, with the times chosen to maximize attendance across the globe, unless one meeting can accommodate the needs of everyone who plans to attend. The agenda shall be covered from start to end in each meeting.

High-level agenda

• Next meeting: determine the best date for the next monthly meeting; decide on the moderator for the next month
• Long-term planning: discuss matters pertaining to future releases, project direction, and so forth. This category comes first as often long-term planning is continually postponed.
• Operations: discuss matters related to the day-to-day operational environment, such as IT infrastructure, Foswiki user support, and accounting (revenues and expenditures). (Perhaps marketing, as an offshoot of user support?)
• Program: discuss matters related to the Foswiki releases under development. Intended to allow discussion of issues where a general discussion forum is deemed useful to progress further. For most issues, the current mode of operations should be sufficient and so they do not need to be brought up in this forum.

Sample agenda

• Next meeting: Propose October 21, 2009: 6 AM UTC and 6 PM UTC; nominate Sandy Soapbox as moderator for next month
• Long-term planning:
  • Discuss what key features are being planned by contributors for release 1.0.y
  • Discuss what key features are being planned by contributors for release 1.1
  • Discuss marketing plans for future releases, as described in the latest marketing task force report
• Operations:
  • Server replacement: status of funding drive
  • Web site operations: discuss deployment requirements (for example, what plugins are deemed show-stoppers for upgrades)
• Program:
  • Discuss release date of 1.0.x

Post-meeting

The moderator shall issue a consolidated summary of the views expressed during the discussion of each item. The moderator can choose to raise proposals for discussion that take into account these views. In this way, discussions can build upon each other, based on the consensus reached each month.

Voting results

(pending)

Discussion