How do we make decisions?

Project Discussion
11

An important factor is that Fedora Docs does not have the same investments as other parts of the Fedora Project. Nearly every non-rotating member of the Fedora Council participates as part of their paid job. Nearly every member of FESCo is able to participate as part of their paid job. In my time in Fedora Docs, there was only ever one, maybe two, people who were paid to work on Fedora Docs as part of their primary day job responsibilities.

So, when discussing how to set up decision-making structures for Fedora Docs and how to do so in a sustainable way, we must account for this key difference in how the work behind Fedora Docs is financially supported. This factor distinguishes Fedora Docs from many other parts of the Fedora Project community—it has almost always been driven by volunteer labor, with few exceptions.

I see two areas that could make great entry points on rebooting Fedora Docs:

  1. Distinguishing Fedora Docs leadership from Fedora Docs content writing. Some people may want to participate more in the leadership and technical guidance behind Fedora Docs. Other people may just want to make some improvements and write some content. Historically, we have not done a great job of separating these things. We could do better on distinguishing how people can contribute to Fedora Docs, and giving them access and privileges according to their intent and desire to contribute.
  2. Defining a core, or “proven”, contributor. What distinguishes a casual contributor from someone who has a deeper knowledge of the interworkings of Fedora Docs? Could we narrow down key tasks and responsibilities and put it into a list? I don’t know much about the proven packagers process, but from what I do know, I admire the human-driven way that one proven packager can “sponsor” another into the group. There is some risk of unconscious bias, but I think this can be mitigated with better (wait for it) documentation. :grinning: It still beats the process we have now, where different people will react in inconsistent ways from lack of centralized coordination.

Just some thoughts. I think the committee discussion can be a messy one, and especially noting the volunteer-driven nature of Fedora Docs, it could be difficult to adapt if someone has a sudden change in their day job or personal life that challenges their commitment to Fedora Docs.

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