Changes between Version 1 and Version 2 of projects/leadership-committee/democracy/wg-concerns


Ignore:
Timestamp:
Jun 4, 2013, 1:08:52 AM (12 years ago)
Author:
Daniel Kahn Gillmor
Comment:

first pass sketch

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  • projects/leadership-committee/democracy/wg-concerns

    v1 v2  
    66== Structure ==
    77
    8 === Working Groups ===
     8The main goal of this proposal is to see MF/PL structured as a set of  overlapping, empowered and engaged working groups that set organizational policy on the condition that they are transparent to and open to participation and guidance from the entire membership.
    99
    10 === Core ===
     10 * staff -- these are members with daily or weekly work commitments to the organization. 
     11 * working groups -- these are collections of members interested in and working on specific parts of the organization.  for example:
     12  * i18n
     13  * support-team
     14  * organizational development
     15  * others as needs arise... (how do members form a new working group?)
    1116
    12 === Conflict Resolution ===
     17Setting up any working group needs to include defining the scope for that WG.
     18
     19The term "core membership" refers to all people who are either on staff or in any working group.
     20
     21=== Working Group Responsibilities ===
     22
     23Each working group has a set of responsibilities:
     24
     25 * regular reportbacks to the lowdown about ongoing work
     26 * maintain an easily-accessible way for members to find out what the working groups are, and how to contact them.  This allows members to interact with and guide a working group without needing to commit to full participation in it.
     27 * Each working group should maintain a publicly-archived mailing list.
     28
     29=== Working group membership ===
     30
     31How does a member join a working group?
     32
     33Different models have different advantages, and we may not want to prescribe a single approach for all working groups.  Factors that need consideration are:
     34
     35 * we want to avoid working groups dominated by traditional majorities (cisgendered English-speaking white men)
     36 * a careful and thoughtful WG membership process tends to create mutual commitment from all parties involved instead of fly-by-night flakiness
     37 * but barriers to entry discourage participation
     38 * isolated cabals are bad
     39
     40=== Staff membership ===
     41
     42open questions:
     43
     44 * how do we decide who is on staff?
     45 * should each working group need to have a participating staff member?
     46 * should each staff member need to participate in at least one working group?
     47
     48=== Decision Making and Conflict Resolution ===
     49
     50We don't currently have a clear breakdown of how decisions get made at MF/PL.  We need one.  It should include:
     51
     52 * What different types of decisions are being made
     53 * who initiates a given type of decision
     54 * who needs to be consulted
     55 * who needs to approve
     56 * who needs to be informed?
     57
     58Each working group should make decisions within its scope.
     59
     60There are a set of shared MF/PL guidelines that we expect all WGs to adhere to:
     61
     62 * respectful communication
     63 * working groups need to listen to the concerns of MF/PL members who are not WG participants
     64 * we strive for consensus, and presume that is the baseline for decision-making, WGs may choose their specific implementation of consensus
     65
     66Conflict resolution:
     67
     68 * we need to plan out a conflict resolution approach both between and within WGs: decision-making should be how it normally works, and conflict-resolution is for when decision-making process breaks down
    1369
    1470=== Meetings ===
     71
     72There should be at least one annual in-person meeting for the entire core.
     73
     74We encourage individual working groups to schedule in-person meetings when possible.
     75
     76Staff has a regular weekly meeting.
     77
     78There should be an annual membership meeting that takes place in multiple locations simultaneously and is available over the internet where possible.
    1579
    1680== Concerns ==
    … …  
    2690=== transparency ===
    2791
    28 how can MF/PL members (and allies, and prospective members) be aware of what is happening in the organization? how does the organization engage members so that they want to know?
     92how can MF/PL members (and allies, and prospective members) be aware of what is happening in the organization? how does the organization engage members so that they ant to know?
    2993
    3094=== communications ===