Hi All,

Below is a draft governance charter for the Workstation WG. I have taken much of this from the Cloud WG draft charter (found here: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Cloud_WG) to have some commonality between groups. I left some of the sections from that off for now, as I think that is their main landing page and we can fill in those sections with our relevant details as we go.

Please read it over and provide any feedback or ask any questions you may have. Thanks!

josh

== Fedora Workstation WG Governance ==

This document describes the governing structure for the Fedora Workstation Work Group.

=== Membership ===

The Fedora Workstation Work Group has nine voting members, with one member selected by the Fedora Engineering Steering Committee as the liaison to FESCo.

Members of the Working Group serve two year terms. At the end of the two year period, FESCo will either renew the FESCo liaison or appoint a new one. The other positions will be filled by general election every two years. As a special exception, four seats will be filled in one year, with those positions chosen at random (unless some number of members decide to step down). Voting will follow the standard Fedora election process and be open to all contributors in the CLA+1 group.

In the event that a current member relinquishes their seat, that seat will be filled by the first runner up in the previous election. If that person is not able or willing to fill the seat, it will go to each successive runner up until the seat is filled. If there are no candidates available or remaining from the previous election, the Work Group will fill the seat by selecting a candidate and approving by majority consensus.

NOTE: Clearly all of the above is open for discussion. I've modelled it after how FESCo current does their membership to a large degree. If we want something else, please follow up with alternative suggestions.

=== Current Members ===

* Josh Boyer (FESCo Liaison) * Matthias Clasen * Kalev Lember * Ryan Lerch * Jens Petersen * Christian Schaller * Owen Taylor * Lukáš Tinkl * Christoph Wickert

=== Making Decisions ===

Because Fedora is a global project, members of the working group may be distributed across multiple timezones. It may be possible to have a real-time IRC meetings, but in general we will conduct business on the mailing list.

Many of our decisions can be made through "lazy consensus";. Under this model, an intended action is announced on the mailing list, discussed, and if there is no controversy or dissenting views with a few days, simply done.

For bigger issues, where there may be disagreement, or where there is long-term impact, or where an action may not easily be undone, we will [1]... Working group members can vote +1 to approve, -1 to disagree, or 0 to abstain; five +1 votes are necessary for a measure to pass. Non-members may comment on the item and (of course) discuss on the mailing list, but are asked to refrain from putting votes.

[1] NOTE: for the workstation WG, we have the following option for dispute resolution:

1) Use a trac ticketing system as the cloud WG is doing 2) Come up with an official proposal voting system on the mailing list (specific "Subject: [Proposal for Vote] ..." or something). 3) Schedule an IRC meeting and do the vote live.

I'm fine with any of these, though I will point out that live meetings across all of our relevant timezones are difficult. If we choose to have a trac ticketing system (which can be used for votes and for people to report issues), I can get that created.

=== Changing these Rules ===

This document will be approved by consensus of the initial Working Group members and approved by FESCo. After initial ratification, any substantive changes can be approved by majority vote and sent to FESCo for acceptance.