[tc] [all] Please help verify the role of the TC

Thierry Carrez thierry at openstack.org
Tue Jan 15 09:49:41 UTC 2019


Chris Dent wrote:
> [...]
> Since there is a significant and friction creating division of power
> and leadership between the TC and PTLs,

I'm not sure I follow you there... the division of power is between 
keeping an eye on the big picture and caring for OpenStack as a whole 
(TC) vs. rubber-hits-the-road, being responsible for a specific set of 
deliverables (PTL). The same individuals can care for both concerns, but 
those are different tasks... I think the division is clear.

The only friction I've observed recently is when it comes to driving 
cross-project work -- an area that TC members and affected PTLs care 
about. We need more people driving that type of work, and as we've said 
in other threads, TC members (as well as other respected members of our 
community) are in a good position to help drive that work.

> [...] what would it be like if we
> required half or more of the TC be elected from PTLs? Then the
> "providing the technical leadership" aspect of the TC mission [3]
> would be vested with the people who also have some responsibility for
> executing on that leadership.
> 
> That would be like something we had before, but now there are many
> more PTLs.

I don't think PTLs have any difficulty getting elected when they run, so 
I'm not sure a provision that the TC must have reserved seats for PTLs 
would have a significant impact, beyond complicating the election process.

In terms of increasing TC efficiency... As others said, being a PTL for 
a large project is already a lot of work and that leaves little to do 
"TC work". And if the goal is to get more TC members to drive 
cross-project work, the main reason TC members don't drive (more) 
cross-project work is generally that they don't have enough bandwidth to 
do so. Mandating more PTLs to be TC members is unlikely to result in a 
TC membership with more available cross-project work bandwidth...

I agree that it is important to have representation of classic developer 
teams on the TC, but I feel like today's TC membership is a good mix 
between horizontal teams and vertical teams, including deployment 
concerns and adjacent communities perspective. We should definitely 
continue to encourage TC candidacies from vertical/classic project 
teams, but I don't think that should be reduced to PTLs, and I don't 
think that should be reserved seats.

-- 
Thierry Carrez (ttx)



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