Consensus
Sat 5 Oct 2024 12:07AM

Create a separate chat space for coordinating associated software (Pillbug) development?

S sirocyl Public Seen by 14

The content of this thread was moved from a discussion within the Tech WG out to the general Stewardship group for a main consensus read.

V

Poll Created Fri 4 Oct 2024 10:13PM

Create a separate chat space for coordinating the development of pillbug Closed Sat 5 Oct 2024 12:44AM

Outcome
by viviridian Sat 5 Oct 2024 12:44AM

(this is my first time creating a 'decision' in loomio. i'm not sure if all of the stewards are allowed to vote, or if it's just the tech WG. the intent is to allow all stewards.)

What is the decision you need to make?

Whether folks are comfortable with me creating a separate space for pillbug development specifically. I'm thinking a separate discord server or maybe matrix space.

Why is this important?

Website League has a pretty big stake in pillbug, both in the project being successful, and in the project delivering a client that aligns with the Website League's requirements. I definitely see an argument for keeping pillbug as close to the league as possible, but that needs to be done thoughtfully to avoid impeding development.

See this discussion on discord for context. https://discord.com/channels/1283923723417682024/1283923723417682027/1291876842562912309

There are folks who are involved or want to be involved in the development of pillbug who are not stewards. I think it would be unreasonable to require developers to be stewards to contribute, therefore I think that the League's decision-making infrastructure is not a good place for day-to-day development coordination, and we'd probably be best off detaching it and letting that be autonomously driven by developer teams. Loomio could still be used to define requirements to drive those teams, but that is a step abstracted from the actual development process.

What we do here may set a precedent for other software projects, but it may not. I think these should probably be handled on a case-by-case basis; a frontend project like pillbug doesn't have other projects taking a direct dependency on it, but other projects may have a deeper league-wide impact, like any activitypub extensions we want to define.

What are you asking of people in this proposal?

Seeking comments generally.

One thing I want folks to actively consider when voting on this is how much power and influence gets concentrated in the hands of developers, especially developers who are leading projects. I trust myself but please think about a worst case scenario where a project 'goes rogue', what could be done in that case, and whether having more distance between WL and a project is better or worse in that situation.

I'll also leave the following text from the template, since I think that covers what I'm asking:

If you have an Objection, please say why and propose a change to the proposal that makes it safe.

Remember we are seeking consent for a ‘good enough’ decision that is 'safe to try', so we can make a good decision for our organization.

Results

Results Option % of points Voters
Consent 100.0% 3 V MJL M
Objection 0.0% 0  
Undecided 0% 14 V M K T S R TD E WM E AB S K T

3 of 17 people have participated (17%)

V

viviridian
Consent
Fri 4 Oct 2024 10:13PM

One thing I want folks to actively consider when voting on this is how much power and influence gets concentrated in the hands of developers, especially developers who are leading projects. I trust myself but please think about a worst case scenario where a project 'goes rogue', what could be done in that case, and whether having more distance between WL and a project is better or worse in that situation.

MJL

muffin j. lord
Consent
Fri 4 Oct 2024 10:13PM

I have no problem with that, but it may be wise to publish significant announcements to the League discord proper to keep people appraised without having to feel pressure to participate directly in the development process

M

Mori
Consent
Fri 4 Oct 2024 10:13PM

I don't think front-end development needs to be in the same space as long as there's some form of cross-talk (e.g. major announcements are shared to the main league space). People who aren't working on pillbug don't necessarily need to know all the details. If nothing else, it avoids making the existing server even more of a chore to navigate.