DMB: proposal for minimum meeting attendance

[Dan Streetman]

On Wed, Aug 25, 2021 at 3:44 PM Dan Streetman <ddstreet at canonical.com> wrote:
>
> I'd like to present a proposal for a change to the DMB membership
> rules, for consideration and discussion at the next DMB meeting
> (and/or over email, of course).

To refresh the proposal, I think this is the current wording after
previous discussion:

"Any DMB member who fails to attend 6 consecutive scheduled DMB
meetings (during a period no shorter than 12 weeks) shall be
considered inactive and removed from membership in the DMB. Since the
number of members required for quorum is 1/2 the number  of active DMB
members, rounded up, the change in the number of active members will
affect quorum. At such time as any DMB member is found to be inactive
due to this rule, the current DMB chair will add an action item to
schedule a public vote for a new DMB member. Previous DMB members,
including those changed to inactive due to this rule, are eligible to
run in the new election and any later elections. This proposal is not
retroactive, and the attendance requirement shall start the first
meeting after this proposal is adopted."

I think there's been enough time for full discussion of this proposal
from existing DMB members, and I've at least replied to all concerns
expressed over email.

I'd like to officially request a vote on this proposal starting
immediately over email, to be completed before the next scheduled DMB
meeting (which is on Oct 18, 2021).

I'll start the vote with my +1.

Rafael and Thomas, you provided +1 before, but I'm not sure if you
were just agreeing or actually voting, so could you provide your vote
again just for clarity?

Thanks.


>
> Background:
>
> The DMB has historically had problems with reaching quorum at its
> fortnightly meetings, which sometimes delayed or even blocked
> applicants from presenting their case for membership. I've (privately)
> recorded roll since joining the DMB, and while our record of reaching
> quorum last year (2020) after the elections was quite good, at 82% (18
> of 22 meetings), this year it's fallen, and we're down to 58% (10 of
> 17 meetings). Note that some meetings have no applicants, so failure
> to reach quorum for those isn't always critical, but it is an
> indicator of overall problems in attendance. The attendance record for
> each of our members, in increasing order but without naming any
> members, is: 0%, 18%, 53%, 65%, 71%, 71%, 94%.
>
> This past meeting (2021-08-23), we had difficulty reaching quorum, but
> finally did get enough members, however then unfortunately the meeting
> ran long due to the initial delay and we lost quorum before completing
> the vote for an application.
>
> Definitions for purposes of this rule:
> "scheduled meeting": listed on the DMB wiki agenda page, regardless of
> whether a meeting actually takes place or there are any agenda items.
> "attendance": sends any IRC message, from their recognized IRC nick,
> to the IRC channel where the meeting is held, sometime during the
> scheduled time for the meeting (or slightly before)
>
> Proposal:
>
> I propose amending the DMB rules of membership (which I don't think we
> have documented currently, in which case we should first write them
> down on our KB wiki page) to set a minimum attendance requirement as
> follows:
>
> "Any DMB member who fails to attend 6 consecutive scheduled DMB
> meetings (during a period no shorter than 12 weeks) shall be
> considered inactive and removed from membership in the DMB. At such
> time as any DMB member is found to be inactive due to this rule, the
> current DMB chair will add an action item to schedule a public vote
> for a new DMB member. This proposal is not retroactive, and the
> attendance requirement shall start the first meeting after this
> proposal is adopted."