Proposal to help CC with potential conflicts of interest

Stéphane Graber stgraber at ubuntu.com
Tue Jun 9 13:44:23 UTC 2015


On Tue, Jun 09, 2015 at 01:40:56PM +0100, Mark Shuttleworth wrote:
> Dear TB
> 
> This is not a technical topic, but a governance one on which I'd
> appreciate your perspective.
> 
> When we set all this up, we knew from observation that a code of conduct
> and a firm governance structure would be important, and by and large I
> think our arrangements in this regard have helped us balance complex
> webs of interests for the best benefit of all participants in the project.
> The CC plays a critical role in the project; a large part of their
> responsibility is to act as a trusted and neutral arbiter of differences
> between teams or individuals in Ubuntu. In addition to regular meetings
> with different councils and team leads, and the running of the selection
> processes for those teams the CC acts as a neutral trustee of the values
> encoded in the CoC. There have been a number of occasions when
> individuals have been asked to step down from positions of
> responsibility or membership after complaints raised by one party
> against another, arbitrated b the CC.
> 
> It has been pointed out that a potential conflict of interest arises if
> it is a member of the CC who is a party to such a dispute. We have
> general guidance that a conflicted party should recuse themselves from
> such deliberations. If it were a single member of the CC, then the
> remainder could probably handle the issue in a way that was seen to be
> independent. If however the issue is more systemic, then we might need
> to bolster the ranks of those able to weigh in, independently. While the
> general idea is that "appeal is to the BDFL", in some cases, I too might
> be obviously conflicted on a matter.
> 
> A suggestion to address this is that the TB, as a very well-respected
> team that is elected with support of a broad segment of the project
> (though not as broad as the CC), would be a useful source from which to
> draw independent perspectives in such a corner case.
> 
> The suggestion feels reasonable and appropriate to me. I think we would
> all want to avoid an infinite loop of appeals, or the TB being drawn
> into every matter on which the CC makes a tough decision, but I think in
> the decade-long history of the project there have perhaps been only one
> or two such issues and I think we would be able to scope this practice
> to the simple case where there is no non-CC complainant , or where the
> CC or substantial members of the CC are direct parties to a dispute. I
> like the idea that, when needed, we would have an obvious and
> pre-selected place to seek independent perspectives rather than me (as a
> potentially conflicted party) having to constitute a fresh, independent
> body.
> 
> I am writing to see how you, as a representative TB, feel about the
> proposal. If you are comfortable with handling such discussions in the
> very unlikely event they were to occur, that would be sufficient support
> for me to suggest it as a good practice to the CC for future reference.
> As the project gets a little older, it's not inappropriate for us to
> endeavour to be a little wiser too, so put this email in that bucket :)
> 
> Mark

Hi Mark,

I think that's a great idea and as a TB member, I'd certainly be happy
to help in those rare cases.

Stéphane
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