MOTU Decision Making Process

[Scott Kitterman]

On Tuesday 17 June 2008 08:51, Emmet Hikory wrote:
> Reinhard Tartler wrote:
> > I think the last rule can or should imply that the council has the
> > option to call for vote.
> >
> > The shepard always has the possibilty to recommend a vote to the
> > council. If that is the case, the council would kinda have to call for
> > votes, or at least have a very good explanation for not calling for
> > votes.
>
>     One of the powers granted the council is the ability to make a
> decision if otherwise no progress would be made.  In the case of a
> controversial decision for which any given decision making process
> doesn't work, I'd argue that this general grant is sufficient
> coverage.  Whether the council determines that the decision will be
> taken by vote, by fiat, by appeal to another body (e.g. the technical
> board), or by other means is likely best resolved on a case-by-case
> basis, at the time that the decision must be taken.
>
>     That said, if a decision is not taken, and council does not
> provide guidance on how the decision is to be taken, all MOTU are
> encouraged to pressure council to take such a decision (while there
> remains consensus that consensus has not been achieved for the issue
> at hand).  Similarly, if a decision is taken, and there is a
> sufficient body of disagreement, there is likely value in further
> discussion as a result of the decision.

As a general case, if we can't get to rough consensus, I think we need more 
discussion.  We are all trying, pretty much, to achieve the same thing.  
Additionally, most of us are volunteers who really can't be ordered about.

Decisions forced on a large minority of the community are likely to be 
alienating and not very Ubuntu.

Working together to come to a generally common understanding of the best way 
to proceed is a very Ubuntu way to work.  There will be cases where urgency 
over-rides the need to work together, but I believe those will very much be 
the exception.

In a way, I didn't need to put the appeal to the MC into my proposal as anyone 
can appeal anything to the MC (or TB if still sufficiently unhappy), but I 
thought it better to make it clear.

This proposal is not only intended to do a better job of getting decisions 
actually made, but also to push us to work together as a team better.

Scott K