Daniel P. Berrange wrote: > On Fri, Aug 22, 2014 at 02:33:27PM +0200, Thierry Carrez wrote: >> Hi everyone, >> >> We all know being a project PTL is an extremely busy job. That's because >> in our structure the PTL is responsible for almost everything in a project: >> >> - Release management contact >> - Work prioritization >> - Keeping bugs under control >> - Communicate about work being planned or done >> - Make sure the gate is not broken >> - Team logistics (run meetings, organize sprints) >> - ... > > This is a good list of responsbilities, but I feel like we're missing > something that is possibly a little too fuzzy to describe a bullet > point. In terms of our governance process, PTL is an elected role, so > in that sense the PTL holds an implicit duty to represent the interests > of the project constituents. I'd characterise this as setting the overall > big picture direction, so that the core team (and/or czars) are focusing > their efforts in the right directioon and generally ensuring that the > project is operating in a healthy manner. Perhaps you could class that > as 'team logistics' but I feel that the idea of 'representation the > voters' is is worth calling out explicitly.
Indeed. I touch on the "keep an eye on the big picture" aspect of the job later in the email, but I didn't call it out in that list. > Is there any formal writeup of the PTL role's responsibilities ? > With Google so far I only found one paragraph of governance > > https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/Governance/Foundation/Structure > > "Project Technical Leads (PTLs) lead individual projects. A PTL > is ultimately responsible for the direction for each project, > makes tough calls when needed, organizes the work and teams in > the project and determines if other forms of project leadership > are needed. The PTL for a project is elected by the body of > contributors to that particular project." The reference would be: https://wiki.openstack.org/wiki/PTLguide > Anyway, with the idea of elections & representation in mind.... > >> Enter the Czar system: each project should have a number of liaisons / >> official contacts / delegates that are fully responsible to cover one >> aspect of the project. We need to have Bugs czars, which are responsible >> for getting bugs under control. We need to have Oslo czars, which serve >> as liaisons for the Oslo program but also as active project-local oslo >> advocates. We need Security czars, which the VMT can go to to progress >> quickly on plugging vulnerabilities. We need release management czars, >> to handle the communication and process with that painful OpenStack >> release manager. We need Gate czars to serve as first-line-of-contact >> getting gate issues fixed... You get the idea. >> >> Some people can be czars of multiple areas. PTLs can retain some czar >> activity if they wish. Czars can collaborate with their equivalents in >> other projects to share best practices. We just need a clear list of >> areas/duties and make sure each project has a name assigned to each. >> >> Now, why czars ? Why not rely on informal activity ? Well, for that >> system to work we'll need a lot of people to step up and sign up for >> more responsibility. Making them "czars" makes sure that effort is >> recognized and gives them something back. Also if we don't formally >> designate people, we can't really delegate and the PTL will still be >> directly held responsible. The Release management czar should be able to >> sign off release SHAs without asking the PTL. The czars and the PTL >> should collectively be the new "project drivers". >> >> At that point, why not also get rid of the PTL ? And replace him with a >> team of czars ? If the czar system is successful, the PTL should be >> freed from the day-to-day operational duties and will be able to focus >> on the project health again. We still need someone to keep an eye on the >> project-wide picture and coordinate the work of the czars. We need >> someone to pick czars, in the event multiple candidates sign up. We also >> still need someone to have the final say in case of deadlocked issues. > > .... I'm wondering how people come to be czars ? You don't say explicitly, > but reading this it feels like the team of czars would be more or less > self-selecting amongst the project contributors or nominated by the PTL ? I think you would have volunteers (and volunteered) people. In the unlikely case people fight to become the czar, I guess the PTL could have final say, as it's also good to ensure that all czars don't happen to come up from a single company, etc. > Thus if we took the next step and got rid of the PTL, then we seem to > have entirely removed the idea of democratically elected leadership from > the individual projects. Is this interpretation correct, wrt the idea of > a czar system with PTL role abolished ? If you also abolish the PTL, yes. >> People say we don't have that many deadlocks in OpenStack for which the >> PTL ultimate power is needed, so we could get rid of them. I'd argue >> that the main reason we don't have that many deadlocks in OpenStack is >> precisely *because* we have a system to break them if they arise. That >> encourages everyone to find a lazy consensus. That part of the PTL job >> works. Let's fix the part that doesn't work (scaling/burnout). > > Even if we didn't have deadlocks with a pure czar system, I fear that > we would be loosing something important by no longer having the project > members directly elect their leader. The elections serve to give the > membership a sense of representation & control over the direction of > the project. Without that you have the risk that a self-selected group > of people become defacto controllers of the project, with no formal > system in place to depose them out if they were to stop acting in > interests of the rest of the contributors. > > I hope that would never become a real problem for OpenStack, but I > would still feel uncomfortable about changing governance based on > such an assumption. IOW, even if a PTL were to delegate all their > responsibility such that they're merely a figurehead in terms of the > day-to-day functioning of the project, I think it is desirable that > they remain there as a role that is elected & ultimately responsible. ++ > Overall though, I think the idea of the PTL delegating work out to a > team of czars, who are explicitly considered to be working on his/her > behalf, has merit, especially for the larger projects like Nova. It > clearly isn't in our interests long term for our PTLs to get burnt > out by the workload they take on, as that will discourage otherwise > good people from stepping forward for PTL roles. It is mostly the > questions about representation / goverance that I'm interested in > more clarity on. Floating the idea is the first step. If it sticks, I'll make sure the governance aspects are fleshed out. -- Thierry Carrez (ttx) _______________________________________________ OpenStack-dev mailing list OpenStack-dev@lists.openstack.org http://lists.openstack.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/openstack-dev
