Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
63 lines (40 loc) · 4.25 KB

rotating-chair-model.md

File metadata and controls

63 lines (40 loc) · 4.25 KB
Raw

Rotating Chair Model

The Rotating Chair Model is a model of a Working Group that appoints a leader to push forward the Working Group's goals. The leader is regularly replaced with a new one, creating a "rotation" of leadership among the Working Group's members. This rotation promotes knowledge sharing and distribution of work duties among members.

Working Group Responsibilities

A Working Group that uses the Rotating Chair Model has an additional core responsibility:

  • They shall select a rotating chair to lead the group and ensure the Working Group's goals are fulfilled.

Chair Terms and Selection

The Chair has a term that is written in the Working Group's own charter. By default, that term is four months.

A person is eligible to chair the Working Group if and only if they satisfy all conditions:

  1. They wish to serve as chair.
  2. They are a member of the Working Group.
  3. They are not the chair of more than one other Working Group.
    • i.e. One person may chair a maximum of two Working Groups at a time
  4. They have not been the chair of that Working Group more recently than any eligible member.
    • i.e. Only the eligible members that have least recently (or never) been the chair of that Working Group are able to be chosen.

If there is nobody willing or able to serve as chair, then the Administrative Working Group should be notified for assistance. The AWG can optionally choose to make a delegate from the AWG a temporary chair for the Working Group with the primary goal of reenabling the Working Group to sustain its own chair rotation.

The group will make a reasonable effort to notify potential candidates that a new term is coming so that interested parties can declare their eligibility.

A chair is selected at random from the set of eligible candidates. The candidates and selection are to be documented and made public.

A chair's term does not need to begin at the same time as other Working Groups.

If a chair steps down, a new one is selected and a new term begins (i.e., interim chairs are not needed).

Chair Responsibilities

Chairs have responsibilities to their Working Group: they ensure that their Working Group is carrying out its mission.

Chairs have responsibility to all participants in transparently reporting the group's activity.

Chairs also have the following regular duties within their Working Groups:

  • Collect agenda items prior to each meeting to ensure a smooth and focused Working Group meeting.
  • Ensure that the Working Group is notified of the agenda for the meeting in a timely manner advance of the meeting.
  • Attend and lead each Working Group meeting.
    • If the chair is unable to attend a meeting, they should appoint another member to lead the meeting in their stead.
  • Ensure meeting notes are uploaded to the governance repo in the Working Group's respective subdirectory following each meeting.
  • Check into persistent issues present on their Working Group's repositories of responsibility (ex. bot failures).
  • Ensure that the WG roster list accurately reflects current membership.

In addition to these general responsibilities, a chair may have additional responsibilities specific to their Working Group written in their charter.

Is the Rotating Chair Model Right For My Working Group?

(This section is non-normative.)

The following advice and considerations can help a new Working Group decide whether the Rotating Chair Model is a good fit:

  • Does your Working Group have many different tasks that can be assigned to different members?
    • A Rotating Chair may provide value as someone who coordinates tasks and ensures that other members have the support to carry their tasks to completion.
  • Does your Working Group regularly cycle between members for completing a single, focused work task?
    • The Rotation Chair Model may provide value as a standardized and reliable ritual for choosing the next member and ensuring all members can learn and get the opportunity to complete work.
  • Does your Working Group need to be able to reliably make important decisions and resolve split positions between members?
    • A Rotating Chair may provide value as a tie-breaker vote when members are split on an issue, while still making it possible for that crucial vote to belong to any member.