639 lines
33 KiB
Markdown
639 lines
33 KiB
Markdown
# Decision-Making Guide
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Welcome to Forgejo's decision-making guide! It will guide you through **how to
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make a decision together**.
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It's not meant to be a rule you "must" follow! It's meant to be a **helpful
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resource** to help us make collaborative decisions effectively.
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How to use:
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- If you know your way through decision-making and you're doing fine without
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reading this guide and everyone is happy, that's fine, it's not a requirement
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(perhaps you can [help improve this guide](#9-feedback) using your
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experience!)
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- If you're curious or unsure about a certain decision, or about
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decision-making in Forgejo in general, try the
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[simplified process](#1-simplified-process)
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- For decisions where there's challenge and it's not working, or big decisions
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where you'd like more detailed instructions, try the
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[detailed process](#3-detailed-process)
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| Table | of | Contents |
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|-------|:-------------------------------------------------------------------------:|:-------------------------------------------------------------------------:|
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| 1 | [Simplified Process](#1-simplified-process) | |
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| 2 | [Principles](#2-principles) | |
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| 3 | [Detailed Process](#3-detailed-process) | |
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| 3.1 | | [Who decides](#3-1-who-decides) |
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| 3.2 | | [Preparation](#3-2-preparation) |
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| 3.3 | | [Describing the decision question](#3-3-describing-the-decision-question) |
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| 3.4 | | [Choosing duration for input](#3-4-choosing-duration-for-input) |
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| 3.5 | | [Gathering stakeholders](#3-5-gathering-stakeholders) |
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| 3.6 | | [Choosing which phase to start at](#3-6-choosing-which-phase-to-start-at) |
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| 3.7 | | [Picking a communication medium](#3-7-picking-a-communication-medium) |
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| 3.8 | | [Criteria-gathering phase](#3-8-criteria-gathering-phase) |
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| 3.9 | | [Proposal-creation phase](#3-9-proposal-creation-phase) |
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| 3.10 | | [Integration phase](#3-10-integration-phase) |
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| 4 | [Summary of decision description](#4-summary-of-decision-description) | |
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| 5 | [Disagreement on a Closed Decision](#5-disagreement-on-a-closed-decision) | |
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| 6 | [When It Takes too Long](#6-when-it-takes-too-long) | |
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| 7 | [Onboarding and Mentorship](#7-onboarding-and-mentorship) | |
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| 8 | [Further Support](#8-further-support) | |
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| 9 | [Feedback](#9-feedback) | |
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## (1) Simplified Process
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- Who decides: Check in the
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[table](AGREEMENTS.md#Responsibility-distribution-table)
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- Where to document decisions about how we do things:
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[`AGREEMENTS.md`](AGREEMENTS.md)
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- Want support, mentorship, co-holding? Ask on Matrix <3
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- More info in the [Onboarding and Mentorship](#7-onboarding-and-mentorship)
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section
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- Open an issue/PR on `forgejo` repo if it's about the codebase itself, on
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`meta` repo if it's about governance/processes
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General process to use in most cases:
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1. Phrase an open inclusive decision question, and your proposal
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2. Ask for people's *approval* and *concerns*, making sure everyone who may
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care or be impacted by this decision is invited and included
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3. If someone disapproves, try to hear **what's important to them** about the
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decision
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4. Together, modify the proposal to address their concerns
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5. Ask for approval on modified proposal
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6. Document and announce the decision
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7. Open new issue about implementing the decision, if relevant
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Process for more complex or controversial decisions:
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1. Phrase an open inclusive decision question
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2. If the expected proposals on this decision are expected to be big, sensitive
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or otherwise non-trivial, e.g. a plan for a whole system, consider to start
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by gathering criteria, i.e. which qualities the chosen proposal will need to
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have
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3. Invite people to make suggestions, ping people who have related
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knowledge/expertise to make sure they participate
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4. Wait a few days for people make proposals
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5. Ask people to make a thumb-up on each decision they're **willing to live
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with, comfortable with**
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6. Wait (recommended: **2 weeks**) to give people time to do that, ping people
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you believe may be impacted by the decision to make sure they have a chance
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to participate
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7. Pick the option that has the least opposition, ask the people who aren't
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willing to live with it:
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- What's your concern about this proposal, what's important to you that
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prevents you from feeling comfortable with this proposal?
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- What can support you (to be done or changed) to feel comfortable with
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this proposal?
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8. Change the proposal if needed, based on the feedback
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9. Ask everyone to react with thumb-up if they're willing to live with the
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modified proposal
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10. Once there's consensus,
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- Document the decision in AGREEMENTS.md and announce in public channels if
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relevant
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- Document any followup tasks and who's going to do them and when
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- Eventually close the issue
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Some tips and hints:
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- Strong disagreement = very important concerns being present! Try to find them
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- Conflict = opportunity to connect, grow and learn! Try to breathe and go more
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slowly
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- Stuck in a challenging situation, conflict, disagreement? *Ask for help*
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## (2) Principles
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- **Willingness**: Instead of voting on the option you *prefer* (which leads to
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polarization and confusion, and makes it impossible to find consensus), you
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raise your hand/thumb on the options you're *comfortable with and willing to
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accept* (which supports us in identifying concerns, handling them, and
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picking proposals that really take us towards our goals and that we all agree
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on)
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- **Concerns**:
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- When people are against a proposal, try to guess and look for *what's
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important to them*, which need/concern/value they're defending
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- So the key question is **What's important to you?**, it often helps to
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finish arguments and move forward together
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- **Proposals**:
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- We seek to make a decision that is:
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- Good enough for now, safe enough to try (i.e. it doesn't need to be
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perfect)
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- Moving us towards our shared goal
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- So we think of concerns and oppositions as gifts expressing a potential
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reason that the current proposal:
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- Isn't good enough for the current circumstances
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- Isn't safe enough to try
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- Hinders or endangers our progress towards the shared goal
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- **Togetherness**:
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- Working with willingness and concerns allows us to work together as a team,
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to make good decisions about Forgejo, rather than competing for our voice
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to be heard and for our personal proposals to be picked
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- Communication and decision-making can be challenging! We aim to hold each
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other with loving supporting care, even when we struggle or fail to execute
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the processes described in this guide (or any other process we've chosen)
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- **Capacity and clarity**:
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- Only what we have energy to do and what we're willing to do gets done,
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both as individuals and as a community
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- We aim to make clear actionable practical agreements we're really capable
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of following. If we repeatedly struggle/fail to follow them, it's often a
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sign they're beyond our current capacity, and then we identify the
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difficulty and modify the agreements to be fully within what we're
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currently capable of.
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## (3) Detailed Process
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What can you do when you see a decision that needs to be made, or modified, or
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something isn't working?
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- If you just want to report about it and let other people handle it, open an
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issue (or a pull request if relevant) and you're done
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- If you'd like to **facilitate** the decision-making process, keep reading
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- If you're new here, and/or facilitating sounds scary, don't hesitate to ask
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for support/mentorship/co-holding! On Matrix or in the issue/PR
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### (3.1) Who decides
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Look at the *Responsibility Distribution Table* in the *Decision Making*
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section in [`AGREEMENTS.md`](AGREEMENTS.md). Based on the topic/domain of your
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decision, **is there a team/person who's been granted the power to make
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decisions in this topic?**
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- If yes, open an issue/PR, asking that team to take over and lead the decision
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(you can assign the issue/PR to the team's members, they're listed in
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[`TEAMS.md`](TEAMS.md)). Done.
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- If the decision's topic isn't entrusted to a specific team/person, you can
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facilitate the decision-making process! By following the steps below
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- If you don't want the responsibility/work of facilitating the process, just
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open the issue and someone else will pick it up
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### (3.2) Preparation
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1. **Issue or PR?**
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- If you have a specific proposal, you can open a PR that implements
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it. If it's about changing the organization's processes, you'll
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probably want to add/edit an agreement in
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[`AGREEMENTS.md`](AGREEMENTS.md). Look at its *Decision Making*
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section for info about other relevant files.
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- Otherwise, the default is to open an issue
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- If it's a technical topic the Forgejo software itself, open the
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issue in the Forgejo repo
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- Otherwise, open the issue in the meta repo
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2. **Assign yourself** to the issue/PR
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3. Would you like **mentorship/support/co-holding** in facilitating the
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process? If yes, mention that in the issue/PR description. You can also ask
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on Matrix, and if someone offers to mentor/support you, you can assign them
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to the issue/PR as well.
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- More info in the
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[Onboarding and Mentorship](#7-onboarding-and-mentorship) section
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### (3.3) Describing the decision question
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1. In the issue/PR description, phrase the decision question (also known as the
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*shared motive*).
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Guidelines and tips:
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- Use an inclusive and integrative open question, rather than either/or
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language
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- Refer to what we *do* want, rather than what we don't want
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- Refer to the core need or shared goal that the decision aims to address
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- Use practical language rather than ideological language
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Suggested format:
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1. Summary of the **current situation**, in a few sentences or bullet items
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(example: *Spam bots are filling people's inboxes with random useless
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messages*)
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2. If needed, paragraphs/links/attachments explaining the situation in more
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detail
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3. One sentence asking the **decision question** (example: *How do we make
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sure people receive only useful and relevant information?*)
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2. Impact and timeline: If the decision is about a critical or urgent
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situation:
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- Describe the potential danger/effect/impact of not handling the
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situation
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- Suggest a timeline for reaching a decision
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- Specify what we do if we can't reach a decision in time (e.g. delegate
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the decision to a few specific people to make a fast but careful decision
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on behalf of the community)
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3. After the decision question (and impact), if you intend to suggest a
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specific **proposal**(s), describe your proposal(s)
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4. Phrase the issue/PR **title**:
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- If you have a single clear candidate non-controversial proposal, a one-line
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summary of the proposal can serve as the title
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- Otherwise, use a short concise essence of the current problematic situation
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and/or the decision question
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### (3.4) Choosing duration for input
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As a globally distributed community project, lot of our communication is
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asynchronous. This means that in each step of the process you'll be making a
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request, and allowing time for people to react and send their input. Pick
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sufficient time given:
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- People's availability
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- The decision's urgency
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- The decision's complexity
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- The impact of making the decision
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- The impact of taking too much time to decide
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Especially when time is constrained, make sure at least the following people
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react:
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- The people most *impacted*
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- The people with relevant *expertise*
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- The people with *strong opinions*
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- The *outliers* who hold controversial or unusual perspectives
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- The people who hold required *resources*
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Suggestion for time to wait for people to send input, especially for decisions
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involving the whole organization and/or wider community:
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- Safe default: 2 weeks
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- To move faster with non-risky decisions: 1 week
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- For urgent decisions, perhaps less than a week
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### (3.5) Gathering stakeholders
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Gather, notify, @mention, invite and call for the relevant people (a.k.a.
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stakeholders) to participate:
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- If a specific team is entrusted by the organization to make this decision,
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gather the team
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- Otherwise, invite whole organization
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Also, in particular make sure the following people (whether in or out of the
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Forgejo community) are included, or at least gather their advice and consent:
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1. The people affected/impacted by the decision
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2. Who are the people with expertise on the matter
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3. Who are the people who have/hold/provide/maintain the resources needed for
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implementing the decision
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4. Do you need advice from outside the Forgejo community? If yes, ask for this
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advice (consider using Matrix and the Fediverse to spread your request for
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advice)
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5. Any people who can oppose the results, or stop the process of implementation
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6. Relevant Forgejo teams
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For high-impact or controversial decisions, listing these people in the issue
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description can support to create a sense of trust, inclusion and togetherness
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around the shared problem.
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### (3.6) Choosing which phase to start at
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- If you already have a clear proposal, especially if the decision's
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scope/impact are small, start from the **integration** phase
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- If you don't have a clear proposal, or you believe it would be beneficial to
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creativity/trust to invite more proposals, start from the
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**proposal-creation** phase
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- For a major or complex or controversial decision, or a decision with
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many/major impacts, or a decision for which creating a sufficient proposal
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would be complex or non-trivial, start from the **criteria-gathering** phase
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### (3.7) Picking a communication medium
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- Each phase (or all phases) can be done via Issue/PR comments, or Matrix, or
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Jitsi, or possibly something else
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- Multi-step mutually-influential decisions may be easier to do in a real-time
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meeting (e.g. a chat meeting on Matrix or audio/video on Jitsi or combined
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text and video)
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- However, for a global community of volunteers who speak different languages
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and have different timezones and privacy concerns, and who don't have regular
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organization meetings, gathering everyone to make a decision might be
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difficult or impossible
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- **Suggested default**:
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- For very controversial or sensitive or very big decisions where you're
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confident that discusion via issue comments would result with chaos and
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conflict, schedule a real-time meeting (Matrix/Jitsi)
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- Otherwise, **start the discussion via issue comments**, and only switch to
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a real-time meeting (while also inviting input, feedback and advice from
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people who can't attend) if the discussion via issue comments isn't working
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- Not sure? Discuss via Matrix and ask for advice/support
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### (3.8) Criteria-gathering phase
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1. Invite people to comment about what's important to them about this decision
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- People can also comment on someone else's criteria if they have a
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concern/disagreement about it
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- Alternative phrasing for invitation: Which questions do we need to ask,
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in order to make a decision that serves our shared goal
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2. Allow time for discussion to happen
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3. Gather a single unified concise list of criteria (or questions) from
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people's comments, where each item:
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- Is in terms of what we *do* want rather than what we *don't* want
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- Goes deep enough in the direction of a value/need to be non-controversial
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(with respect to the other criteria people have raised), but not more,
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i.e. as specific as possible while as abstract as needed to reach across
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controversy
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- Is inclusive, includes everyone, is beyond specific people/situation
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4. Invite people to look at the list and comment if something is missing or if
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there's something they disagree with, or react with **thumb-up** if they're
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okay with moving forward
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5. Allow time for people to comment
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6. Edit your list, adding/modifying criteria based on the new comments
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7. Invite the people who commented to react on the list with **thumb-up** if
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the modification is satisfactory for them, and to comment if the list still
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isn't capturing their criteria. And invite everyone to comment if they
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agreed to the original list but now have a concern about the modifications
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8. Wait for people to react and comment
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9. Are there still concerns or disagreements about the criteria list? If yes,
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switch to talking with the concerned people via Matrix/Jitsi, or ask on
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Matrix for help from another community member with integrating the criteria
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10. Once there's agreement on the list, move to proposal-creation phase, and
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edit the issue description to have a link to the comment that contains the
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criteria list, for easy reference
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### (3.9) Proposal-creation phase
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- Define one or more small teams, where each team works on a proposal
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- Team size can be 2-3 people for simpler cases, 5-6 for big or controversial
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decisions
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- Aim to pick the team(s) such that it holds the disagreement/controversy
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within it, i.e. people with different perspectives, specifically the people
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who are most struggling to agree with each other
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- Aim to include in the team(s) the people who have relevant expertise and
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resources, or at least ask/invite the team to consult with those people
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- A good proposal:
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* Is detailed and very specific
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* Handles all open loops, or specifies when and how they'll be handled
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* Specifies who's responsible for what
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* Specifies the time at which we'll review whether the decision is working,
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and adapt it as needed
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* Specifies criteria for assessing whether and in which ways the decision is
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working
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- Each team can discuss their proposal using a separate issue, or on Matrix, or
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via Jitsi, or something else that works for them
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- Once a team has a proposal ready, they make a *single comment* on the issue,
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that presents the proposal and begins with the text *PROPOSAL*
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- Once proposal(s) are ready, move to integration phase
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- If proposals struggle to be relevant, consider moving back to
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criteria-gathering phase
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### (3.10) Integration phase
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1. Pick a threshold for concerns
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- Safe default: "If you're (not) okay with the proposal"
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- If you think people may struggle/fear to bring up their concerns, or
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there's a lot of space and time, use a lower threshold, e.g. "If you have
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*any* concern about the proposal"
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- If it's an urgent decision or people are exhausted, use a higher threshold,
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e.g. "If you really can't live with this proposal"
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2. Invite people to express their stance about all the proposals, using the
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threshold you picked:
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- If you're okay with the proposal, make a **thumb-up** reaction on it
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- If you're okay with the proposal, but you have some note/info/point/worry
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to express to the group, make a **thumb-up** reaction
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- If you have a concern about this proposal, i.e. you see a reason that:
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- It isn't serving/beneficial to our shared goal, or
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- It's not good enough for now / for the timeframe / context / situation,
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or
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- It's not safe enough to try
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Then make an **eyes** reaction
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- **Note**: If there's only one proposal, combine steps 2-5 into a single
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step, asking people to make a reaction *and* make a note/concern comment
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3. Allow time for people to make reactions
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4. Pick the proposal that has the most willingness / least concern
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5. Invite people to comment about their stance on this proposal:
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- If you made a thumb-up reaction but had a note to share, write your note in
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a comment, starting it with **NOTE:**
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- If you made an eyes reaction, describe your concern in a comment, starting
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it with **CONCERN:**, and optionally suggest a modification to the proposal
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and/or relevant support, that would allow you to accept the proposal
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6. Allow time for people to comment (make sure everyone who reacted with *eyes*
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expresses their concern)
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7. If there are concerns, ask the people who raised them, or the people who
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created the proposal, or the whole group, to offer a modification to the
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proposal and/or relevant support, and check with the person who expressed a
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concern whether the suggestion works for them, while inviting concerns from
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the group about the suggestion
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8. If reaching agreement on the proposal is difficult and taking a lot of time,
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consider switching to the next best proposal, jumping to step 5. If there
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are no proposals left to try, or all proposals seem far from agreement, send
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people back to another round of working on the proposals
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9. If reaching agreement is taking too long and/or the group is exhausted, pick
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a small team (that includes those who created the proposal and those holding
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concerns) that will create a modified proposal based on the concerns and
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will either bring it to the group to make a final approval (if there's
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enough time) or will make the decision on behalf of the group (if the
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decision is too urgent/exhausting to wait for the whole group to approve)
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10. Once all concerns have been integrated:
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- Announce the final decision, by adding a **final comment** on the issue/PR
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- Make it clear if you amend a previous decision taken by you or someone else
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- Attend to any NOTEs that need action
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- Document the decision (e.g. as an agreement) if needed
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- Close the issue
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- If the decision now needs to be implemented, open a *new* issue/PR and
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assign it to the people who will lead the implementation.
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- If it's a major or critical decision, consider to announce it using
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Matrix/Fediverse/blog
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Make sure the final decision includes:
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1. Who's affected by the decision?
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|
2. Who can take an action on the decision?
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|
3. What steps are needed to take action and who will take them?
|
|
4. Who or which team owns/oversees the implementation process?
|
|
5. All of this is communicated via the issue/PR description and relevant
|
|
team/organization/community members are @mentioned
|
|
|
|
After that, please **continue to follow** through with any additional steps
|
|
that are needed to implement the decision.
|
|
|
|
- Watch for adoption. Adoption levels are a form of feedback, and perhaps this
|
|
will inform updates to the decision.
|
|
- This doesn't mean that you need to do everything on your own. If you want
|
|
support, please ask via Matrix.
|
|
|
|
### (4) Summary of decision description
|
|
|
|
Summary of information to include in your issue:
|
|
|
|
- Assign yourself and anyone else who has agreed to co-hold the decision with
|
|
you
|
|
- Description
|
|
- Request for mentorship/support, if you want support but didn't find it on
|
|
Matrix
|
|
- Current situation that requires a decision
|
|
- Decision question
|
|
- For critical or urgent decisions:
|
|
- Impact of not handling the situation
|
|
- Timeline for the process and for reaching a decision
|
|
- Emergency strategy if we can't decide within the timeline, usually pick a
|
|
few people who will decide together in behalf of the community
|
|
- For high-impact or controversial decisions, make lists of stakeholders,
|
|
i.e. people who are:
|
|
- Affected
|
|
- With expertise
|
|
- Who hold the resources
|
|
- Outside the Forgejo community
|
|
- Who can stop/oppose the process/results
|
|
- Relevant teams
|
|
- Specific request from people to react
|
|
- As the process progresses, paste links to special comments for easy
|
|
reference and tracking:
|
|
- Criteria list
|
|
- Proposal(s)
|
|
- Title: Concise essence of the situation/question
|
|
- Label: Keep updating it to one of the *[Decision]* labels, based on the
|
|
current phase of the process
|
|
|
|
## (5) Disagreement On A Closed Decision
|
|
|
|
What if someone has made a decision that I don't agree with (regardless if I
|
|
was invited for advice/input/approval)?
|
|
|
|
- Once a decision is made, it's active. If you disagree with a decision, you're
|
|
welcome to:
|
|
- Give feedback to the person/team who made the decision, via
|
|
Matrix/Fediverse/Email
|
|
- If you believe the decision that's been made is critically harmful to the
|
|
project, and the person/team who made the decision is unavailable, open a
|
|
new decision
|
|
- If you've been excluded from a decision and that's painful to you, or there's
|
|
a conflict about a decision, and it affects your sense of trust and safety in
|
|
the community, please reach out to the
|
|
[well-being team](TEAMS.md#well-being), or to the community on Matrix
|
|
- As a community, we commit to the final decision (even if we didn't take part
|
|
in the decision and/or the decision isn't in alignment with our preferences)
|
|
- If there's a high level of disagreement, and you've used the simplified
|
|
process, consider trying the [detailed process](#3-detailed-process)
|
|
instructions to revisit the decision (ask for help with that if needed),
|
|
and/or use a Matrix/Jitsi real-time meeting
|
|
|
|
## (6) When It Takes Too Long
|
|
|
|
As a community project, we want to integrate both:
|
|
|
|
- Care, inclusion, togetherness, holding the project's community and values
|
|
- Efficienct work, progress, flow, holding the project's purpose
|
|
|
|
Making decisions collaboratively in a group, seeking a solution that works for
|
|
everyone, can sometimes take more time than we have or that we wish, or require
|
|
skill or practice we don't yet have, both from participants and facilitators,
|
|
especially when there's controversy or high level of disagreement. Some reasons
|
|
that decisions take a long time are:
|
|
|
|
- Many people discussing an urgent decision, creating a very long discussion
|
|
and integration process
|
|
- It takes time to practice and build skill to efficiently navigate complex
|
|
decisions and to communicate effectively, both for participants and
|
|
facilitators
|
|
- Care for purpose in a complex situation can be challenging! For example, a
|
|
low-trust situation can lead us to defend our chance for self-expression,
|
|
even when it's slowing down a very urgent/exhausting decision
|
|
- We all carry emotional pains, wounds and triggers about inclusion,
|
|
collaboration and communication, and we live in a world and culture that
|
|
creates these pains and doesn't support us in healing them
|
|
- We're a global community of volunteers from different cultures, timezones,
|
|
skills and languages
|
|
- Unexpected problems naturally happen, requiring urgent action and there's no
|
|
time for a long discussion
|
|
|
|
While accepting our individual and collective limitations with love and care,
|
|
and while accepting the uncerainty and unpredictability of life, **what can we
|
|
do when a decision is taking too long?** How can we be both inclusive and
|
|
efficient?
|
|
|
|
When starting a very low-impact or urgent decision:
|
|
|
|
- Pick a time frame for reaching a decision, and pick an alternative strategy
|
|
for the case we don't reach decision in time (suggested strategy: Delegate
|
|
the decision to a small group of trusted people, to make a decision on behalf
|
|
of the community)
|
|
- Raise the threshold for concerns, for example switch from "does anyone have a
|
|
concern about this" to "is there anyone who really can't live with this"
|
|
- Consider to focus on gathering concerns and willingness from a small (but
|
|
varied) group of stakeholders representing the various considerations of the
|
|
community, rather than a broad focus on everyone
|
|
- For very low-impact decisions, is there anyone who would particularly feel
|
|
excluded if you moved forward without their input? How's the level of trust
|
|
in the team/organization/community? Consider to just make a decision yourself
|
|
and move forward, while announcing your decision and inviting feedback
|
|
- For very urgent decisions, consider going directly to Matrix/Jitsi to decide
|
|
with who'se available, and when the urgent problem is attended, announce what
|
|
happened and why
|
|
|
|
During a decision-making process:
|
|
|
|
- As a participant:
|
|
- If your messages expressing concerns are long, try to shorten them by
|
|
identifying/distilling the essence, or at least *mark* the essence inside
|
|
the long message
|
|
- Is there someone you trust, who's going to participate in the decision and
|
|
can represent your concerns? If so, consider to ask them to represent you,
|
|
and then not participate yourself, to help reduce the length of discussion
|
|
- As a facilitator:
|
|
- Raise the threshold for concerns, for example switch from "is anyone
|
|
uncomfortable with this" to "does anyone see something really important
|
|
that we'd miss if we proceeded with this"
|
|
- Delegate the decision to a small group of trusted people, to make a fast
|
|
and caring decision on behalf of the community
|
|
|
|
Evolving our structures and processes:
|
|
|
|
- In the
|
|
[responsibility distribution table](AGREEMENTS.md#responsibility-distribution-table),
|
|
entrust more decisions and topics to specific teams and roles
|
|
- Within a team, if there's enough trust (and consent), consider making use of
|
|
the "Advice Process", i.e. allow any team member to gather advice on a
|
|
decision and make the final decision themselves without needing
|
|
approval/consent
|
|
- Consider defining a central circle/team of project stewards that makes
|
|
wide-scope decisions (perhaps only if the regular community process is too
|
|
long/difficult/urgent)
|
|
- Look into creative ways to increase trust, e.g. social activities where we
|
|
get to know each other more, or pair programming sessions, etc.
|
|
|
|
## (7) Onboarding And Mentorship
|
|
|
|
How do we nourish and evolve our decision-making skills, both as individuals
|
|
and collectively within the project and the community? How do we pass on these
|
|
skills, creating an inclusive space and project where people can gradually step
|
|
into leadership and get involved?
|
|
|
|
If you're new here, and/or unsure about facilitating a decision-making process:
|
|
|
|
- Practice on low-risk, non-urgent and small decisions
|
|
- Ask, on Matrix or in issues, for mentorship or co-holding from another
|
|
community member
|
|
- Facilitate a decision, with a mentor being there to support
|
|
- One of you or both of you facilitate, while discussing on Matrix (publicly
|
|
or privately) and deciding together on the next steps
|
|
|
|
Asking for help, support and mentoring is very welcome and encouraged!
|
|
|
|
If you're more experienced/confident and have capacity and willingness to
|
|
support others:
|
|
|
|
- Watch for support requests on Matrix and in issues
|
|
- Watch for challenging decision processes that might need/enjoy support
|
|
- If you see an issue/discussion struggling with a decision, step in to
|
|
facilitate (if nobody is) or gently offer support (if there's already an
|
|
assigned facilitator), possibly via Matrix to avoid disrupting the on-topic
|
|
flow of discussion in a busy issue
|
|
- Watch for potential committed contributors who might want to make a further
|
|
step into the project (and learn precious skills and increase the bus
|
|
factor), and gently offer support/mentoring for decision-making
|
|
|
|
Also see list of learning resources in the next section.
|
|
|
|
## (8) Further Support
|
|
|
|
Having a challenge in making a decision, in reaching agreement, or in choosing
|
|
the process for some big decision? Contact the
|
|
[decision-making advocates](TEAMS.md#decision-making) and ask for support.
|
|
|
|
Resources for learning, practice and external support for decision-making
|
|
processes and systems:
|
|
|
|
- [Convergent Facilitation](https://convergentfacilitation.org) a.k.a CF (includes book, course recordings, live courses, practice groups and more)
|
|
- [Decision-making systems learning packet](https://thefearlessheart.org/item/decision-making-systems-from-either-or-to-integration-packet)
|
|
- [Vision Mobilization](https://visionmobilization.org) (in particular the part about agreements)
|
|
- [Sociocracy](https://sociocracyforall.org)
|
|
|
|
## (9) Feedback
|
|
|
|
Have feedback/improvements for this guide? Open an issue/PR with the
|
|
*Governance* label.
|
|
|
|
Have feedback about decisions in Forgejo? What's working, what's not working?
|
|
Open an issue with the *Governance* label and/or come to the biweekly
|
|
governance meetings where we evolve and improve our processes.
|