Decision template

It’s easier to make decisions when you have a common understanding of what’s being decided. This page provides a simple template for defining a decision. It draws from chapter 5 of Program Management for Open Source Projects. For a more detailed template, see the Common Fact Base template from Red Hat’s Open Decision Framework.

Template

# Problem

<!– Give a simple statement of the problem you’re trying to solve. –>

# Proposal

<!– Describe what you intend to do to solve the problem. If it is more than a paragraph or so, link to an external document and provide a summary here. –>

# Voice

## Who gets a voice

<!– Describe whose input will be heard. –>

## Method

<!– Describe how input will be provided (e.g. mailing list thread, or comment on a specific issue in a repository) –>

## Timing

<!– Indicate how long the comment period is open. –>

# Vote

## Who gets a vote

<!– Indicate who will be able to make a decision. –>

## Method

<!– Describe how votes will be collected and tallied. –>

## Timing

<!– Indicate when the voting ends. –>

Example

Below is a hypothetical example of using the template.

# Problem

Developer accounts aren’t checked for activity, which could lead to malicious code insertion if a developer’s account is compromised.

# Proposal

Every three months, we will remove commit access for any account that has no activity on the repository in the last six months. In addition, all accounts with commit access must have two-factor authentication enabled.

# Voice

## Who gets a voice

We are specifically seeking input from developers who currently have commit access, however we welcome input from anyone in the community.

## Method

Feedback should be provided in a reply to this announcement on the development mailing list.

## Timing

The comment period is open until 30 February 2022.

# Vote

## Who gets a vote

Members of the project’s technical steering committee will vote on the proposal.

## Method

This proposal will be submitted as an issue in the tsc repository following the close of the comment period. Members will vote according to the TSC’s usual procedures. Because of the impact of this decision, the vote must be unanimous.

## Timing

Voting will close one week after the proposal is submitted.