Community discussions

R-Ladies is a global community, which gives us strength and the possibility to create something that goes beyond the sum of its parts, bringing many experiences, points of view, and voices to the debate.

We aspire to a positive-sum vision. To this end, we aim to create a process of debate in which different perspectives and priorities are seen as legitimate and valuable, and through respectful and honest discussion we can find better solutions than if we had optimized only one perspective.

This repository hosts proposals and discussions from the community on different aspects and activities of R-Ladies.

The process of soliciting feedback and comments is intended to provide a consistent and transparent way to make changes in our community in a participatory manner.

All of us are passionate about our communities; we acknowledge that discussions may have emotional content, because when we care at any level about what we are discussing, then emotions play a role.

Our goal with this procedure is to create a clear, transparent, and safe process to have these discussions.

Scope of the community discussions

The Leadership Team and the Global Team will propose topics for discussion.
We will follow this process if we intend to make substantial changes to R-Ladies. What constitutes a "substantial" change is evolving based on community norms and varies depending on what part you are proposing to change, but may include the following:

• R-Ladies name, mission and vision.
• R-Ladies rules and guidelines, including governance and code of conduct (CoC).
• R-Ladies global infrastructure services.

Some changes do not require a community discussion, for example:

• Update our organizer guide or propose new content in the guide.
• Propose a new language translation.
• Create new R-Ladies chapters.
• Propose new activities between several chapters.
• Propose a blog post for R-Ladies website.
• Volunteer to participate in the Global Team.

We acknowledge that these are guidelines; ultimately “what constitutes a substantial change” will be a decision made by the Leadership Team and Global Team.

Important

Allies to R-Ladies are welcome to observe the discussion, but are asked to refrain from participating.

Process for community discussions

1. The Leadership Team will create an issue discussion with a focused topic and will tag it soliciting feedback.

2. This issue will have:

   • one-line summary (the title of the discussion).
   • the full text of the proposal.
   • any required background information.
   • pros and cons.
   • possible alternatives.
   • budget and staffing (if needed).
   • responsible moderator(s).

3. The discussion period starts. The period will last one month.

4. The Leadership Team will advertise for participation by notification in the R-Ladies Slack and by emailing R-Ladies chapters when the issue is created. We will request that R-Ladies chapter organizers share this notice with their community members.

5. All current members of R-Ladies or individuals considering joining R-Ladies can participate in the discussion. This means you do not have to be chapter organizer or member of the global team to contribute; we welcome and encourage discussion from the entire community.

6. Moderator(s) will monitor to the discussion to ensure the R-Ladies Code of Conduct is being followed. Any posts not adhering to the CoC will be removed. Moderator(s) will engage the R-Ladies CoC Team as needed.

7. You may participate by commenting directly on the issue (which requires being signed into a GitHub account).

8. You may also participate by submitting a comment via the Submit discussion content form, either anonymously or named. This option is available for those who do not have a GitHub account or for those who wish to comment anonymously. A moderator will review the submitted comments to ensure they adhere to the Code of Conduct and then subsequently post on your behalf, either anonymously or not as specified. The comment will be posted within seven days.

9. Please use English as a primary common language for the discussion. You are welcome to use a translation app if needed; it may be helpful to state if a translation app was used for context.

10. Share and make all the points you consider relevant and important for the discussion.
    We will not take into account something that was not written in the discussion forum when making the final decision. This ensures transparency and the chance to share and discuss different points of view.

11. At the conclusion of the one month discussion period, the moderator(s) will signal via an issue tag that the discussion is now in "final comment period" (FCP).

12. The moderator(s) will write a motion for the FCP providing a summary comment trying to lay out the current state of the discussion and major trade-offs/points of disagreement.

13. The final comment period lasts 10 calendar days and will be advertised via Slack and R-Ladies chapter communications by the Leadership Team. During the FCP, participants will have a chance to share any final thoughts before the discussion is closed.

14. If substantial new arguments or ideas are raised during this final comment period, the FCP is canceled, and the request for feedback issue goes back into soliciting feedback mode for 10 more calendar days.

15. The Leadership Team together with the moderator(s) decides what constitutes a "substantial new argument or idea". The 10-day extension is a one-time occurrence per discussion.

16. Two days before the 10-day extension is finished, the moderator(s) will propose a motion for a "final comment period" with the same characteristics stated in point 12.

17. When FCP finalizes, the issue will be tagged as Leadership Agenda by the moderator(s).

18. The Leadership Team will review the discussion and come to a consensus on the final decision about the discussion topic in the next monthly meeting of the board of directors.

19. On GitHub, the moderator(s) will report back with the motion, the decision made, and close the issue as completed.

20. The Leadership Team will communicate the result of the discussion in the R-Ladies Slack and via email to R-Ladies chapters. Depending on the scope, a News article on the R-Ladies website and social media postings with the action items from the discussion may also be merited.

Acknowledgement

This process evolved through studying open decision-making methods and engaging with various projects and communities. We drew inspiration from successful practices elsewhere and adapted them for R-Ladies.

We thank the projects and communities who generously shared their governance models and processes, allowing us to learn and grow.

As we move forward, we're committed to refining this process further based on feedback from our community members.