should TechLeads be mandatory (vs not combo with Chair)

[parispittman]

Broken down from issue #5855

Current state/knowns:

• 1 Chair is required for a SIG per sig-governance.md
• only two roles that are identified in sig-governance.md is TL and Chair
• 11 SIGs have explicit entries for TLs in sigs.yaml (combo=chair and TL):
  • Scale
  • Storage
  • Windows
  • Cluster life
  • ContribEx
  • Docs
  • Instrumentation
  • Release
  • ApiM - 1 chair, 1 TL, 1 combo
  • Auth - 2 chairs, 2 TLs, 1 combo
  • Cli - 2 chairs, 1 TL, 1 combo

Why:

• There is a lot of work just for a chair to do "Chairship is not about being an expert on the technical details. It's about organizing the SIG." (current chair)
• operational and community work gets neglected (example: Responsiveness of SIG Chairs needs improvement #4289) which helps build sustainabilty and meet governance
• Helps separate technical decisions from running a meeting (moderation vs ownership/technical decision maker)
• helps with contributor ladder
• people conflate chair and tech lead
• [will add more]

Notes

• will collect feedback and discussion here

[mrbobbytables]

/assign

[lavalamp]

Problems I have heard -> my recommended solution

• Lack of documentation -> document better / in better places
• Lack of succession planning -> have deputy chairs / TLs / subproject owners
• Lack of recognition for accomplishments -> OWNERs files, subproject owners, deputy roles
• Lack of formal roles within a SIG to reward/encourage contributors -> OWNERs files, subproject owners, deputy roles

I have not heard of any problem for which "require every SIG to have TLs" sounds like it could be a solution.

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[mrbobbytables]

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